We’re giving a vacation to our kids for Christmas this year and we can’t decide what to do. Please seed us with ideas. What are your favorite kid-friendly vacation activities? Kids all below 10yo
Consider reaching out to public services or companies in the area you’re visiting. Some thoughts include large fire departments, water purification plants, power plants, etc. These places will often allow and welcome folks to come and stop by to visit (or even tour).
The kids loves seeing the huge industrial machinery and the construction vehicles. The workers love having someone worship them for 20-30 minutes. It can be a great time
Indoctrinate your children with a love of trains and publicly-owned utilities :back-to-me-shining:
There’s probably no official way to request a tour, no. So it’s not “legit”.
It’s more about taking initiative and trying to connect with someone who works in that space, has some available time (this is the biggest obstacle but plenty of folks have some time), and appreciates it when other people express a passion or appreciation for their work or craft (which applies to most folks).
An easy example is that fire departments will often let kids come and check out the ladder trucks. They’ll even bring them out to public places like a grocery store and let the kids get super close.
I had a great time camping with my younger siblings a couple months ago. We went to a national forest and grabbed a site, I brought my dog and we brought her with us while walking around looking for mushrooms. Fun times.
National monuments are also a good visit. I still remember visiting the Hoover Dam and stuff like that when I was a teenager. Just avoid war memorials and all the propaganda that goes along with them and you’re gucci.
It depends on where you live. Museums can be fun, local events like corn mazes can be a lot of fun too. Sometimes nearby farms will host things like that , but it’s like I said. It all depends on where you live.
We’d like to stay on the east coast of the US, I think. Within a day’s drive or maybe a train ride.
Why go there when you can visit Wisconsin for shittier maple syrup, less snow, and uhhhh CHEESE!
Seriously it’s known for cheese because it’s the only state in the US that takes cheesemaking seriously and can expertly & faithfully replicate most famous cheeses throughout the world.
I hate to say it but if you’re near to DC it can be a good trip for kids. Lots of museums, some of them free, and a ton of public parks and memorials. Of course a lot of them are going to be jerking off the founding fathers and whitewashing history, but it might be a good chance to teach your kids about the other side of our nation’s history. But there is enough stuff to do that you could probably completely avoid that kind of stuff all together. I can give a few more specific suggestions if you end up wanting to go there, lmk
I always rode trains wherever I went as a kid. Of course I have always loved trains, but most kids under 10 like trains anyhow.
