Tips for Family Fun in St. Louis, Missouri

Families traveling to St. Louis may have trouble fitting all the kid-pleasing activities into one trip. One of the country’s best zoos; an action-packed children’s museum (this one is for adults, too); and a Science Center top the long list.

To find many of these, head for Forest Park, a vast green swath home to some of the city’s top attractions for kids. The free Saint Louis Zoo houses more than 16,000 animals, many endangered species. Habitats are designed to replicate the animals’ native environments and so visitors can see the animals up close. Watch hippos cool off in their pools, and look for rare animals like snow leopards, Amur tigers, red pandas and Asian elephants.

Adjacent to Forest Park, St Louis Science Center is dedicated to exploring the many fields of science, from prehistoric life (kids love the automated life-sized Tyrannosaurus rex) to the solar system. Live demonstrations and lots of hands-on experiences keep kids of all ages engaged.

For some outdoor fun, walking and bike trails wind through the park, alongside the stream and around the lake. You’ll also find two playgrounds in Forest Park. Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape features a creek with logs and bridges, natural log climbing features and other activities suggested by materials from the landscape. Near the visitors center, Dennis & Judith Jones Variety Wonderland Playground is filled with swings, slides and traditional playground equipment, all fully accessible to children of all abilities.

Elsewhere in St. Louis, City Museum is housed in a former shoe warehouse, where many activities are created from relics of the city’s industrial past and discarded materials. Far more imaginative than most children’s museums, this one is as much fun for parents and older siblings. Highlights here are the Sabreliner 40 Aircraft Fuselage and four-story wrought-iron Slinky kids can use to descend from the plane. Inside the museum, a tree house with passages through giant tree trunks and slides spreads up through the second and third floors and burrows into tunnels underneath the museum like a 3-D maze. New as of July 2025 is the Labrinth, using relics of the region’s industrial heritage to create an artful and challenging maze.