If you’re looking for fun and educational activities to do with your family close to Lone Tree, there are many interesting destinations. These attractions will inspire your children’s curiosity and imagination in areas like space, history, and art. Here is a list of kid-friendly museums that are so much fun, your young ones won’t even realize they’re learning while enjoying your adventures together.

Play Street Museum

Legos being turned into a park landscape at a museum in Lone Tree, CO

Lego Family Building Night. May 2014.” licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Flickr by Kiama.Library

Play Street Museum is an interactive children’s museum and educational play space in Highlands Ranch, just over 10 minutes from Lone Tree. This hands-on children’s museum stresses sensory play and child development. You can use their website to make a reservation for an hour and a half of playtime. There are also passes available that are good for five visits. Parents remain with their children in the museum to supervise their play time. You are welcome to bring in drinks, but food is not allowed in the play area.

Each location of Play Street Museum has a different theme, and the Highlands Ranch play area has a town hall theme with many interactive playsets including a town hall, a movie theater, a trolley, and a pizzeria. There is also a large building blocks table and a variety of toys, books, and crafts rotated periodically so the kids have fresh creative inspiration. There are many special or seasonal events like holiday activities, back-to-school nights, girls’ nights, creature features, and petting zoos.

Play Street Museum is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, with the last session for the day starting at 3 p.m. Admission is $13 for children ages 1 through 10 for a 90-minute session. Saturdays and Sundays are available for private parties for up to 20 children from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can choose to decorate yourself or select from a wide variety of birthday themes. There are several different party packages available and Play Street Museum can even provide the goodie bags for your guests if you prefer.

Museum of Outdoor Arts

The Museum of Outdoor Arts is a fun experience for children of all ages. The indoor museum showcases a seasonal display and contains over 100 works of art including paintings, sculptures, models, and more, featuring a  variety of local, national, and international artists. There is also a permanent display called the Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities. These unique and whimsical cabinets replicate the style of 19th-century curio cabinets and contain unusual collections of art.

You can find the museum on the second floor of the Englewood Civic Center. The inside exhibit is open on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and other weekdays by appointment. 

Marjorie Park is an outdoor museum and events venue that’s part of the Museum of Outdoor Arts. Marjorie Park is in Greenwood Village, about 15 minutes from Lone Tree. There is a series of sculptures inspired by Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” book, along with many other sculptures and outdoor art to observe. There are also family-friendly activities that take place at the park, such as music events where you can bring a picnic basket and blanket to enjoy live music in an outdoor setting. The park is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Morrison Natural History Museum

The Morrison Natural History Museum is a short drive from Lone Tree and this is a great destination if you have any dinosaur fans in your family. A fossil pit allows your kids to dig for fossils and there is a beautiful garden featuring flora from the Jurassic era. There are also many exhibits such as Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs, a room displaying what Morrison probably looked like during the Cretaceous Era, and an Ice Age room with both fossils and live reptiles and amphibians for children to examine.

The Morrison Natural History Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day and tickets must be purchased in advance. You may explore the museum on your own or take a free 60-minute tour. Tours are offered daily at 10:15 a.m, noon, or 2 p.m.  Admission is $15 for ages 12 and older, $10 for children ages 3 to 11, and free for children 2 and under.

Wings Over the Rockies

Wings Over the Rockies is an air and space museum in Denver that has dozens of exhibits in aircraft, space, and rocketry. There are hands-on learning events available in the Kid Zone for children and parents. There are also many special events such as Cockpit Demo Day, where guests can look inside featured aircraft and get a close-up peek at the instruments and control panel in the cockpit. The museum has a themed program for children ages 2 to 4 to learn about flight travel.

You can also get a thrilling sample of what space travel is like at the museum. The Virtual Reality Lounge is free with paid admission and guests sit in a swivel chair with a headset on, to experience virtually flying in the cockpit of an airplane and helicopter that performs aerobatic tricks. There is also a full-motion MaxFlight simulator which gives the virtual experience of flying 14 different aircraft or 10 different roller coasters. The MaxFlight simulator costs $7.50 per person.

For a less intense ride, try the Doron Simulator, which is a partial-motion simulator that doesn’t roll or twist but still offers some motion and an exciting jet-pilot ride experience. The Doron Simulator is $5 per person, and families of up to six people can ride together.

Admission to the museum is $9.95 for ages 4 to 16 and $16.95 for ages 17 and older. There is a discount available for seniors and active military or veterans. You can purchase tickets in advance if you desire, but walk-ins are welcome. Hours are Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. There is Crème de la Crème of Lone Tree’s list of the best kid-friendly museums to visit nearby. How did we do with our suggestions? Let us know if you visit one of these museums or if you have a favorite museum that didn’t make the list, so we can add it to future lists.