Texas has no shortage of museums. If you are traveling with children, many of Texas’ top destinations have excellent, highly rated children’s museums. Some of these children’s museums are so highly rated, they could be the REASON to travel to these cities.
Wherever we travel, we always make sure to research and check out the local children’s museum. In Texas, Houston’s has been our favorite so far, followed closely by The Thinkery and the DoSeum. What we love about many of these museums is how they have activities for kids from age 2 till about age 10.
In our list, we will go over several of the most popular children’s museums in the State of Texas. We will give an overview and highlight what we liked best if we’ve personally been to that museum. Hopefully our guide will encourage you get in the car, visit a new city, and check out one of these fantastic children’s museums.
Texas Children’s Museums
- Children’s Museum Houston (Houston)- By far our favorite in Texas. This museum is often found on lists of nationally ranked children’s museums. There are three levels of fun and learning, plus an outdoor play area. Our boys tend to spend most of their time in the lower level, where much of the STEM activities are located. There’s an entire room where kids (and adults) can create and launch rockets, build and test parachutes, construct and race lego cars, and more. We will spend over an hour in that room. Other popular exhibits are the Challenge Course, Kidtropolis, FlowWorks, and more. We typically spend 2-3 hours here! Search for Houston hotel deals here.
- Perot Museum (Dallas)- The Perot is not what one would traditionally call a children’s museum. However, there are plenty of exhibits here to amaze and inspire young ones, especially if they are into STEM type activities or subjects. Some of the exhibits that we enjoy are the dinosaurs, the earthquake simulator (it REALLY shakes you!), the planets and stars area, and the engineering and innovation hall. NOTE: There is technically a dedicated children’s museum for ages 5 and under within the Perot. It is one small section within the larger Perot Museum. Check out Dallas hotel deals here.
- The Thinkery (Austin)- It surprises us that you don’t see The Thinkery when you read lists of the best children’s museums in the US. This place is great. Our favorite area here is The Spark Shop. Open several hours each day, Spark Shop is an immersive workshop area where kids and their parents are encouraged to create and build together. Build and fly gliders, engineer a car from random parts, imagine and create pieces of art…let your minds to the work! Other favorite areas are Currents (water exhibits), The Light Lab, and their Backyard (awesome three story playscape). Check out Austin area hotel deals here.
- DoSeum (San Antonio)- Located in San Antonio’s museum district, you can easily create a fun weekend getaway with the Witte Museum of Natural History and the San Antonio Zoo all in the same area. The DoSeum is definitely named appropriately. This children’s museum has a large focus on DOING rather than just LOOKING. The Spy Academy is popular with our boys. Innovation Station introduces kids to tools and simple machines and encourages them to create, innovate, and build. Force Course is an area that teaches children about the hows and whys of motion. Gears, pulleys, and other mechanical pieces encourage kids to figure out how forces work. Search San Antonio hotel deals here.
- Galveston Children’s Museum (Galveston)- Typically people go to Galveston to hit the beach! But it does rain at the beach from time to time! And as crazy as it sounds, sometimes kids get bored of the beach. If that’s the case, come visit the Galveston Children’s Museum! Exhibits include Our Town (an interactive mini Galveston), a Building Zone, Stroke of Genius art creation zone, Tinker Workshop, Explore and Discover and several more zones to allow your kids to play and work their imaginations. Check out Galveston hotel deals here.
- The Woodlands Children’s Museum (The Woodlands)- This children’s museum has more of a play focus, though there are still some educational elements as well. Exhibits include Little Ocean Wonders, Pretend Playhouse, Play Cafe, Splish Splash Water Play, Dream and Build and many more. Search for The Woodlands hotels here.
Summary
We suggest making plans to visit the children’s museums listed above. These museums are enough to warrant a road trip weekend getaway on their own. To make things even better, all of the above locations typically have many other near-by activities for kids to fill out either a spontaneous or planned weekend trip. Fun and learning all in one!
