Kids in Lasvegas 

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Mixed in the adult glitz, glamour and gaming, there are plenty of things to do with kids in Las Vegas. Whether your kids are looking to go on rides, watch a performance, go on a hike or hang out above the city, Las Vegas has something for everyone. Below is a list of family friendly activities for you to visit on your next family trip to

Situated under a massive pink dome behind Circus Circus, this five acre indoor theme park is a great place for kids and adults to enjoy rides and games all year long. The theme park offers rides for every age and range from family and kid rides up to thrill rides and roller coasters. To go along with all of the rides, there are fair games, arcades, miniature golf and a 4-D movie adventure. It costs nothing to enter and only costs to ride and play. If you plan on spending some time at the theme park, we recommend getting the all day ride pass. The Adventuredome should be at the top of your “things to do with kids in Las Vegas” list. See our article on the family things to do at Circus Circus or visit the Adventuredome website for more information.

In a huge glass dome just past the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel is the Conservatory & Botanical Garden which has 140 horticulturists arranging stunningly beautiful seasonal scenes. These scenes use flowers, plants, trees and constructed pieces, like lighthouses, gazebos and bridges, to create unique visual scenes. Along with the season scenes, the Bellagio also changes the scenes for holidays. The Conservatory & Botanical Garden is open 24 hours a day, and is free to enter. The amazing scenes and the ton of photo opportunities should have you putting the Conservatory on your list of things to do with kids in Las Vegas.

The Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay brings you into the unique underwater world that is filled with dangerous predators. With 14 exhibits that feature 100 sharks, Piranhas, rays and crocodiles, as well as, the less intimidating exotic fish and sea turtles. The touch pool and the 1.3 million gallon shark exhibit with a walk through tunnel are the highlights not to be missed at the Shark reef. For more information, visit the Shark Reef Website.

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Winding through the Venetian Hotel are the man made canals where gondolas are guided through by a personal gondolier who sings you Italian songs during your ride. Our gondolier had a great voice, sang a wonderful rendition of “That’s Amore” and rocked the boat which delighted our daughter. There is a choice of indoor and outdoor gondola rides and each gondola seats up to four people and last about 14 minutes.

Known as the Entertainment Capital of the World, Las Vegas lives up to its nickname by offering an incredible variety of spectacular shows. While most of the shows are geared towards adults, Las Vegas does have plenty of shows that are appropriate for the whole family. Whether you and the kids are in the mood for a Broadway production, the magical world of Cirque du Soleil, celebrity headliners, magicians, comedians or variety shows – Las Vegas has what you are looking for. Our top recommended family friendly show in Las Vegas is Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil, which is an amazingly beautiful show with non-stop breathtaking acrobatic and artistic acts. See our Best Las Vegas Shows for Kids and Family article for a list of the best family friendly Las Vegas shows.

Winding its way around the outside of the New York New York Hotel, this roller coaster will give you and the kids a nice view (if you can keep your eyes open long enough) of the Las Vegas Strip. The Big Apple Coaster has an opening drop of 144 feet, speeding around the track maxing out at 67 mph and inverts you with a loop and 180-degree twist. Near the coaster entrance is the arcade which has video games and midway style carnival games.

Outside of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel is the half scale replica of the Eiffel Tower. At the top of the Eiffel Tower is an open-air caged observation deck that offers amazing 360° views of Las Vegas. You start with a glass elevator ride up 460 feet above the Las Vegas Strip where you will get amazing bird’s eye view of strip, the Bellagio fountains and the valley. Although it opens in the morning, the Eiffel Tower Experience is especially radiant at night when all the Vegas lights illuminate the city. Visit the Paris Hotel Website for tickets and more information. Do note that they do not allow baby strollers up to the observation deck.

A short moving walkway ride from the Las Vegas Strip at the front of The Venetian Resort is Madame Tussauds Las Vegas. Have fun posing and interacting with the amazingly life-like celebrity wax figures situated in multiple themed rooms ranging from television and film to music and Las Vegas legends. Grab some of the props to become one with your favorite celebrity – throw on boxing gloves to go a round with Muhammad Ali, put on a cape and sit on Evel Knievel’s motorcycle or grab the microphone on stage with The Rat Pack. For more information visit the Madame Tussauds website.

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The Mirage Hotel and Casino has three great free attractions for the family to enjoy. Behind the front desk is a beautiful 20,000-gallon saltwater aquarium filled with artificial corals and around 450 tropical fish. Close by the aquarium in the lobby of the hotel is the rainforest atrium which has lagoons, waterfalls, lofty palms and beautiful plants. Out in front of the hotel is the volcano show which is a Las Vegas Strip icon. The Mirage volcano erupts nightly every half hour (schedules vary) shooting fire in the air and spewing smoke with thunderous sound effects. See our Mirage Hotel attractions article or visit the Mirage Hotel website for more information.

The Flamingo Hotel has a beautifully lush outdoor animal habitat that is unique, fun and absolutely free. Nestled in the lush wildlife habitat are the signature Chilean flamingos, turtles, koi fish, parrots and other exotic birds. Along with the animals is the wonderful environment with lovely foliage, waterfalls, fountains and ponds. The Flamingo Wildlife Habitat is open daily from 8 a.m. to dusk and they also have two live feedings every day. For more information visit the The Wildlife Habitat Website.

This animal sanctuary is located inside of The Mirage Hotel and Casino and focuses on dolphins and big cats. The Dolphin Habitat is a 2.5 million gallon tank that houses the bottlenose dolphins and is surrounded by lush foliage and palms. There are no “shows”, but there are times when the dolphins do tricks with the trainers. There is also an underwater viewing which is a great place to watch the dolphins play and interact with one another. The Secret Garden is where the variety of big cats are housed. Amongst the beautiful greenery and waterfalls you will see panthers, tigers, leopards and lions. Not only will the kids have fun watching these animals, they will also learn about them.

Circus Circus Las Vegas Hotel has a variety of free circus acts that perform daily starting at 11 a.m. at the center stage of the Carnival Midway. Some of the circus performances you will see there include flying trapeze, juggling, aerial silks, slack wire, circus clowns and much more. Before and after the circus acts, you and the kids can enjoy playing carnival type games to win prizes at the Carnival Midway. The circus acts will definitely entertain the kids and should be on your short list of things to do with kids in Las Vegas. See our article with more details and other fun things to do at the Circus Circus Hotel.

Outside of the Bellagio Hotel is a huge manmade lake that has over a 1, 000 fountains which provide a wonderful show of choreographed dancing water, lights and music. Watch geysers shoot lit water hundreds of feet in the air while listening to the music it is in sync with. The free shows takes place every half hour until 7 p.m. and then every 15 minutes until midnight. Visit the Bellagio Hotel Website for show times and more information.

Just north of the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip is the Coca-Cola Store, a.k.a. Everything Coca-Cola, which has a vast array of Coca-Cola brand apparel, accessories, housewares and other novelty items. Shopping for Coca-Cola merchandise is not what got the store added to our list of family things to do in Las Vegas. The second floor of the store has a beverage bar and seating area where you can order an Around the World Tray. The Tastes of the World tray consists of two trays of eight (sixteen total) sodas that are popular soda drinks from various parts of the world. Along with the soda trays you get a list of all the drinks and what country they are from. It is a whole lot of fun, especially for the kids, to try various drinks from different countries. See our Tastes of the World at the Coca-Cola Store article for more on this fun family activity, the drink menu and store information.

Next door to the MGM Grand is M&M’s World which is four stories of candy and M&M gift items. The floors are filled with M&M themed mugs, luggage, stuffed animals, clothes, cookware, office supplies and a whole lot more. They have an area where you can personalize your own M&M’s and watch them being made as well as an area called “M&M’s My Color” that has a wall with dozens of tubes filled with different color M&M’s that you won’t get out of a regular bag. It is a fun place to find gifts to bring back home, your kids will have a blast looking around and you can expect that they will want to buy something whether it is candy or a souvenir.

Red Rock Canyon is a beautiful place for families to enjoy the Nevada desert and is only 25 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip. For a nominal entrance fee vehicles can drive the one-way 13-mile scenic drive and stop along the way at the many hiking trails and rock climbing areas. Hiking trails range from easy to strenuous, but each family should find plenty of places along the way for kids and adults alike to hike and climb.

Although this is the most expensive activity listed here, our helicopter tour is our number one experience on our “Things to Do with Kids in Las Vegas” list. We have been on a few helicopter tours in Vegas that ranged from short flights over the Las Vegas Strip to the amazing flights that soar over and into the Grand Canyon. Our favorite tour is the Grand Canyon Picnic Tour by Sundance Helicopters. Our tour started with a limo ride to the airport, hopping aboard the more luxurious EC130 helicopter, flying over the Mojave Desert, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and then following the Colorado River into the Grand Canyon where we landed for a picnic. What a wonderful family experience this was and we highly recommend adding this to everyone’s bucket list.

Just outside of Las Vegas in the red mountains high above Boulder City is an outdoor adventure that you and the family will love. Flightlinez Bootleg Canyon has four separate zipline runs that cover over 8,000 feet of the Mojave Desert and can reach speeds of up to 60 MPH. Start off with the zipline safety flight school then hop aboard a bus for a scenic ride up the canyon. Once at the top of the mountain, your tour group will take a short hike through the canyon to your zipline launch platform. Once everything is all set up by your zipline tour guides and you are all strapped in, you will be launched and sent soaring high above the canyons at thrilling speeds. During your three hour zipline tour from the mountain heights, you will get great aerial views of the Las Vegas Strip, Lake Mead and Boulder City. See our article, video and pictures on our Flightlinez Bootleg Canyon zipline adventure.

If you and the family are looking for some thrills and excitement, then head on over to Downtown Las Vegas to ride the SlotZilla Zipline and Zoomline. Just east of the Fremont Street Experience is a massive 12-story slot machine shaped launch tower that has two zipline options to choose from. The SlotZilla Zipline has riders in a seated position and launches you from 77ft above the street and lands you half way down Fremont Street, between the Fremont and Four Queens casinos. If that’s not enough of an adrenaline rush for you, there is the SlotZilla Zoomline which launches you in a prone (flying superhero) position from around 10-stories high, at speeds up to 40 MPH and travels the entire distance of the Fremont Street Experience. Why walk down Fremont Street when you can fly over it on a zipline. Try it at night during the Viva Vision light show to make it extra special. See our article on the SlotZilla Zipline and Zoomline for more information as well as a GoPro video of our ride on the Zoomline.

If you are looking for a pure adrenaline rush, the VooDoo ZipLine will oblige by giving you a mix of speed and height. Starting from the VooDoo Lounge, which is on the 51st floor of the Rio Hotel, the VooDoo ZipLine will send riders soaring higher than 500 feet in the air and at speeds of up to 33 miles per hour. This zipline starts with a fast 800 foot downward ride over to the Ipanema tower and then a slower 800 foot return trip going backwards. Don’t think the slower return trip is any less scary than the faster initial ride. We recommend the VooDoo ZipLine for those families with kids (pre-teen +) who are looking for a fun and hair raising ride high above Las Vegas. Before and after your zipline ride, the family can hang around the lounge area on the 50th floor and take in the lovely views of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip. For more information visit the VooDoo ZipLine Website.

While jumping out of a plane might scare you and is something you would never do with your little kids, indoor skydiving is a great alternative that the whole family will really enjoy. Adults and kids alike can get the adrenalin rush of the freefall experience in a vertical wind tunnel that churns out 120 mph winds. Floating, flying and falling are all part of the fun in this unique experience that is minutes away from the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. See our article on our Vegas Indoor Skydiving experience.

The Las Vegas desert provides the perfect place for families to get out of the city, strap into a dune buggy (or an ATV) and go wild. Just about a half hour drive north of the Las Vegas Strip is SunBuggy Fun Rentals which offer a variety of off road experiences that range from the casually paced tour to the high-speed aggressive chase runs. We chose the most popular Vegas Mini Baja Chase, which is fast-paced 60 minute dune buggy run where you follow (or try to follow) your expert dune buggy guide as they carve up the desert. We drove our fast buggies over dunes, sideways up the hills, through gravel & creek beds and so much more off road fun. Your older teens with a valid driver’s license can drive themselves or your younger kids can be a passenger while you drive. The younger passenger kids will enjoy the experience just as much as they get all the ride excitement without any of the driving task. With 15,000 acres of Las Vegas desert terrain to drive through and each tour guide making their own paths, you and the family will have a unique full throttle adventure. SunBuggy has options for one, two and four person dune buggies, day or night tours as well as a Family Fun Romp tour with your whole family in the same vehicle.

The Hoover Dam is a wonderful place to take the family to learn about its construction, see how it operates and to take in its awe inspiring views in and around the dam. To make the trip to this National Historic Landmark even more amazing we recommend booking a tour that includes the Colorado River float. The river float has you boarding a motorized inflatable raft at the base of the Hoover Dam and giving you and the kids a close-up, unique and beautiful view from the bottom of the dam as well as a float down the river. Our half day tour with Pink Jeep Tours included a drive to and from Las Vegas in their pink luxury off-road vehicle, a 20 minute river float, the Hoover Dam tours and some free time to explore the dam and its surroundings.

Just a couple of blocks over from the Fremont Street Experience is Container Park, which is a unique and family friendly open-air mall made from shipping containers. There is a variety of restaurants, boutique shops, entertainment and a great interactive playground for the family. The playground has a huge Treehouse with a 33 foot slide, bridges, an interactive NEOS play system and foam building blocks. At the entrance of Container Park, everyone will get a kick out the 35 foot tall praying mantis sculpture that shoots flames from its antennae. There are also free live concerts, family friendly events and seasonal family movie nights and holiday celebrations. Visit the Container Park website for restaurant, shop, event and other information.

If you and the kids are seeking a bit of speed, this indoor go kart raceway will have you flying around the track at speeds of up to 45 MPH. Race on the large indoor race track against your family and friends on high tech electric go karts the blaze through the turns, curves and straightaway’s. At the end each driver gets a printed SpeedSheet which shows your average lap time, fastest lap time as well as the overall race results. See our article on the Pole Position Raceway along with a GoPro video of one of our races.

About 15 minutes from the south of the Las Vegas Strip is Wet ‘n’ Wild Water Park which boasts more than 25 slides and attractions. This water park has many exciting slides for the older kids and adults looking for a thrilling ride, like the six story vertical drop slides of Canyon Cliffs. For a slower pace there is Colorado Cooler, a 1,000-foot lazy river and the Red Rock Bay wave pool. For the younger kids there is Splash Island which has kid friendly slides, fountain streams and a giant dumping bucket. For more information visit the Wet ‘n’ Wild Las Vegas website.

If you are a fan of reality shows Tanked or Pawn Stars, then visiting the Las Vegas shops where the shows take place might make for a fun day with the kids. The Gold and Silver Pawn Shop from Pawn Stars in just north of the Stratosphere Hotel. After a wait to get in to the pawn shop, you will step foot into familiar TV land. You will see a lot of other visitors, more folks buying souvenirs than pawned goods and, most likely, the non-TV staff of the shop. Even without the stars of the show there, it is fun just being in the shop and seeing items that you watched them buy in an episode. Acrylic Tank Manufacturing from Tanked is a few minutes off the strip and is a lot less glitzy and touristy. Although we can’t guarantee you will see anyone from the show, we were fortunate enough to meet with Brett who was super nice and gave our daughter a picture signed by the staff. See our article on our visit to Pawn Stars and Tanked shops for more information and pictures.

A short drive off of the Las Vegas Strip is the Silverton Hotel and Casino which has a great free aquarium for the kids to enjoy. The 117,000-gallon reef aquarium has over 4,000 tropical fish along with stingrays and sharks. The aquarium also features stingray feedings and live mermaid shows. Close to the aquarium is a fresh water aquarium that is filled with koi fish. See our article on the Silverton Aquarium for more pictures and details from our visit.

Las Vegas Family Vacation Guide and Travel Tips

See our complete Las Vegas with Kids Guide, with our categorized lists of Las Vegas’ best family friendly activities, restaurants, hotels, kid friendly pools, and family shows. Our all-in-one family guide will help you plan that perfect Las Vegas vacation with your kids.

If you know of any family friendly things to do with kids in Las Vegas that we didn’t list, feel free to leave a comment with your suggestion or email us.

Las Vegas Panorama photo courtesy of Mike Fard | Adventuredome, Shark Reef Tunnel, Big Apple Coaster, Mirage Hotel lobby, Dolphins, Trapeze and Bellagio photos are courtesy of MGM Resorts International | Venetian Hotel Gondola photo courtesy of Las Vegas Sands Corporation | Eiffel Tower Experience photo courtesy of Paul Mirfin | Vegas Indoor Skydiving photo courtesy of Fred Morledge | Wet ‘n’ Wild photos courtesy of Wet’n’Wild Las Vegas | Silverton Aquarium photo courtesy of Silverton Casino Hotel

Flightlinez Bootleg Canyon Zipline Video and Review

Visiting Tanked & Pawn Stars Las Vegas Reality Shows

Indoor Go Kart Racing at Pole Position Raceway

I have a passion for finding fun things to do, good restaurants and places to stay while traveling with my family and friends. Since it takes a lot of research and exploration to find these family friendly places, I wanted to share my findings with others to make it easier for them to plan their next getaway.

Hey Joe, this is one of the best post I have read. Thanks for sharing such good information about the places of Vegas.

This has got to be the most thorough post I’ve ever read for things to do for families in Las Vegas! I LOVE the section on things to do with kids off the strip! Totally going to check out Container Park and Treehouse Playground and been meaning to do Hoover Dam too! Thanks so much!

Hi Lora, So happy that you enjoyed the list. Your family should have a blast with the Container Park and the Hoover Dam tour. Feel free to reach out to us if you want any help planning for your Vegas trip. I have more activities coming up for this article, so check back here or email me. Enjoy!

Hi, excellent information for someone like me a vegas Virgin planning a 2016 trip with family.

I plan to get married in October 2016, just wondering if you know of any place we can go at night to have a few drinks etc that allows kids? Somewhere with some live music perhaps, even a casual restaurant that will fit the bill.

I am pretty sure that Las Vegas doesn’t have an open container law, so it is fairly easy to enjoy a drink with the kids around. You can walk along the Las Vegas Strip or Downtown and easily grab a drink to enjoy as you stroll around. Downtown has places to easily grab a drink as you walk along and you can enjoy the Viva Vision light shows and live music concerts that they have. If you are looking to have a drink while eating with the kids, there are plenty of restaurants that you can try. For a casual place to have a bite, a couple of drinks and will keep the kids entertained (no live entertainment though), we recommend trying out Shake Shack which serves wine, beer and beer floats along with delicious burgers and a fun location on the Strip. Container Park in Downtown has live entertainment, family movie nights and a Treehouse for the kids, so just check their entertainment calendar to see what is going on during your visit. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any other questions about planning your family trip to Vegas.

Thank you so much for doing all the legwork for our next holiday! Such a comprehensive list. Looking forward to seeing more great travel posts from you.

Thanks so much for such fantastic information! We are looking at doing a States trip with our kids (we will be coming from New Zealand) and would love to do Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. I do love the sound of the Helicopter Picnic in Grand Canyon – definitely something we would never forget (if we can afford it)!

How many days do you think we need to do Las Vegas and the helicopter tour to Grand Canyon? Trying to put together an itinerary and it is so hard to know how many days we will need in each place.

I am glad you liked our list of family activities and the Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour is a great bucket list activity that your family will love and remember fondly. If your only main activity when visiting Vegas is the helicopter tour, I would stay in Vegas for three days with your four hour helicopter tour being the middle day. If you are looking for doing more half day activities (Red Rock Canyon, Adventuredome, Hoover Dam Tour), then I would add in an additional day for each. There are plenty of smaller activities to fill out your days, but try not to pack too much into each day as that can wear the kids, and even yourselves, out pretty quickly. There are plenty of fun free sights and activities in Las Vegas, so that can offset the higher price of the more expensive activities. We also have a

Las Vegas Family Vacation Guide article that can point you to great family friendly restaurants, hotels, shows and much more. I hope this helps your trip planning and let us know if you need any other help.

Hi Joe, great article. I think you should add in the lion habitat ranch. Not to far from the M casino. My son loved it there and they also offer private tours.

I’m so glad I found this article! My husband has a work trip in May and I really wanted to bring our kids. Everyone is advising me against it but there is more to Vegas than stripclubs and smoky casinos. Thanks again for the awesome input! On a side note I did the helicopter tour with my husband several years ago and totally agree it was worth every penny. Amazing experience!

Thanks for sharing great ideas to make this possible! :)

Hi Joe, My husband and I are taking our twin grandchildren to Las Vegas in late May. We will be celebrating their 13th birthday while there and were wondering if you could suggest a really fun place to take them for dinner? Thanks for your help.

Family Restaurants in Las Vegas. Here are a couple of my suggestions for a fun dinner for their birthdays: 1) Texas de Brazil is an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse that has a wide variety of delicious slow-roasted cuts of beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and Brazilian sausage. It has a really fun atmosphere and the kids love the assortment of food they get to try as well as the delicious desserts at the end. 2) If you are looking for more action during your dinner, Tournament of Kings will get you dinner and a show – just don’t expect the meal to rival the restaurants. This dinner and show has you cheering for your knight as you watch them compete in sword fighting, jousting and hand-to-hand combat. Hope this helps and wishing you the best on your Vegas trip. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

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