Kansas City Travel With Kids
The Cabela’s store (10300 Cabela Dr.) is filled to the rafters with outdoor clothing and gear. Kids will enjoy the wildlife taxidermy throughout the store including more than 80 deer in lifelike scenery in the Mule Deer Country Museum, the Aquarium with giant tanks full of locally found fish, and the fudge and nut shop.
Kids can scamper through room after room of vintage toys, collectibles, puppets and teddy bears at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (5235 Oak St.). Little girls in particular will be entranced by the old-fashioned dollhouses in all shapes and sizes, including one 9-foot-tall mansion complete with running water.
Teens
Hip-hop and pop divas may rule the charts today, but encourage musically inclined teens to explore musical roots at the American Jazz Museum (1616 E. 18th St.), part of the 18th & Vine Jazz District. Kansas City was a prime breeding ground for musicians creating “America’s Classical Music” in the 1920s and '30s, and exhibits focusing on greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker will be an eye-opening musical education lesson.Unleash the tribe for the day at Worlds of Fun (4545 Worlds of Fun Ave.), where fearless teens can ride hair-raising roller coasters like Prowler, Mamba, Boomerang and Timber Wolf, then experience the gut-clutching thrill of Zulu, a circular ride that spins riders upside down.
All Ages
Beautifully restored Union Station (30 W. Pershing Rd.) offers a fun family outing and is one of Kansas City’s most popular things to see. Of course, there are hands-on railroad exhibits—the Missouri Pacific Railroad, known as MoPac by train aficionados, reached KC in 1865. But there’s also a planetarium, 3D films on the Regnier “Extreme Screen” and Science City , which is loaded with interactive features.Shooters, cobbles, jumbos, toebreakers—they’re all marbles, and you’ll find ‘em at the Moon Marble Company store (600 E. Front St. in Bonner Springs). In addition to marbles that look like baseballs and eyeballs and handmade, legitimate works of art (check out Dichroic Swirl, a clear marble with swirls of translucent green), marble-making demonstrations are given on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (and sometimes on other days too).
Watching the Kansas City Royals play ball at Kauffman Stadium is a summertime tradition, and the team’s World Series win in 2015 fired up their loyal fans more than ever. If you can’t make a home game, visit the Royals Hall of Fame (One Royal Way) and learn more about Bret Saberhagen, Frank White, George Brett and other hall of famers who have worn the iconic blue uniform.
On a blazing hot summer—or frigid winter—day, while away some time at the Lakeside Nature Center (4701 E. Gregory Blvd.) in Swope Park . It not only exhibits native wildlife but is one of the state’s largest wildlife rehabilitation facilities.
Kansas City barbecue is world famous, and there are plenty of joints where you can sample it. Gates Bar-B-Q (3205 Main St.) regularly wins awards for the best ‘cue in town, and the not-so-secret secret behind their success is the sauce (original, sweet or extra hot). Regardless of your preference, it’s best slathered on ribs, and you should know the lingo—slab, short end, center cut or long end—before you place your order at the noisy counter.
Who doesn’t love munching on a giant turkey leg while wandering around looking at people dressed up in all sorts of costumes? At the Kansas City Renaissance Festival you can watch jousting knights, get a psychic reading or shop for cool crafts. It’s open on weekends from early September until mid-October.