2 Kid-Friendly Las Vegas Attractions Worth Leaving the Strip For
We've taken our kids to Las Vegas more times than I can count.
And while there is actually a surprising amount for kids to do on the Strip - hotel pools, Bellagio fountains, Circus Circus, gondola rides, M&M store, shows, and just walking around looking at all the craziness - some of our favorite Vegas memories happened when we actually left the Strip.
Two places in particular stand out: DISCOVERY Children's Museum and SeaQuest Las Vegas, which has since become One World Interactive Aquarium.
Neither one involves a fancy resort or spectacular fountain show. And you probably won't see either one on a first-timer's Las Vegas must-do list.
But with kids?
They were exactly the kind of places we needed.
And one of them somehow kept us there for almost FIVE HOURS - more than once.
DISCOVERY Children's Museum
We first visited DISCOVERY Children's Museum in April 2023, when our boys were still pretty little at age 2 and 4.
I remember going in thinking this would be a nice little break from the Strip. Maybe we'd spend 2-3 hours, let the kids play, and then move on with our day.
Nope.
We were there for almost five hours.
If you've ever spent 5 hours in a children's museum with small children, you know that's basically an entire work shift.
The surprising thing was that it didn't really feel that long because there was always something else they wanted to do.
There was SO much to touch
This is definitely not one of those museums where you're constantly saying:
"Don't touch that."
"Put that back."
"Please stop climbing on that."
Almost everything here was designed for kids to touch, build, move, experiment with, climb into, or pretend with.
The water-play area was a big hit. The kids put on little yellow raincoats and experimented with water running through pipes and channels, moving balls around and figuring out where everything would go.
And, as usual with water exhibits, they somehow still managed to get wet despite wearing raincoats.😒
There were areas where they could experiment with air and motion, cars and mechanics, building, and a mining/construction-type area where they hauled rocks around. There were also plenty of pretend-play exhibits, including a stage and costumes, an airplane cockpit and a dentist area.
That's what I liked most about this museum. It wasn't one huge attraction that held their attention.
It was a hundred little things.
Every time they started losing interest in one area, we'd walk 20 feet and suddenly -
"WAIT! WHAT'S THAT?!"
And off they went again.
We Liked It Enough to Get a Membership
By the time we finally left that first day, we'd spent close to 5 hours there.
Apparently that wasn't enough, because we ended up getting a family membership and went back a couple more times within the year.
Then earlier this year, we visited again when our boys were 7 and 5.
I was curious how they'd feel about it this time. A few years can make a HUGE different at this age, and things they could happily spend forever doing when they were little don't necessarily have the same appeal anymore.
They still loved the museum - but how they enjoyed it definitely had changed.
Instead of gravitating toward pretend play, they were much more interested in the workshops and activities that required them to actually make or figure something out.
During our visit, there were coding, slime-making and 3D printing workshops available. Our boys chose coding, which was free, and 3D-printing, which had an additional fee that I unfortunately can't remember.
They thoroughly enjoyed both.
It was one of those moments where I realized that the museum had grown with them.
On our earlier visits, they were perfectly happy putting on raincoats and playing with water or hauling fake rocks around.
Now they wanted to code something and learn about 3D printing.
Same museum. Very different kids.
And somehow, we still managed to spend close to 5 hours there again!
So although DISCOVER is fantastic for little kids, I definitely wouldn't write it off once your kids hit elementary-school age. At 7 and 5, ours still had plenty to do - their interests had simply shifted toward the more challenging, hands-on activities.
SeaQuest Las Vegas
SeaQuest was a completely different experience.
Instead of building, experimenting and pretend play, this one was about getting very, very close to animals.
Sometimes perhaps a little closer than one member of our family would've preferred. 😂
SeaQuest has since changed to One World Interactive Aquarium, but when we visited, it was still SeaQuest.
And the word interactive really is the important part here.
This wasn't simply walking past tanks and looking at animals through glass. There were opportunities to interact with and feed animals, which made the whole thing much more exciting for the kids.
And then came the birds.
There are certain family photos that require absolutely no explanation.
This is one of them.
We went into the bird enclosure and suddenly there were birds everywhere.
On our hands. On our arms. On the kids. Flying toward us. Landing on us.
And judging from my older son's face in the photos, he was reconsidering every decision that had led him to this moment. 😂
He wanted to participate... but I don't think he had anticipated quite how enthusiastically the birds would participate back.
Meanwhile, his little brother seemed considerably less concerned about the situation.
Of course.
There's something particularly funny about watching a child desperately trying to be brave while six little birds have decided his arm is now prime real estate.
But that was also what made it memorable. They weren't just looking at birds. They were standing right in the middle of them.
We Got Up Close With Some Bigger Animals, Too.
The bird encounter wasn't the only hands-on part.
We also had an opportunity to get close to a very large lizard, with a staff member right there helping the kids interact with it. Our younger one even reached out and touched it.
Looking back at the pictures, I'm slightly impressed by how calmly he did it.
And that's really what I remember about SeaQuest overall. It wasn't necessarily about seeing the largest number of animals or spending an entire day there. It was the fact that the kids got to interact with them.
And apparently discover exactly how many birds can fit on one small child's arm.
Two Completely Different Experiences
I don't think these 2 places compete with each other.
DISCOVERY Children's Museum was the place where the kids could run around, build, experiment, pretend and choose what interested them. It surprised us by becoming an almost 5-hour outing - and years later, it still did.
SeaQuest was about memorable animal encounters - the kind where you leave with photos of your child looking mildly terrified while covered in parakeets.
Both gave us something we couldn't really get on the Strip.
Sometimes It's Worth Leaving the Strip
When we first started taking our boys to Las Vegas, most of our plans naturally revolved around the Strip.
It makes sense. That's Vegas.
But after enough trips with kids, I've realized that sometimes the best thing you can do is get away from it for a few hours.
The Strip can be a LOT for little kids.
It's loud. It's crowded. There's endless walking. And even though there are plenty of things for kids to see, a lot of the time they're still just... looking.
These two places gave them the opposite experience.
Touch this. Build this. Climb in here. Feed this.
Pet this giant lizard.
Here, have approximately 12 birds land on you. 😂
Vegas with kids doesn't always have to mean finding ways to make adult Vegas work for children. Sometimes it just means getting in the car, leaving the Strip for a few hours, and letting them have a Vegas day that's completely theirs.
And in our case, those ended up being some of the days we remember most.
These are just 2 of the places that have become part of our many family trips to Las Vegas over the years. If you're wondering why we keep bringing our kids back to Vegas -- and what else we actually do with them there -- I shared much more in Why We Keep Taking Our Kids to Las Vegas Every Year.
