Whether you’re a lifelong resident or just visiting, you may want to know where to take your child for a fun educational experience in and around Leawood, Kansas. The area features various places to visit and activities to participate in, enriching you and your child. Our Crème de la Crème team invites you to explore these seven cool educational destinations around Leawood.

TasteBuds Kitchen

TasteBuds Kitchen is a destination for kids’ cooking classes, camps, and parties. You can choose a family class or drop-off classes just for kids. You’ll learn to make dishes using made-from-scratch recipes with fresh ingredients with lessons from a friendly culinary crew.

You and your children will don stylish TasteBuds Kitchen aprons while you learn new cooking skills and taste the dishes you make. You’ll even get to take home samples during these classes that span half a day and cover three recipes per day, both savory and sweet. TasteBuds Kitchen also holds kids cooking camps during school breaks.

Location: 5336 W. 151st St., Leawood, Kansas

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

If you’re looking for a great place to see many wondrous works of art, including an art deco exhibit, an immersive Monet and friends exhibit, and a permanent collection of French paintings, plan a visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In addition, you’ll find after-school and summer programs for children and activities such as Teen Open Mic Night. These programs are geared toward children with disabilities or who are facing economic barriers. These include preschool, after-school, and summer art workshops held in the museum, at the agencies in partnership, or a combination of the two. The programs include hands-on artmaking and interactive discussions about the museum collection.

Location: 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art is a great place to see various contemporary art from around the world. Their permanent collection includes work from Native American and Latino artists, works in clay, new media, painting, photography, sculpture, works on paper, and student artwork. They have a robust offering of educational programs for youth, families, and lifelong learners. You’ll find preschool groups in conjunction with the JCCC Hiersteiner Child Development Center, giving young children the opportunity for hands-on learning experiences and the chance to focus on age-appropriate artwork.

The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art also has tours and group visits for youth, including the following programs:

• Nature in the Cities. Third-grade language arts and patterns.
• Symbols. Fourth-grade social studies.

There are also programs connecting math and science with the arts designed to connect classroom lessons with the museum experience. Tours and groups are held in cooperation with teachers. In addition, they have youth art classes and offer a free kids family guide folder and a free 3-D art hunt sketchbook. Their facilities include a carpeted classroom for building blocks and puzzles, plus a family drop-in reading space.

Location: 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, Kansas

Outdoor Education and Recreation

Outdoor Education and Recreation is held at Ironwoods Park, featuring the Alpine Towers challenge course, four cabins for overnight camping, and the Prairie Oak Nature Center. The Prairie Oak Nature Center is home to fun environmental education programming for all ages. You can find out what programs are running by stopping by the Prairie Oak Nature Center or checking the parks and recreation program guide. On top of scheduled programs, the Prairie Oak Nature Center has an on-site naturalist available to help teachers, youth leaders, parents, and organizations create a tailor-made program for their children.

Youth classes and activities are available, including outdoor education, family game nights, animal storytime, art classes, and cooking classes. Also held at Ironwoods Park are events such as:

• Campout With Dad
• Puzzle Palooza
• Doggie Dunk
• Daddy Daughter Date Night
• Breakfast With Santa
• Team Scavenger Hunt
• Into the Night

There’s also children’s tennis, soccer, pickleball, golf, and tiny tykes playtime. Ironwoods Park also has camps for all ages available.

Location: 14701 Mission Road, Leawood, Kansas

Leawood Arts Council

Leawood Arts Council holds children’s concerts, all-ages art shows, and programs for educational outreach for children and adults. All programs offered by the Leawood Arts Council are free to make art programming accessible to all residents.

Location: 4800 Town Center Drive, Leawood, Kansas

Historic Oxford Schoolhouse

The Historic Oxford Schoolhouse was used as a school from 1877 to 1955. Now it’s a historic site offering tours for you to step back in time and see old student desks, preserved artifacts, and a collection of 19th-century schoolbooks and other educational texts. Questions you may have about the schoolhouse, the community, and the history of education will be answered by the tour guide on duty.

In cooperation with Ironwoods Park, the Historic Oxford Schoolhouse also participates in the program “Passport to Adventure,” which runs from April through October and encourages residents to explore museums, parks, nature centers, gardens, and historical sites to experience nature, science, and history close to home.

Location: Inside Ironwoods Park at 147th and Mission Road, Leawood, Kansas

Regnier Family Wonderscope Children’s Museum

Regnier Family Wonderscope Children’s Museum has a bunch of indoor and outdoor exhibits, all designed with kids in mind. They also have a wide variety of educational programs. One is “Circle Time,” a structured active play program for young children. Another is a music and movement class designed to engage both hemispheres of the brain in the systematic development of five domains: cognition, fine and gross motor skills, speech and language, body awareness, and social skills.

Your child can also explore art time. Artistic activity is fun and has additional benefits of brain stimulation through colors, movements, sounds, and shapes. Art also increases neural connections, plus it exercises and strengthens the brain. You can also attend a storytime and craft program, where you’ll read aloud to your child, which helps develop their reading skills, even before they can read on their own. After each story, there’ll be creative art activity that helps boost memory skills and reinforces learning through art, dramatic play, theater, and puppetry.

Location: 433 E. Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, Missouri

As you can see, in and around Leawood, Kansas, there’s no shortage of educational places, classes, museums, and programs to stimulate your child’s imagination and help them learn new skills while having fun. Our Crème de la Crème of Leawood staff hopes you find time to explore one or more cool educational destinations.