children's museum · $$ · since 1984
Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus
Hands-on museum for the newborn-to-eight crowd, with a big outdoor Joy Park
On the west bank of the Platte between Elitch Gardens and the aquarium, the Children's Museum is a 9-acre campus built for kids from birth to about eight: a climbing 'Altitude' tower, a real teaching kitchen, a water lab, an art studio, and Joy Park, a wide outdoor play landscape with a stream and zip line that opened with the 2015 expansion. Admission is $19.75 for ages 2 to 59 and $17.75 for one-year-olds and seniors; babies are free, and adults are not admitted without a child. Outside food is allowed, which matters at $20 a head. It is a summer Denver Trolley stop and a short walk from the Downtown Aquarium.
Why go. The best rainy-day answer for small children within a mile of LoDo.
Arrive at 9 when it opens and do the indoor exhibits first, then Joy Park; the free Joy Park Friday nights are the cheap way in on a summer evening.
A short walk from Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus
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