Michigan with Kids

The Air Zoo is a unique attraction for families with kids, located just outside of Kalamazoo in Portage, Michigan. The facilities offer a new adventure in space and time, providing two centers of multi-sensory and historic experiences for visitors of all ages. Open nearly every day of the year, the Air Zoo provides a variety of exhibits and activities that teach visitors about the history of space exploration and aviation in fun and interesting ways, including piloting a flight simulator, indoor amusement park-like rides, films in the Quonset hut-style Missions Theater, interacting with the restoration team, and much more.

6151 Portage Rd, Portage, MI 49002, Phone: 269-382-6555

The Talbert and Leota Abrams Planetarium in East Lansing, Michigan is situated on the campus of Michigan State University, serving as a space science and astronomy educational resource center for the central Michigan area and an outreach of the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Abrams Planetarium puts on several planetarium shows for the public throughout the year on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as late afternoon on Sundays. There is a special planetarium show on Sunday afternoons designed for families. Visitors can also attend the public observing nights on Friday and Saturday evenings during warmer months.

755 Science Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824, Phone: 517-355-4672

The Ann Arbor Hands On Museum focuses on interactive and hands-on exhibits, aiming to help both adults and children alike discover their inner scientist by promoting scientific knowledge through education, exploration, and experimentation. The Concourse area is home to several different exhibits, including Explore Your World, Tornado, Block Party, Keep Smiling, and H2Oh. The World Around You exhibit gallery offers a variety of interactive and fun activities for kids, such as the Magnet, Climbing Wall, and Bubble Capsule exhibits. The Michigan Nature exhibit provides a true Michigan experience, featuring geology samples, native lake fish, interactive nature wall, and a soundscape.

220 E. Ann St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, Phone: 734-995-5439

The Automotive Hall Of Fame is a place that celebrates the women and men whose innovations in the automotive industry helped change the world, as well as revolutionize everyday life. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, the facility is situated just across the parking area from The Henry Ford. Within the Automotive Hall of Fame, visitors can explore the intersection of cars and the aspects of their daily lives. Exhibit galleries with both changing and permanent exhibits focus on the beginning of the automobile, the automotive industry’s rise worldwide, and the art of auto styling among several other exhibits.

21400 Oakwood, Dearborn, MI 48124, Phone: 313-240-4000

The Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park in Alto, Michigan prides itself on providing guests with hands-on experiences that are as close as people can safely get to the wild and is home to a petting zoo, an aviary, guided safari tours, a reptile house, and more. With its diverse range of animals, the Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park is sure to include animals the whole family will enjoy seeing in person, including lemurs, zebras, and wallabies. Visitors can peer into the park’s gator pond, feed the parakeets, browse for souvenirs and gifts, explore the playground, or simply relax in the picnic pavilion.

8313 Pratt Lake Ave SE, Alto, MI 49302, Phone: 616-868-6711

The Call of the Wild Museum contains a broad array of animals, activities, and habitat, including more than sixty wildlife displays, a Hands-on Learning Center, the Wildlife Theater, window displays with antique hunting and fishing items, a walk-in display with animals visitors can touch, and projected image displays, which feature an early Michigan fur trapper. Many of the animal displays include sound effects and display animals within their natural setting with a hand-painted background. There is also the Bavarian Falls Park next door offers even more fun for kids of any age, with go-karts and miniature golf.

850 S Wisconsin Ave, Gaylord, MI 49735

The Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary is designed to be a place for any amphibian and reptile to find proper care and a safe haven in which to live out the rest of their lives securely and safely. A large number of the wildlife sanctuary’s residents come from many different places for various reasons, but all needing a good home. The Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary is open from 10:00am until 7:00pm to the public on a daily basis and features both an upper level and gazebo observation deck for visitors to view the variety of wildlife that now call the sanctuary home.

1698 M-66, Athens, MI 49011, Phone: 269-729-4802

The Deer Ranch is known to be North America’s oldest live whitetail exhibit, located in the town of St. Ignace in Michigan. The grounds are home to dozens of whitetail fawns and deer native to the state, including white deer within a natural setting that visitors can feed and photograph along the ranch’s nature trail. Established in 1950, the Deer Ranch has now expanded to include not only whitetail deer, but albino deer and white whitetails as well. The property, including a unique gift shop, is open to the public daily from the middle of May to the middle of October.

1540 W. US 2, St. Ignace, MI 49781, Phone: 906-643-7760

The Detroit Historical Museum boasts that it is the only known museum that is dedicated to telling the history of the region. The museum features Signature Exhibitions that are permanent installations, showcasing over three hundred years of the rich history of the city of Detroit. These permanent exhibits include Detroit: The Arsenal of Democracy, the Legends Plaza, the Kid Rock Music Lab, Frontiers to Factories: Detroiters at Work, the Glancy Trains, America's Motor City, the Allesee Gallery of Culture, the Gallery of Innovation, Streets of Old Detroit, and the Doorway to Freedom: Detroit and the Underground Railroad.

5401 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, Phone: 313-833-1805

A trip with Diamond Jack's River Tours is a narrated, two-hour tour along the Detroit River in Detroit, Michigan. There are two docks the river tours depart from: the Detroit Rivard Plaza Dock (or also known as the Cullen Dock) and the Wyandotte Dock. Departing from the Wyandotte Dock, passengers are taken on a sightseeing tour of the sights along the Lower Detroit River, while those departing from the Rivard Plaza Dock take a tour of the Upper Detroit River. Each of the two tours with Diamond Jack’s River Tour features different attractions for guests to see in Detroit.

1340 Atwater St, Detroit, MI 48207, Phone: 313-843-9376