Oklahoma with Kids

Alabaster Caverns State Park

Located in Freedom, Oklahoma, Alabaster Caverns State Park is home to one of the world’s biggest natural gypsum caves. A rare delight, this is the only gypsum cave open to the public in the nation. The Park offers one-hour guided tours that begin at nine in the morning and end at four in the afternoon. Spelunking or wild caving is also a popular attraction for kids here, there are four spelunking caves that range from 550 feet to1,600 feet in length. Twelve tent sites, eleven RV sites, and a variety of group shelters that include grills, electricity, and water are also featured at the Park. Several hiking trails, picnic areas, and a volleyball court are also provided.

217036 State Highway 50A, Freedom, OK, Phone: 580-621-3381

American Banjo Museum

Housed in a distinguished 21,000-square-foot property, the American Banjo Museum honors the rich and vibrant spirit of the banjo. Located in Oklahoma City, this museum will shock and awe children with its impressive collection of banjos, in fact, it’s the largest in the world. The museum’s collection features over 400 instruments, instructional materials, printed music, recordings, video, film, memorabilia, and ephemera pertaining to the banjo. Displays feature replicas of the first banjo’s made by African slaves and how they’ve been re-developed into the mid-19th century. The primary pieces in the collection are ornately decorated banjos that were made during the1920s and 1930s in America’s Jazz Age.

American Banjo Museum, 9 East Sheridan Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK, Phone: 405-604-2793

Arbuckle Wilderness Park

Located in Davis, Oklahoma, just an hour outside of Oklahoma City, Arbuckle Wilderness Park features over 200 acres and is home to hundreds of animals from five of the seven continents. Open year-round, this historic park has an array of local and exotic animals including kangaroos, rhinos, water buffalo, alpacas, American bison, axis deer, blackbuck antelopes, and waterbucks. Kids will enjoy a variety of animal encounters including feeding the giraffes as well as activities like the gem mining adventure, car safari, and the reptile exhibit. The Park also includes a walk-thru zoological area and a gift shop that features hats, shirts, and stuffed animals.

6132 Kay Starr Trail, Davis, OK, Phone: 580-369-3383

Cherokee Strip Museum

Cherokee Strip Museum is nestled on five acres of land in Perry, Oklahoma, roughly an hour away from Oklahoma City. The expansive site provides great insight into the culture, daily lives, and events of the great Cherokee Nation and features exhibits of the Otoe-Missouria Indians extraordinary beadwork. Cherokee Strip Museum also showcases what daily life on the farm looks like through its replicas and exhibits including a farmhouse porch and chicken coup equipped with the necessary tools needed for farming. There is also a dressmaker’s shop and one-room schoolhouse with a chalkboard, wooden desk, and old-fashioned wood-burning stove. Kids will even get the chance to see what kinds of toys were used back then.

2617 Fir Street, Perry, OK, Phone: 580-336-2405

Har-Ber Village Pioneer Museum

Located in its namesake town, Har-Ber, Har-Ber Village Pioneer Museum provides visitors with a glimpse into how life was back in the 1800s and 1900s with its exhibits and historical buildings. Kids will enjoy the interactivity of this live-action museum which features 16 log cabins, a jail, and a schoolhouse and actors recreating live scenes in traditional garb. The exhibits and buildings display a variety of collectibles and antiques from the 19th and 20th centuries from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the grounds and they can also walk the two-mile, Nature Trail which is free to walk.

4404 West 20th Street, Grove, OK, Phone: 918-786-6446

Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum

Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum is proud to be the place “where children play to learn and adults learn to play” making it the ideal spot for a fun family day. The expansive museum features over 42,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space where kids can explore career-based exhibits including firefighter, pilot, and news anchor among others. This is a hands-on learning environment that allows children to really immerse themselves in various activities. There is also a 13,500-gallon water tank that is home to a multitude of aquatic life inside the museum. Outside there is a large play area equipped with the SuperSonic Express, a riding train, and miniature homes.

1714 Highway 9 West, Seminole, OK, Phone: 405-382-0950

Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse

Situated in Enid, Oklahoma, Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse is a fun-filled museum where art and science collide providing over one-hundred hands-on activities. Their exhibit highlights include the Critter Clubhouse featuring vibrant fish and an array of reptiles like lizards and snakes. For the more artistic kids, they can play around with activities like the Giant Lite-Brite where they can make some amazing neon-colored masterpieces. The Power Tower – a climbing structure and Tinkering – a builder’s workshop is great for kids who love being active and using their hands. The Warehouse also features an outdoor science playground with a three-story wooden castle equipped with slides, bridges, mazes, swings, a dinosaur dig, and a water table.

200 East Maple Avenue, Enid, OK, Phone: 233-2787

National Wrestling Hall of Fame

Located on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater is the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Every year members who have shown outstanding leadership, sportsmanship, and/or provide major contributors to the sport of wrestling get inducted into this Hall of Fame. One of its most notable inductees is none other than the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. One of the most prestigious awards given is the Order of Merit, it is presented to the person who makes a significant contribution to the sport. The museum is open during home meets so visitors will need to check the wrestling schedule before the visit here.

405 West Hall of Fame Avenue, Stillwater, OK, Phone: 405-377-5243

Oklahoma Aquarium

Thriving to educate children of all ages with an interactive approach to aquatic conservation, Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenkins, teaches kids about the “blue planet”, to help them to better understand aquatic life. Offering a variety of age-appropriate programs, like the Swim Into Science: Behind-The-Scenes Tour, specifically designed for 2nd-6th graders, allows children to venture into the wet lab. This program shows how the tanks and animals are taken care of. Perhaps the most popular tour is the Completely Cartilaginous: All About Sharks. This tour will give a more complete study as to why sharks, do what they do.

300 Aquarium Drive, Jenkins, OK, Phone: 918-296-3474

Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden

First opening its gates to the public in 1902, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden (OCZBG) houses over 1,900 animals on 1,190 sprawling acres. Located in Oklahoma City, OCZBG offers a number of exhibits that educate and inspire children of all ages to want to learn about the animal kingdom. A favorite attraction is the Great Escape – a tropical rainforest that a family of orangutans, gorillas, and rowdy chimpanzees call home. The Zoo and Botanical Garden also has a Children’s Zoo where kids can interact with a few of the friendlier animals including monkeys and flamingos. There is also a play stream in this area.

2000 Remington Place, Oklahoma City, OK, Phone: 405-424-3344

Oklahoma Railway Museum

Located in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Railway Museum is an exciting attraction that offers fun for the whole family. Ideal for children of all ages, the museum features a variety of locomotives and train artifacts including passenger cars, freight cars, and an authentic steam engine. It also has a variety of restored structures including the Oakwood Depot – a restored station, the last remaining section of the Union Station Canopy, a 1913 Pullman Palace sleeper car, and the 100-foot Frisco Turntable. The museum is available for group tours and on select days of each month visitors can enjoy a 40-minute train ride on a vintage diesel locomotive pulling passenger coaches.

3400 Northeast Grand Boulevard, Oklahoma City, OK, Phone: 405-424-8222

Oxley Nature Center

Encompassing 804-acres in Mohawk Park, Oxley Nature Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma is a wonderful destination for children who enjoy nature. The Nature Center offers a wide variety of special “walks” ideal for all ages and interests. These include the Full Moon Walk which takes place in the evenings and focuses on all other sense besides sight, the Butterfly Walk, and the Bird Walk which is led by an Oxley staffer. Other “walks” include the Audubon Walk which is geared towards older kids and the Botany Walk. The Nature Center also has Second Saturday Sketchers and a Discovery Club for kids from Pre-K to Second Grade.

6700 Mohawk Boulevard, Tulsa, OK, Phone: 918-596-9054

Science Museum Oklahoma

Since its inception in 1958, Science Museum Oklahoma has been enriching the lives of all who visit. Featuring innovative ways to for kids to understand science, the museum offers a smART Space program. Located on the museum’s second-floor art and science merge as kids get hands-on with interactive exhibits. SMO also features a number of camps for ages pre-K through 6th grade. The camps are tailored to age groups and offer different themes like Wizarding Prep School for the Pre-K kids to Species Oddities for 4th-6th grade kids. SMO also features The Garden, an outdoor area dedicated to various types of gardens including herb, native plants, Japanese, and water gardens.

2020 Remington Place, Oklahoma City, OK, Phone: 405-602-6664

Shattuck Windmill Museum

In the Northwest corner of Oklahoma, Shattuck Windmill Museum in Shattuck, sits on four acres of land that abuts the highway. The museum pays homage to a time when this desolate land was bare of trees and humans. The museum has windmills donated from all over the state, with plaques describing where they originated from and the type of windmills they are. Historically, the purpose of these windmills was to extract water from the ground. This enabled farmers to water fields, provide water for livestock to drink, and use for household and drinking purposes. This cool museum is free of charge.

1201-1299 Main Street, Shattuck, OK, Phone: 580-938-5291

The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center

Named after merchant, Jesse Chisolm, The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Duncan, tells the story of how and why this trail was so important to the nation’s beef market. The museum pays homage to the men, women, and children who rode through and eventually settled in this once harsh area. Providing a hands-on section, the center allows visitors to ride a bronco, rope a longhorn steer, and create a “brand” for their animal. The Garis Gallery showcases a large collection of Native American and Western art. Children ages four and younger have free admission. Students have discounted fees.

1000 Chisholm Trail Parkway, Duncan, OK, Phone: 580-252-6692

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

How many kids have imagined themselves in a rodeo? At The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, kids realize dreams can come true. The museum, built in 1955, houses 30,000 thousand examples of American Indian and Western artwork. Designed to honor the Cowboy, the venue has over 200,000 square feet, displaying a large collection of photos, guns, and even the different types of barbed wire that were used on ranches. A slew of annual events, like the Annual Chuck Wagon Festival, keeps guests coming back year after year.

1700 Northeast 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, Phone: 405-478-2250

Tiger Safari Zoological Park

Featuring fewer animals than the typical zoo, Tiger Safari Zoological Park in Tuttle makes up for it by allowing a more personal approach to interacting with the animals. One unique way to experience the park differently by providing visitors an opportunity to stay the night in an African Safari Hut. The park has two-African bush huts that circle a lagoon, featuring an African-style landscape complete with long grass and thorn trees. Tigers are the main attraction at this venue, and what better way to see them than witnessing a Tiger feeding. See the powerful jaws of these animals being fed close up.

963 Country Street #2930, Tuttle, OK, Phone: 405-381-9453

Tulsa Air and Space Museum

Imagine flying a Bell 47-K Helicopter or a USAF Fighter Jet. The Tulsa Air and Space Museum (TASM) has always been about educating youth about the dynamics of aircrafts and flying. The museum teaches kids Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), plus a hands-on, interactive approach to flying. Featuring a guided tour, visitors experience what it’s like to fly in a hot air balloon through a simulator. The F-16 wind tunnel simulates being in the cockpit while flying this magnificent machine. TASM also gives visitors a chance to experience what it’s like to use the Space Shuttle’s Robotic Arm.

3624 North 74th East Avenue, Tulsa, OK, Phone: 918-834-9900

Tulsa Zoo

Open every day except Christmas, Tulsa Zoo provides entertainment to families with children 364 days of the year. Tulsa Zoo offers a better experience than just walking around and seeing animals. The zoo offers an array of activities and events for the entire family. Yoga at the Zoo provides classes for kids to learn basic yoga poses. This class includes dancing and story time. The animal exhibits rival any zoo with exhibits from Africa and Asia. The Africa Palins exhibit has antelope, white rhinos, and of course lions. The Asian exhibit features Asian elephants and the endangered snow leopard.

6421 East 36th Street North, Tulsa, OK, Phone: 918-669-6600

Woolaroc Ranch Museum and Wildlife Park

Frank Phillips had entertaining, educating, and preserving the West’s history in mind when he built the Woolaroc Ranch Museum and Wildlife Park in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Ideal for kids of all ages, the ranch is in Northeastern Oklahoma, Osage Hills, and provides a wildlife preserve on 3,700 acres of rugged land. The ranch is home to exotic and native animals like elk, bison, and longhorn cattle that roam freely in the wide-open meadows. The museum houses Native American art, artifacts, and Western art. The museum also houses a variety of colt rifles and a monoplane. This historic museum is free for kids 11 and younger.

1925 Woolaroc Ranch Road, Bartlesville, OK, Phone: 918-336-0307