Child friendly activities

Doesn't even have to be in the Denver Metro area. I like a good drive. I have my 5 year old with me for the next month with out mom and her little sister and want to make sure she has a good time. It is her first time being separated from her sister or her mom for anything longer then part of a day.

Zoo is always a good place for her to spend a day wondering around. She does like that. The children museum is the suck. Seriously worthless if you ask me.

Any fairs, rodeos, carnivals what ever going on with in about 1-2 hours from Denver or in Denver area? I think she is right on the edge of being old enough to go shooting with a 22 and am thinking of picking one up for her. Only 130 bucks at the base. But not actually certain how much she would like it.

Are you familiar with Jump Street? It's an indoor trampoline park. My brother in law used to manage one of them before going back to school. Definitely worth a look, any kid would love it.

Museum of Natural History
Fishing
Cave of the Winds
Seven Falls
Garden of the Gods
State Fair starts August 23rd.
Lots of various county fairs are going on now.

Meh, I'd pass with 7 falls.

Also more simple things like swimming pools, ice rinks, roller rinks (thinking of things my 5 year old daughter likes)

There is the railroad museum in Golden that seems to be popular with the kiddos.

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Originally Posted by jreifsch80

Also more simple things like swimming pools, ice rinks, roller rinks (thinking of things my 5 year old daughter likes)

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I like that, kid is an absolute klutz though. Seriously, she has trouble walking on dry ground in tennis shoes with out falling down.

Kind of far away (Pueblo), but this place is GREAT! Good place to spend a winter day with the grandkids.

http://www.sdc-arts.org/buellchildrensmuseum.html

The Douglas County Fair & Rodeo is going on August 8-11 in Castle Rock:

http://www.douglascountyfairandrodeo.com/

Jefferson County fair and rodeo is this weekend.

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Originally Posted by alan0269

The Douglas County Fair & Rodeo is going on August 8-11 in Castle Rock:

http://www.douglascountyfairandrodeo.com/

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I am going. For one reason only. It has a rolling picture of the fair on the main page and the first one that came up was two ok looking women with the byline of "Cowboys aren't the only ones who ride at this rodeo."

Thornton rec center has about the best playground ever.
childrens museum is very interactive. Lots of fun for kids, especially her age.
Aquarium, zoo, history museum, baseball game.

She might even enjoy helping you wrench on cars, you never know!

Wild Animal Sanctuary is cool

http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/


Butterfly Pavilion or Tiny Town maybe???

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Originally Posted by sniper7

Thornton rec center has about the best playground ever.
childrens museum is very interactive. Lots of fun for kids, especially her age.
Aquarium, zoo, history museum, baseball game.

She might even enjoy helping you wrench on cars, you never know!

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It was one of my thoughts, but I am not here on weekends. I might bring her down on her off days. I have the engine I need to take down to the block and get worked on so I can sell it. Give her an impact gun and let her go at it.

http://thewildlifeexperience.org/
This place is in Parker and pretty cool.

http://www.serenityspringswildlife.org/

http://wolfeducation.org/

http://www.worldwariiaviation.org/ - probably not a girl thing, but you never know.

Tour the Olympic Training Center.

Starsmore Discovery Center

Monkey Bizness. Good way to drain some energy.

http://www.monkeybizness.com/

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Originally Posted by tmleadr03

The children museum is the suck. Seriously worthless if you ask me.

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Really? That's sad, I remember having good times there as a kid ~20 years ago or so (not that I remember what those good times WERE, just that I enjoyed it lol).

If you're willing to drive, they recently (within last year) re-opened the Discovery Center (or "Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, as I guess it's called now) up in Fort Collins. My coworker said his kids enjoyed it, and they even have a neat dome theater in there which I've checked out. http://www.fcmod.org/

Don't forget a brewery tour day! Avery, Coors, New Belgium and the like....

Erm, brewery tours aren't exactly 5-year-old friendly. Perhaps a young teen (even if they don't get to sample), but I think 5 would just get bored.

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

Really? That's sad, I remember having good times there as a kid ~20 years ago or so (not that I remember what those good times WERE, just that I enjoyed it lol).

If you're willing to drive, they recently (within last year) re-opened the Discovery Center (or "Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, as I guess it's called now) up in Fort Collins. My coworker said his kids enjoyed it, and they even have a neat dome theater in there which I've checked out. http://www.fcmod.org/

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I may be tainted by spending a few weekends at The Exploritorium in CA as a kid. That place was very cool.

How about bowling.

Broomfield Rec is pretty fun for kids. They have a great pool/water park.

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Originally Posted by Scanker19

Monkey Bizness. Good way to drain some energy.

http://www.monkeybizness.com/

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I second this place along with "Jump Street".

My kids love Monkey Bizness. The one on Colorado is a bit more little kid friendly, however the one in Centennial is definitely big kid oriented. We are members to the train museum in Golden, and as corny as it may seem, its actually pretty cool if you like really old historical stuff. Plus the kids can touch and climb all over everything. They have some working model trains there as well. If you're looking just to burn some energy there is the play place at the Cherry Creek Mall and a great kids museum in Lafayette called World of Wonder, again lots of stuff to touch and play with. Kids Museum downtown Ive heard is OK, my wife says its expensive. BassPro Shops has the fish tank and usually some kid friendly activities on the weekends. http://denverkids.com/ has some good ideas and coupons.

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

Really? That's sad, I remember having good times there as a kid ~20 years ago or so (not that I remember what those good times WERE, just that I enjoyed it lol).

If you're willing to drive, they recently (within last year) re-opened the Discovery Center (or "Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, as I guess it's called now) up in Fort Collins. My coworker said his kids enjoyed it, and they even have a neat dome theater in there which I've checked out. http://www.fcmod.org/

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I helped install the system that runs the dome theater.. I got to walk through the museum while it was being constructed up to the day before it opened. The museum is designed to appeal to kids and learning, there is a lot of interesting stuff for kids there.

Put my 5yr old in the pool and she thinks she had the best day of her life. She's also bugging me to take her fishing.

Best bet? Find another 5 year old girl (like mine) with a closet full of princess dresses and a dad who liked guns (like me). Organize a play date for the dads to talk guns. The kids could run around, too.

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Originally Posted by tmleadr03

Doesn't even have to be in the Denver Metro area. I like a good drive. I have my 5 year old with me for the next month with out mom and her little sister and want to make sure she has a good time. It is her first time being separated from her sister or her mom for anything longer then part of a day.

Zoo is always a good place for her to spend a day wondering around. She does like that. The children museum is the suck. Seriously worthless if you ask me.

Any fairs, rodeos, carnivals what ever going on with in about 1-2 hours from Denver or in Denver area? I think she is right on the edge of being old enough to go shooting with a 22 and am thinking of picking one up for her. Only 130 bucks at the base. But not actually certain how much she would like it.

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My 4 yr old has a chipmunk .22 he loves it.

Pirates cove in Englewood could be fun. I've never been there as I don't have children but I used to play softball right by it. Not as big and crazy as Water World but still more fun than just a pool.

http://www.piratescovecolorado.com/s...740&page=41147

Ton of great suggestions here. Second the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Hudson, also have a Crickett rifle that I would be happy to loan.

I heard a commercial on the radio that CSPD and CSFD were going to have vehicles in a shopping mall (I25, north side of town) parking lot this Saturday for kids to climb on, and other associated activities. My google-kata is weak tonight, can't find a link with details.

Ended up at the Douglas County Fair today. She had a blast! We got there about 930 and didn't leave till 430. Probably only sat down for about 40 min total the entire time. The drive home was kinda quiet...

Wife went to Denver county fair our daughter and it was the same thing. A full day of fun. I think my daughter liked the Denver fair better than the stock show even. They are held at the same place. I think it ends tomorrow. Definitely check it out next year. My wife got to hold a Tiger and ride a camel. Neither of which I saw at the stock show.

State fair in Pueblo is coming up.

http://www.butterflies.org/

Butterfly Pavillion

Alex LOVED it.


and then there is a day shooting with dad

Boondocks - Thornton
Water World - Northglenn-ish (Federal Heights)
Hike - Brainard Lake, etc.
Kayaking - Boulder Resivoir, Cherry Creek etc.
Rafting - Canyon City
Camping - Estes Park area etc.