Northeast Ohio

Looking for something fun to do with kids in Northeast Ohio?
There are lots of interesting places to explore! Here you will find parks, museums, farms, indoor play areas, skating rinks, art centers, zoos, bowling alleys, and more. These attractions are currently divided into West, East, and South, relative to Cleveland.

***HERE is an interactive map so it will be obvious where everything is located. Please feel free to zoom in and see what is around town!

WEST:
Outdoor:
Canalway Center
Inside has exhibits, classrooms, and a store. Outside, there are trails and a pavillion with a playground.
Cleveland Zoo/ Rainforest
Lake Erie Nature and Science Center
Visitors can study a variety of (live) small mammals, fish, and amphibians; take a nature hike; enjoy a planetarium show; or take a class just about any day of the week. (Nimble visitors can also crawl through a very long, cool, hollowed-out log.)
Lakewood Park
Lakewood's largest park provides a wide variety of activity options. Top of mind for families are the fun Kids Cove playground, picnic areas, and an outdoor pool including a zero-depth entry children's wading pool.
Millstream Reservation (The Chalet)
Valley Parkway, between Routes 42 and 82. In addition to tobogganing, guests can enjoy the facility with a snack bar, two fireplaces, a large-screen television, indoor restrooms, and a main gathering area. Can be rented.
Rocky River Nature Center
Fun nature center with a hands-on children's area inside and great trails outside.
Rocky River Park
Sandy beach and a barked playground.

Indoor:
Archiver's Scrapbooking Store
Scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamping supplies, and photo restoration tools, and also offers a free workroom where customers (ages 12 and up) have access to the tools they need, right at their fingertips.
Beck Center for the Arts
The Beck Center offers educational programs in dance, theater, visual arts and music. Beck Center classes offer something for ages six months through adults, and summer camps serve children from age four to eighteen years.
Chuck E Cheese
Indoor play place and arcade.
Cleveland Zoo/ Rainforest
Firefly Mini-Golf
Located next to Dillards in the lower level of the mall. Glow in the dark mini-golf in an animal theme room.
Great Lakes Science Center
Over 330 hands-on exhibits are available, including fun learning about microbes, tornadoes, electricity, blimps, communications, the environment, and much more.
Lake Erie Nature and Science Center
Visitors can study a variety of (live) small mammals, fish, and amphibians; take a nature hike; enjoy a planetarium show; or take a class just about any day of the week. (Nimble visitors can also crawl through a very long, cool, hollowed-out log.)
Millstream Reservation (The Chalet)
Valley Parkway, between Routes 42 and 82. In addition to tobogganing, guests can enjoy the facility with a snack bar, two fireplaces, a large-screen television, indoor restrooms, and a main gathering area. Can be rented.
Pump It Up (Middleburg Hts)
Inflatables. Can be rented for groups.
Rocky River Nature Center
Fun nature center with a hands-on children's area inside and great trails outside.
Studio 11
Family classes in martial arts, Capoeira, and yoga.
Swings N Things
Inside, guests can attack each other in paintball and laser tag games, bumper boats, an kid's play area full of tubes, slides and tunnels.
Young Chef's Academy
A cooking school created just for kids 3-15.

EAST:
Outdoor:
Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Hershey Children's Garden is the first public children's garden in the State of Ohio and one of the few of its kind in the United States. It has a wheelchair-accessible tree house, cave, dwarf forests, scrounger garden, worm bins and watery bog.
Garfield Reservation
This Cleveland Metropark boasts paved trails, picnic shelters, a nature center, a small playground, and, in the middle of it all, six quiet nature trails.
Holden Arboretum
Rare plants, rare beauty, long hiking trails, amazing stroller- and wheelchair-friendly gardens. Free under age 6.
James A. Garfield Site
Includes a carriage house, Garfield's campaign office, a 75-foot tall pump house/windmill, plus a barn, and chicken coop.
Lake Farmpark
See 50 different breeds of farm animals and many different kinds of plants. Participate in hands on activities like milking. Seasonal events are listed on website.
Lakeview Cemetary
Lake View Cemetery offers a diverse year-round schedule of educational and cultural events.
North Chagrin Reservation
Nature Center with indoor classrooms, live owls, a and wetland boardwalk trail.
Penitentiary Glen
Hiking trails, cross country skiing, an indoor nature center and you can ride a miniature train in spring/summer.
Patterson's Farm
You can play in our hay stacks, try our tree house in the woods,wander through our corn maze and take a wonderful nature hike through the ravines and hills of Geauga County. The admission fee includes a wagon ride. For a fee you can ride a horse drawn wagon to a pumpkin patch to pick a little pumpkin on weekends. During public hours you can also paint a pumpkin for a fee.
Preston's H.O.P.E. Playground
Abled/Disabled playground with 2 story play houses, ramps, swings, tunnels, and slides that are appropriate for children from Preschool through School age.
Shaker Lakes Nature Center
West Wood Nature Center

Indoor:
Ambassador Lanes
44 lanes, a small arcade, a party room, and birthday party options.
Barnes and Noble (Woodmere)
Storytimes, Games, and Character appearances.
Chuck E Cheese
Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Cleveland Children's Museum
Cleveland's Healthspace Museum
Hands on, health information exhibits. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Learn about Archaeology, Astronomy, Ecology, and Wildlife. In the children's exhibits: A large, easy-to-use microscope allows everyone in the family to look at various specimens without squinting or straining. Touch shells, cultural artifacts, fossils, shark teeth, an alligator skull and much more. Play the Birdsong Piano and hear a symphony of bird calls. View amphibians, butterflies (in season), Hissing Madagascar Cockroaches, a tarantula, gecko and more.
Cleveland Playhouse
In addition to adult main-stage shows, they have a children's theatre, student matninees, classes and summer camp
FunTime Inflatables
At Funtime we offer a wide variety of Inflatable Fun. Our Funtime Play Arena is filled with Inflatable Jumpers, Slides, Mazes and Games.
Garfield Reservation
This Cleveland Metropark boasts paved trails, picnic shelters, a nature center, a small playground, and, in the middle of it all, six quiet nature trails.
Height's Parents Center
Drop in play center with parenting resources and a toy lending library.
Joseph-Beth Bookseller
Daily storytime beginning at 11am. The approximately half-hour storytime is generally geared for the preschool set. A "Just for Kids" event is scheduled every Saturday, and teens and tweens can join in for a fun event (or two) each month designed just for them.
MOCA
Museum of Contemporary Art. Kids under 12 are FREE.
North Chagrin Reservation
Nature Center with indoor classrooms, live owls, a and wetland boardwalk trail.
Penitentiary Glen
Hiking trails, cross country skiing, an indoor nature center and you can ride a miniature train in spring/summer.
Playground World (Bedford Heights)
Indoor playground with large wood playsets and lots of toys. FREE play 10:00-11:00 Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Randall Park Mall
Really empty mall with huge ramps and fountains. Good free place to run around in the winter-time. Possibly an inflatables place inside.
Roseland Lanes
Shaker Family Center
Drop in play sessions and open gym are available for children under 6.
Shaker Heights Main Library
Offers Play and Learn Station for preschool kids from 10:00-12:00 on Tues, Thurs, and Sat. AND 6:00-8:00 Tues. and Thurs.
Studio 11
Family classes in martial arts, Capoeira, and yoga.
Twinsburg Library
West Wood Nature Center
Wildwood Cultural Center

SOUTH:
Outdoor:
Akron Zoo
Animals and many hands-on exhibits.
Brecksville Nature Center
Small Nature Center, pavillion, 4 swings, and trails. Special programs and classes are offered.
Crown Point Ecology Center
Fun N Stuff
Indoor and outdoor fun- skating, mini golf, rock wall, inflatables, laser tag, video games, kids play area.
Hale Farm and Village
Hale Farm & Village is a mid-19th-century outdoor living history museum. Visitors experience the different lifestyles, beliefs, attitudes, popular culture, and craftsmanship of the time. Costumed "pioneers" tell their stories in first-person, bringing the time period to life.
Heritage Farms
Family run farm. Seasonal picking. Group tours are available.
Kendall Lakes Winter Sports Center
Free place to sled. Snowshoe, cross-country ski, and skate rental. Indoor shelter with fireplaces.
Lock 3 (Akron)
Nature Realm
The Nature Realm includes the 9,400-square-foot Visitors Center, an underground building with exhibits and displays; a 16-acre arboretum with more than 300 species of shrubs and trees; a rock and herb garden; the Kremer Display Garden, which features easy-care and low-maintenance perennials; observation decks, three ponds, hiking trails, and a tall grass prairie.
North Park (Brunswick)
They have two play areas for the kids (barked), a pavillion, and a wallkway along a lake. Usually there are ducks.
Wolf Creek Environmental Center
The center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday closed. Since Wolf Creek is a wildlife sanctuary, we are endeavoring to minimize disturbance to the natural communities. For that reason, pets, fishing, and picnicking are not permitted.

Indoor:
Air Adventures (Broadview Hts)
Inflatables
Akron Civic Theater
Amazone (Medina)
Indoor playground with laser tag area and arcade.
Anything Personalized, Children's Art Center
Children create art work to be applied through sublimation technology to a variety of items available for purchase. T-shirts, mugs, etc.
Blue Heron Book Store
A spiral staircase is hidden in a thick (plastic) tree trunk, leading up to a lofty room where kids can browse more puzzle/book titles, read, and generally feel like they've arrived in their own cool space.
Chuck E Cheese
Crown Point Ecology Center
E J Thomas
Fun N Stuff
Indoor and outdoor fun- skating, mini golf, rock wall, inflatables, laser tag, video games, kids play area.
Hudson Library
Born To Play Room for kids under 5. Also has a teen room with TV, computers, booths, comfy chairs, etc.
Imagine That Pottery
Paint your own pottery studio.
Inventure Place (Akron)
Inventure Place is a museum of creative thinking. This facility is full of exhibits designed to inspire ingenuity, and also includes events and competitions.
Kendall Cliffs (climbing gym)
Our gym has a combination of textured plywood and "natural" rock surfaces. We have 7,000 square feet of climbing surface with a peak height of 35 feet.
Kent State Recreation and Wellness Center
Child activity center, climbing wall, swimming pool.
Nature Realm
The Nature Realm includes the 9,400-square-foot Visitors Center, an underground building with exhibits and displays; a 16-acre arboretum with more than 300 species of shrubs and trees; a rock and herb garden; the Kremer Display Garden, which features easy-care and low-maintenance perennials; observation decks, three ponds, hiking trails, and a tall grass prairie.
Pump It Up (Stow)
Inflatables
Skate Station (Brunswick)
Roller skating. They offer homeschool days and "learn to skate" classes for toddlers and kids.
Turle's American Gym
Drop in OPEN GYM. Also offers classes.
Wolf Creek Environmental Center
The center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday closed. Since Wolf Creek is a wildlife sanctuary, we are endeavoring to minimize disturbance to the natural communities. For that reason, pets, fishing, and picnicking are not permitted.