Cheap and Fun Activities in Idaho with Kids

The Aquarium of Boise is a marine sanctuary that supports over 250 different species of animals and marine life in a modern 10,000 square foot facility. Established in 2011 to protect and preserve aquatic and terrestrial animals and to educate the public about the importance of conserving our natural environment. The aquarium is home to a wide diversity of animals and marine creatures, ranging from lizards and iguanas to snakes, tortoises, sharks, pufferfish, rays, and freshwater turtles. There is also a bird aviary where guests can feed lories by hand and a touch pool with sea urchins, starfish and other sea creatures. The Aquarium of Boise is open to the public Monday through Sunday.

64 N Cole Rd, Boise, ID 83704, Phone: 208-375-1932

ARTitorium on Broadway offers a fun, interactive art adventure for kids. Located in downtown Idaho Falls, ARTitorium is a family-friendly art-based attraction that engages children in educational and entertaining art experiences. A variety of fun-filled adventures are offered, including art classes, interactive exhibits, and field trips, as well as music, performances, and films at the 136-seat MC Theater. The art gallery features collaborative murals, a green screen studio, stop-motion animation stations, art-making software, and noise-making installations where visitors can make art at a creation station, perform in front of the green screen, and fly down the turbo twister slide. ARTitorium on Broadway is open from Monday through Sunday.

271 W Broadway St, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, Phone: 208-552-1080

Located in Julia Davis Park, the Boise Art Museum is Idaho’s premier art museum that showcases a variety of contemporary artwork in several exhibitions. Housed in a beautiful art deco building with an outdoor sculpture garden, the museum presents 15 shows annually, which focus on a wide range of aesthetic styles, global cultures, and art movements. The Boise Art Museum also offers a wide variety of educational and public programs, including adult art classes and artists workshops, camps for children, self-guided visits and guided tours, and a variety of special events throughout the year, including Art in the Park.

670 Julia Davis Dr, Boise, ID 83702, Phone: 208-345-8330

Boise National Forest is a 2,203,703-acre evergreen coniferous forest in southwestern Idaho. Established in 1908, the wood is managed by the U.S. Forest Service in five different districts, namely the Cascade, Emmett, Lowman, Idaho City, and Mountain Home ranger districts. The forest is home to over 9,600 miles of rivers and streams, and 15,400 acres of lakes and reservoirs, and contains 75 percent of the world’s Sacajawea's bitterroot population, a flowering plant endemic to Idaho. Recreation facilities in the forest include hiking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, and flatware boating, horseback riding, motorized off-road driving, and camping in more than 70 campgrounds.

Lowman, ID 83637

Located in Lakeview Park with beautiful views of Lake Pend Oreille, the Bonner County Historical Museum is a community museum run by the Bonner County Historical Society that explores the history of Bonner County through a variety of exciting and informative exhibits and displays. Featured shows tell the story of the Kalispell and Kootenai people who were the longest residents of Bonner County and how they made a living from farming, mining, and logging. Lakeview Park features a range of amenities, including a children’s playground, tennis courts, picnic areas, and the Native Plant Society arboretum. The Bonner County Historical Museum is open Tuesday through Friday and the first Saturday of each month.

611 S Ella Ave, Sandpoint, ID 83864, Phone: 208-263-2344

The Children's Museum of Idaho is a fun, educational environment in which children are inspired to learn through play. The museum features a variety of interactive exhibits that are designed to encourage a hands-on approach to learning and stimulate young minds in a safe, engaging atmosphere for children between the ages of two and eight years. The museum aims to build an atmosphere that fosters positive intergenerational relationships by encouraging adult-child interaction and create an unplugged zone where phones and electronic devices are discouraged. It also offers educational field trips and group visits for all ages.

790 S Progress Ave, Meridian, ID 83642, Phone: 208-345-1920

The City of Rocks National Reserve, also known as the Silent City of Rocks, is a national reserve and state park that is renowned for its unusual rock formations and excellent rock climbing. Located two miles north of the south-central border with Utah, the reserve lies next to the Castle Rocks State Park, and both are feature incredible granitic rock formations from the Archean Green Creek Complex and the OligoceneAlmo pluton. The reserve boasts over 1,000 traditional and bolt-protected rock-climbing routes, some of which used to be some of the most challenging courses in the US in the 1980s. The City of Rocks National Reserve is also home to a wide variety of fauna and flora, providing excellent wildlife, bird and wildflower watching.

Malta, ID 83342, Phone: 208-824-5901

Resting between the small towns of Arco and Carey in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho, the Craters of The Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national preserve that rests at an elevation of 5,900 feet above sea level. Established in 1924, the preserve encompasses three major volcanic lava fields and is home to a well-reserved flood basalt area with excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, tree molds, and lava tubes. The park also covers about 400 square miles of pristine sagebrush steppe grasslands and is open to the public, year-round.

Idaho, Phone: 208-527-1335

The Crystal Gold Mine in Kellogg takes visitors on a journey into the depths of a famous hard rock mine in the Silver Valley. It is thought that gold prospector, Tom Irwin, discovered a gold-bearing vein in the silver valley in 1879. Guests don hard hats and miner’s lamps on guided underground tours, which explore the world of gold mining and how the miners traced quartz veins by candlelight using 1880 methods, tested for gold and drilled with single and double jacks. The mine features spectacular stalactite crystals of smithsonite, and visitors can see gold and wire silver in the quartz vein. Crystal Gold Mine Tours are offered seven days a week.

Crystal Gold Mine Tour, 51931 Silver Valley Rd, Kellogg, ID 83837, Phone: 208-783-4653

The Don Aslett's Museum of Clean is a modern museum that explores the world of cleaning with an array of exhibits showcasing historic cleaning techniques and tools, brooms, and tubs. The museum is based on a 75,000 square foot complex that focuses on all things to do with cleaning, including exhibits featuring vacuums, washers, trash cans, toilets, brooms, tubs, military helmets, and more. The vacuum exhibit features more than 1,000 vacuum cleaners that span a century from 1869 to 1969, while an Old Store dating back to the 1900s features intriguing cleaning products. Other fascinating items in the museum include toilet models from Queen Elizabeth of Austria, a Texas-sized trash can, brooms and tubs from all over the world, and how military helmets were used by soldiers for bathing, cooking, shaving, and washing.

711 S 2nd Ave, Pocatello, ID 83201, Phone: 208-236-6906