Massachusetts family activities can keep kids entertained year-round
Featured Listings
66 Thunder Mountain Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Phone: 413-339-6617
If you are a family, it's easy, bring your kids and ski!
Route 2
Charlemont, MA 01339
Toll-Free: 800-553-7238
Let our Family take your Family on a rafting adventure
Crab Apple Whitewater is New England’s largest rafting company, offering 5 rafting and inflatable kayaking trips on the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts as well as trips in Maine and Vermont. Trips are run daily April through October. Crab Apple offers fun, easy raft trips which are great for families with children as young as 6 or advanced trips for those seeking thrilling Class IV whitewater. Trips are fully outfitted, guided and include lunch. Half-day inflatable kayak and float trips are also available. Crab Apple has been family owned and operated since 1983 and is proud to offer the finest service in the whitewater industry with a personal touch. Call 1-800-553-7238 (8am-10pm) for a Catalog of River Trips or visit our website at www.crabappleinc.com for more information and internet specials.
37 Corey Road
Route 43
Hancock, MA 01237
Phone: 413-738-5500
Toll-Free: 800-882-8859
Fax: 413-738-5729
Your family belongs here
300 North Main Street
Florence, MA 01062
Phone: 413-584-5457
Come out and Play!
Open Saturdays and Sundays starting in April and Seven Days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Look Memorial Park is full of family fun. Our full schedule events includes everything from Breakfast with the Easter Bunny followed by the Northampton Recreation Department Easter Egg Hunt to Breakfast with Santa Claus and Santa’s Workshop. We have events year round that take place in the Park or at the Garden House. Check out the “Special Events” page of our website for a full list of event information. Don’t forget to put the Franklin King III Children’s Entertainment Series in your calendars. Every Wednesday in July at 10AM, we hold children’s performances from Ed Popielarczyk’s Magical Moments to the UNH Little Red Wagon Troup. After the performance, HALF PRICE WEDNESDAY. All attractions are half price each and every Wednesday throughout the summer!
302 Sumner Avenue (Route 83)
Springfield, MA 01138
Phone: 413-733-2251
Celebrating Nature's Diversity
200 Warfield Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Phone: 413-339-6600
Toll-Free: 888-339-8439
Fax: 413-339-5754
You can get a real taste of farm life.
The farm tradition is everywhere, everyday. On the farm you can find everything from llama treks (seasonal) and cozy rooms. There are 530 acres for you to explore. Depending on the season there are horse and wagon rides, sheep to shear, cattle to round up, hiking or snowshoe trails, sap to gather, and unsuspected enjoyments in the most simple and wonderful events of the day. We have events ongoing year around. Please check the calendar on our web site.
Route 2 (Mohawk Trail)
Charlemont, MA 01339
Toll-Free: 800-532-7483
The perfect vacation or active getaway for friends and family.
Zoar Outdoor is New England's Leader in Outdoor Adventure, offering whitewater rafting, zip line tours, canoeing, kayaking, biking and rock climbing at our adventure resort on the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts. Our friendly professional staff, comfortable base camp and top-notch equipment ensure that your adventure will be memorable. From half-day family raft trips to week-long whitewater kayak clinics we can match your schedule and your desire for adventure. The Outfitters Shop is the Northeast's premier whitewater outlet featuring over 100 of the hottest designs in stock. Our expert staff can help you select a boat, but the greatest part of shopping at The Outfitters Shop is that you can try any boat before you buy it on the Deerfield River right in front of our shop.
67 Grove Street
Sandwich, MA 02563
Phone: 508-888-3300
Celebrating 40 Years of Educational Family Fun
The Heritage Museum & Gardens is a great place for families to spend a day. We’re famous for our beautifully landscaped grounds, providing a naturalized woodland park on the edge of upper Shawme Pond. A Shaker round barn houses our J. K. Lilly III Antique Automobile Collection with its stunning display of antique automobiles. The American History Museum will be opening this summer with several New Exhibits. An operating hand-carved carousel and many of America's most distinguished artists' works are on exhibit in the Art Museum. We offer loads of special and educational children’s activities in a setting parents can enjoy too.
222 Harrington Way
Worcester, MA 01604
Phone: 508-929-2700
Fax: 508-929-2701
Insiring a Passion for Science and Nature
25 Merriam Parkway
Fitchburg, MA 01420
Phone: 978-345-4207
Fax: 978-345-2319
Family Friendly Art Museum
This family-friendly museum is the areas oldest cultural institution, and the region's most important center for art study and appreciation. With 12 galleries, featuring American and European paintings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts, Greek, Roman, Asian and Pre-Colombian antiquities this Museum hosts changing exhibitions in a 3-building complex. A newly renovated Egyptian gallery will be opening at the end of 2010. The museum is an excellent resource for students, home-schoolers and teachers. Tours, lectures, studio art classes for children, youths and adults as well as weekly yoga lessons. The Museum is also a perfect venue for private functions.
Museum Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 12-4pm, Saturday and Sunday, 11 –5. Open the following bank holiday Mondays – Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Patriot’s Day and Columbus Day. The Museum is open late and free the first Thursday of every month. For more information, follow our link above.
2 Southwick Street
Mendon, MA 01756
Toll-Free: 800-258-9182
Fax: 508-883-0242
Opening for the 2012 season on April 14th.
820 William T. Morrissey Boulevard
Dorchester, MA 02122
Phone: 617-287-9200
Just south of downtown Boston, Boston Bowl offers bowling, billiards, games, and private functions
We are located on an eight acre complex less than four miles from historic downtown Boston and five miles from the Boston Logan International Airport. The complex includes two hotels, two full service restaurants, the Boston Bowl Family Fun Center, and the famous Phillips Candy House featuring home made chocolates and confections. Free transportation is available to/from the JFK/UMass Subway Station, Seaport World Trade Center, the Boston Medical Center and Tufts-New England Medical Center.
At Boston Bowl enjoy family fun, team building, excellent food, and a great vacation or staycation experience.
Cambridge Turnpike at Lexington Road
Concord, MA 01742
Phone: 978-369-9763
Fax: 978-369-9660
Family-friendly history
Exploring historic Concord? Begin at the Concord Museum! An inspiring collection of American treasures includes the 1775 “one, if by land, two, if by sea” Revere lantern and Thoreau’s Walden desk. Enjoy engaging, self-touring history galleries that present intriguing ideas relevant to today – concepts of liberty, self-reliance, independent thinking and the preservation of the environment. Family favorites include the engaging “Why Concord?” history galleries, Exploring Concord film, and child-friendly treasure hunts. A year round calendar of programs for adults and children includes story hours, nature explorations, crafts, and a holiday celebration of children’s literature. Open daily year round.
One Franklin Park Road
Boston, MA 02121
Phone: 617-541-LION (5466)
Fax: 617-989-2025
Get Close.
Opened in 1912, this 72-acre site nestled in Boston’s historic Franklin Park features an array of wildlife from all over the world. Come face-to-face with an African lion in the Kalahari Kingdom, visit Masai giraffe and Grevy’s zebra at the Giraffe Savannah and discover the Tropical Forest, home to western lowland gorillas, lemurs, mandrills and much more! Be sure not to miss Aussie Aviary, a free-flight, interactive aviary open seasonally and home to hundreds of brightly colored budgies. Franklin Park Zoo offers many activities for children including education classes, Zoo Camp and Snorin’ Roarin’ sleepovers. The zoo is available for rentals and offers unique indoor and outdoor facilities and catering services to turn your child’s birthday party or your next meeting or event into an adventure! Open year round - except Thanksgiving and Christmas.
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-3045
Fax: 617-496-8782
Bring the Family
Explore 12,000 specimens at the Harvard Museum of Natural History -- dinosaurs, meteorites, gemstones, and hundreds of animals from around the globe. Get close to the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus, a 42 ft-long marine reptile; one of the first Triceratops ever discovered; a 1,642 lb. amethyst geode. Don’t miss the world famous exhibit of 3,000 ‘Glass Flowers’, amazingly realistic models of plants, fruits and flowers created by father-son glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka from 1886-1936. Explore the renovated Great Mammal Hall, where skeletons of huge Sperm, Right and Finback whales are suspended from the ceiling. The museum is on the University campus, just a 7-10 minute walk through historic Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square Red Line ‘T’ station. Check out new and changing exhibitions, New England Forests, Africa, and Language of Color. Follow our link above for directions, parking & info on classes and free evening lectures.
Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: 617-514-1600
Toll-Free: 866-JFK-1960
Fax: 617-436-3395
The life, leadership, and legacy of President Kennedy
Situated on a 10-acre park overlooking Boston Harbor, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the nation's official memorial to John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. The museum at the Kennedy Library enables visitors to step back into the recreated world of the early 1960s and experience first-hand the life and legacy of John F. Kennedy. In 25 dramatic exhibits, including three theaters and 20 video presentations, visitors are inspired by the stirring eloquence of John F. Kennedy and by the grace of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Open daily, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; closed New Year’s, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
200 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Toll-Free: 888-222-3711
Home of the world-famous Mapparium®
The Mary Baker Eddy Library features some of the most thought-provoking and fun exhibits in the city, exploring the life and achievements of Mary Baker Eddy. She was a controversial New England woman who defied conventional 19th-century thinking to become an influential religious leader, author, teacher, and founder of the Christian Science Monitor at age 87. The museum also houses the world-famous Mapparium®, an achievement in art and architecture from 1935 giving visitors a unique look at how ideas have the power to change the world. The Lending & Reference Services and Research Room provide access to further subject reading, books, archival documents, photographs, and artifacts of the Mary Baker Eddy Library Collections.
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-267-9300
Fine Art and Family Fun at the MFA
Bring the whole family to the MFA for a day of discovery and creativity. At every turn, you’ll find breathtaking works of art, from modern masters to ancient Egyptian mummies. The MFA offers hands-on activities designed for children ages four and up. Piece together puzzles, learn mythical tales, and uncover ancient Egyptian mysteries. Choose from our ever-changing array of interactive activities, books and Art Cards. Borrow a tote bag equipped with a sketch-book and colored pencils. Explore the galleries with the help of one of our Art Connections activity sheets, each focused on a specific theme, downloadable online or when you visit the Museum. Open daily. Visit mfa.org for more information.
One Science Park
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-723-2500
Make one remarkable discovery after another at the Museum of Science. Science and technology come to life as you experience: more than 700 interactive exhibits; thrilling films on New England's only IMAX® Dome screen in the Mugar Omni Theater; a life-size T. rex, and Cliff, a rare Triceratops fossil; a tropical oasis of free-flying butterflies from around the world; indoor lightning bolts in the Theater of Electricity. For information, call call 617-723-2500, 617-589-0417(TTY) or click on the link above!
50 Ferncroft Road
Danvers, MA 01923
Phone: 978-777-2500
Toll-Free: 866-754-6959
Fax: 978-750-7991
Want to relax and unwind and have a great time doing so??
Cambridge Turnpike at Lexington Road
Concord, MA 01742
Phone: 978-369-9763
Fax: 978-369-9660
Family-friendly history
Exploring historic Concord? Begin at the Concord Museum! An inspiring collection of American treasures includes the 1775 “one, if by land, two, if by sea” Revere lantern and Thoreau’s Walden desk. Enjoy engaging, self-touring history galleries that present intriguing ideas relevant to today – concepts of liberty, self-reliance, independent thinking and the preservation of the environment. Family favorites include the engaging “Why Concord?” history galleries, Exploring Concord film, and child-friendly treasure hunts. A year round calendar of programs for adults and children includes story hours, nature explorations, crafts, and a holiday celebration of children’s literature. Open daily year round.
149 Pond Street
Stoneham, MA 02180
Phone: 617-541-LION (5466)
Fax: 781-438-9517
Get Close.
Stone Zoo features a wildly popular black bear exhibit and, opening in June 2009, greater Boston’s only gibbon exhibit. The Zoo is also home to colobus monkeys, Canadian lynx, a snow leopard, Mexican gray wolves, river otters, spider monkeys, capybara and many other interesting and fascinating animals from around the world. The Treasures of the Sierra Madre exhibit features, jaguars, cougars, coyote, and Gila monsters.” At Windows to the Wild, view hyacinth macaws, flamingos, emperor tamarins, silvery-cheeked hornbills, Inca terns and Geoffroy’s tamarins. Open year round - except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Stone Zoo is located off Exit 34 on 93 North and Exit 35 off 93 South.
115 Derby Street
Salem, MA 01970
Phone: 978-744-0991
Fax: 978-741-4350
Visit Kids Cove and discover the countless surprises beneath our legendary gables.
Climb up the Secret Staircase at The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts! This seaside historic site features Turner-Ingersoll Mansion (1668), forever immortalized as “The House of the Seven Gables” by author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Visit Kid’s Cove at the Gables for a glimpse of what life was like aboard ships in this interactive learning space featuring hands-on family activities. Admission also includes a visit to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Birthplace to learn more about how the author’s life in Salem influenced his work. Stroll through three-season gardens and a unique museum store. Open mid-January through December, 10:00am-5:00pm, with
extended hours until 7:00pm, July-October.
121 East Main Street
Gloucester Harbor, MA 01930
Phone: 978-283-0313
Toll-Free: 800-942-5464
Fax: 978-283-6089
You Are Guaranteed to See Whales
Yankee whale watch excursions travel to the world-renowned whale feeding areas known as Stellwagen Bank and Jeffrey's Ledge. Our whale watching captains communicate about current whale sightings with our early morning Deep Sea Fishing captains who have already been out for hours. This allows us to bring you directly to the whales' location. This up-to-date communication coupled with the speed of our vessels means our whale watching passengers spend more time enjoying the whales. We know where the whales are before other captains are even out of bed! -- a unique Yankee Whale Watching advantage.
189 Alden Street
Duxbury, MA 02331
Phone: 781-934-6634
The museum offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions
Plymouth, MA 02360
Phone: 508-747-7533
Toll-Free: 800-USA-1620
History is just the beginning!
Bring the whole family to Plymouth, MA for some unforgettable fun! Adults and children alike will be able to enjoy their visit to Plymouth with a wide variety of activities on land or on the water. The Atlantic Ocean itself is a playground, and trips such as whale watches, lobster excursions and pirate adventures have proven popular with visitors both young and not quite as young. Our beaches and parks offer families a place to relax and enjoy the great outdoors. Edaville USA is open year-round and features a restored narrow gauge train ride through acres of cranberry bogs, and Plimoth Plantation provides a living history museum depicting life in Plymouth in 1627. Please call 1.800.USA.1620, or visit our website to learn more about these activities and others to prepare for your trip to Plymouth.
137 Warren Avenue
Plymouth, MA 02360
Phone: 508-746-1622
Living History on Land and At Sea
Visitors to Plimoth Plantation’s main campus are welcomed to the museum in the comfortable, spacious and modern Henry Hornblower Visitor’s Center where they can prepare for the quintessential, bi-cultural 17th Century experience. Start surrounded by soft furs, flickering firelight, and artfully woven bulrush mats, learning about traditional Wampanoag family life as well as the arrival of the English from an Indigenous point of view. Then find yourself immersed in the year 1627, just seven years after the voyage of the Mayflower. In the village you will be surrounded by the modest timber-framed houses, fragrant raised-bed gardens, well-tended livestock and fascinating townspeople of Plymouth Colony, the first permanent English settlement in New England.
Now come aboard and learn about the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower, the perils of maritime travel, and the tools of 17th-century navigation.
Informational Listings Courtesy of VisitNewEngland.com
88 Old Main Street
Deerfield, MA 01342
Phone: 413-775-7214
Open: Daily, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; call for seasonal changes.
21 Edwards Street
Springfield, MA 01103
Phone: 413-263-6800
Life-size statues of Springfield native Dr. Seuss and his favorite characters including Horton, the Grinch and the Lorax, greet you at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden. Then step inside the four museums where you'll find fierce Samurai armor and weaponry; an internationally-acclaimed collection of Oriental bronze, jade and porcelain; intricate Middle Eastern rugs; fine American and European paintings and sculpture; the live-animal Solutia Eco-Center; a savannah-full of animals in the multi-level R.E. Phelon African Hall; Dinosaur Hall with its towering tyrannosaurus rex; Astronomy Hall complete with a planetarium; and changing exhibits highlighting Connecticut River Valley history since 1636. Learning is more fun hands-on in the colorful Hasbro Games Art Discovery Center and stimulating MASSPOWER Science Discovery Laboratory. A variety of curriculum-based tours and programs are available.
Salt Pond Visitor Center at Nauset Road and Route 6
Eastham, MA 02642
Phone: 508-255-3421
Open: Daily, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (longer during the summer)
Forty miles of pristine sandy beach, marshes, ponds, and uplands support diverse species. Lighthouses, cultural landscapes, and wild cranberry bogs offer a glimpse of Cape Cod’s ways of life. Swimming beaches and walking and biking trails beckon visitors. The park's six oceanside swimming beaches have life guards from late June through August. Eleven self-guided nature trails are open year-round. Parking lots are open year-round, daily, 6 a.m. to midnight.
Salt Pond Visitor Center is Cape Cod National Seashore's main visitor facility, with orientation movies, a bookstore, a museum, and restrooms. The Visitor Center is also convenient to the popular 1.5-mile Nauset Marsh Trail and the Buttonbush Trail, a quarter-mile trail that features a guide rope and text panels in Braille, and the Nauset Bicycle Trail.
The Province Lands Visitor Center is located on Race Point Road, off Route 6, at the northern end of Cape Cod National Seashore, approximately one mile from Provincetown. It is open May 1 through October 31, daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Phone number is 508-487-1256.
The observation deck at this Visitor Center provides a 360-degree view of the Province Lands dunes, the Outer Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Exhibits about local plants and animals and the Pilgrim's landing in Provincetown are featured.
Other highlights of the National Seashore are the Fort Hill Area off Route 6(Eastham); the Coast Guard and Nauset Light beaches, Nauset and Three Sisters Lighthouses off Route 6 (Eastham); the Marconi Station Site(Wellfleet); the Highland Lighthouse (Cape Cod Light) and Highland House (Truro); and the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station (Provincetown).
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road, Off Rte 20
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Phone: 508-347-3362
Toll-Free: 800-SEE-1830
Old Sturbridge Village: The Story of a New Nation
Open year-round: daily 9:30am to 5pm, May-late October; call for seasonal hours.
Admission, good for two visits within 10 days: $20 adults, $18 seniors (65 and up).
Youth rate: $7 (ages 3-17). Children under 3 free.
Come play in the past with us! Our new Kidstory early learning gallery invites children to use their imaginations and thinking skills as they do chores in the farmhouse, barnyard, and country store -- all dressed in 1830s frocks and vests (bring your camera!). Out in the museum Village, play 1830s games, work a water pump, milk Holly the (life-size, resin-cast) Holstein, build a stone wall or quarter-scale snake-rail fence with lightweight materials, and visit “A Child’s Life,” our new hands-on exhibit in the Fitch House. Enjoy an overnight getaway with a family package from our Lodges, dine at one of our taverns, and shop for treasures to take home at the Museum Gift Shop and New England Bookstore.
Discovery Museums
Acton, MA 01720
Phone: 978-264-4200
This pair of museums is a two-for-one bargain for families with younger and older children. Children’s Discovery Museum is a Victorian house transformed into hands-on exhibits and activities for pre-school children. The Science Discovery Museum, a contemporary structure, invites school-aged children to experiment with science and math. Check for seasonal changes in programs and hours.
