Utah with Kids

Utah is a kid-friendly state.

City Diversions

In and around Salt Lake City, start with two very kid-friendly museums in Gateway Mall. The Discovery Gateway children’s museum has a Life Flight helicopter, pinewood derby racing, a story factory, a construction site, and much more—best suited to children under the age of 11. The Clark Planetarium opens kids’ eyes to the universe and natural phenomena through its interactive exhibits and 3-D and IMAX theaters. The Leonardo, an inspirational museum combining science, art, and technology, is on its own a good reason to bring kids to Utah, and the Natural History Museum of Utah, Red Butte Garden, Tracy Aviary, and Hogle Zoo are also year-round destinations within the city limits—bundle up in the winter and have any one of them virtually to yourself. See bison in a natural setting on Antelope Island (if visiting in October, don’t miss the annual bison roundup).

In Ogden, you can fly like a bird in the wind tunnel, learn to surf, or rock-climb indoors at the state-of-the-art Salomon Center. Young children will enjoy the models and playground at the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. Older kids can catch the Raptors who are, along with Salt Lake’s Bees and Orem’s Owlz, a fun, inexpensive, entertaining minor-league baseball team.

Natural Wonders

Utah’s outdoor attractions provide plenty of outlets for kids’ energies. Hikes offer larger-than-life rewards that can even lure kids away from their iPads. Each of Utah’s five national parks has special youth-oriented programming and a Junior Ranger program that provides them with an interactive booklet of activities and tasks to complete so that they have fun while learning about environmental responsibility.

In Arches, hardy kids over the age of 6 can likely make the 3-mile round-trip hike to Delicate Arch. Make Sand Arch a destination for littler ones—it’s right off the road and offers a massive “sandbox” of soft red sand. In Zion, kids 10 and up can trek up the Virgin River toward the Narrows. At Bryce or Zion you can go horseback riding to places that might be tough for little legs.

There are dinosaur excavation sites near Vernal, St. George, and Price. Moonlit hikes and telescope tours are nighttime programs offered by park rangers at Goblin Valley State Park. Moab has kid-friendly bike trails, and you might find that your BMX-riding teen is more comfortable on the Slickrock Trail than you are.

Finally, if you have swimmers, great places to cool off in hot summers include Lake Powell, Bear Lake, and glacier-fed rivers and creeks that fill national forest land across the eastern half of the state. And floating in the buoyant waters of the Great Salt Lake should be on every kid's bucket list.