Jay Fram
The Missouri History Museum
St. Louis is not only a great place to raise a family but also a fantastic place to entertain that family on a budget. Many of our favorite places to play are totally free or have low admission fees.
Let’s start with the city’s front yard, otherwise known as Gateway Arch National Park. Here you can stroll the grounds, take an Arch selfie, or visit the underground museum for free. You’ll need a ticket to ride the tram to the top and see which other St. Louis landmarks S you can spot from afar.
The metro area offers hundreds of other parks, many with playgrounds and nature-based play. But St. Louis parks are filled with more than swings and slides. We have two outdoor art museums where you can bring a picnic and let your kids run through the grassy galleries. Citygarden is a two-block downtown art oasis, and Laumeier Sculpture Park is its county cousin, with more than 60 sculptures scattered across acres of woods and neatly trimmed fields.
Treat your family to a stroll around the world at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Visit the Climatron’s tropical jungle, get lost in a Victorian hedge maze, and feed friendly koi in the Japanese Garden. Kids can explore caves, a treehouse, and a riverboat at the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden, which residents can access for free on select days.
Another free museum-park combo is Powder Valley Nature Center, a place where kids can learn about wild things in their own backyard. The center’s cozy birdwatching lounge and paved hiking trails make it a wonderful place to visit year-round.
Learning is super fun when you visit the History Clubhouse, a special wing of the Missouri History Museum for younger children. Kids can learn about local history through hands-on play, make crafts, and listen to storytellers.
Likewise, budding musicians can learn about St. Louis’ rich musical heritage at the National Blues Museum, where they can even jam in a jug band.
Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
Take a climb on the wild side at City Museum, a truly one-of-a-kind playscape built by artists. The building is filled with a wondrous maze of slides, tunnels, and caves built from salvaged parts and sculpted concrete, all covered in mosaics of found art.
Junior engineers can’t get enough of the National Museum of Transportation, home to real live steam engines and diesel locomotives you can step inside and pretend to drive.
Visit the award-winning Inside the Economy Museum to find out how money really works. The free museum, tucked inside the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is full of interactive games and displays. Everyone who visits gets to take home a souvenir bag of shredded money.
Take a look inside the human body and discover how to keep yours healthy at HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. Appropriately situated near the Saint Louis Science Center, the museum offers imaginative play areas, including a playground resembling a giant person, that are perfect for younger kids.
And learn about wildlife on the Mississippi and how people have interacted with the river throughout history at the National Great Rivers Museum. The museum is free and includes a tour of the Melvin Price Locks and Dam, where you can watch as barges and tugboats pass through the locks.
GO WILD
The Saint Louis Zoo tops many national Best Of lists. Admission is free, as is street parking around Forest Park. You’ll want to buy an Adventure Pass—or become a member—to score discounts on extras, such as the miniature train, carousel, stingrays at Caribbean Cove, and the sea lion show.
Grant’s Farm has the best goats in town. Originally the home of local beer baron August A. Busch, the farm is 281 acres of deer park, petting zoo, and brewery hospitality. You’ll only pay to park and get treats for the goats, camels, and parakeets.
The St. Louis Aquarium is the newest aquatic animal attraction in town. Part of the city’s historic Union Station was converted into a series of giant fish tanks and animal habitats. Kids can chat with a river otter, pet a starfish, and marvel at Shark Canyon’s 250,000-gallon ecosystem. Before you leave, see the city from the top of the St. Louis Wheel and grab a massive Freak Shake at the Soda Fountain.
Spend a day on the farm with Purina for free. At Purina Farms, near Gray Summit, kids can learn how to milk a cow, pet bunnies and chicks, and learn about the joy of adopting a four-legged friend. The dogs of Purina’s Pro Plan Performance Team train here and delight families with a show full of Frisbee-catching, obstacle course running, and dock-diving.
Look an eagle in the eye at the World Bird Sanctuary, a nonprofit refuge for injured birds of prey. Many of the feathered residents, from bald eagles to vultures, were saved by the sanctuary’s bird hospital. There are daily bird shows to help educate visitors about these fabulous creatures.
Introduce your family to colorful bugs at the Butterfly House at Faust Park. The best time to visit is around Mardi Gras, when the conservatory is flooded with giant blue morpho butterflies. And be sure to stop by the classic St. Louis Carousel, next door, where rides are just $2.
SCIENCE & IMAGINATION
The Magic House @ MADE Maker Space
Come face to face with a dinosaur, make your own Mars rover, and learn how computers work at the Saint Louis Science Center. (Admission is free, so you only need to pay to park or explore a special exhibit.)
You’ll need a whole day to explore The Magic House, a children’s museum in Kirkwood that’s full of creativity, science, and art. Traveling exhibits and hands-on experiments makes every visit a fresh adventure. Is your kid interested in art and robotics? Then check out The Magic House’s spinoff maker space: MADE for Kids, on Delmar. Both locations offer free admission on special Friday nights.
Leave your shoes at the door when you visit Myseum, an interactive museum of scientific play. Kids can run through a sea of pool noodles, build with giant LEGO, clock their speed on a radar slide, and make wonderful music on a laser harp.
Stroll to the moon and back on the Delmar Loop’s free Planet Walk. The Loop is a unique shopping-and-dining district with a scale model of the solar system built right into the sidewalk. Start at the sun by the Moonrise Hotel and walk five blocks (2,880 feet) to Neptune. Each planet has a marker with planet trivia and fun facts.
Let your kids take charge at Play Street Museum in St. Charles, a tiny village of imagination for kids under age 8. Kids can unplug for a few hours and enjoy dramatic play in wee storefronts and houses just their size.
