KidsOutAndAbout.com's Family Travel Guide to Cleveland

We offer an open-ended learning environment giving children the opportunity to imagine, experiment, problem-solve and communicate – building skills for a 21st-century learner. We are an advocate for self-directed play as one of the best ways for a young child to learn. We are a museum for all children – of all abilities, backgrounds, and ages. In our beautiful, historic new home, we respect not only childhood but also the parent and caregiver as the child’s first teacher. The entire family is welcome and will feel comfortable in the new CMC. It’s a place for families to play, connect and learn together in an environment designed to excite, enrich and inspire.

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium is filled with intriguing aquatic life from the Great Lakes and colorful sea creatures from around the globe. From weedy seadragons to a giant Pacific octopus, you can see more than 2,700 animals representing 320 species. Many of the exhibits in our 8 galleries offer unique views–including an 11,000-gallon touch pool inhabited by cownose, southern and Atlantic stingrays and an 175-foot seatube that takes you to the ocean floor where barracuda, pufferfish, angelfish and 3 species of shark swim beside and above you. Although we love a good selfie in the shark exhibit, we encourage guests to unplug and reconnect with the marine world and each other. Interactive opportunities abound and knowledgeable guest experience associates are stationed at every turn, answering questions your smartphone cannot, like “How old is that frog?”, or “Don’t you think that fish looks a lot like my grandpa?” So, whether it’s going nose-to-nose with a blue tongued skink, getting a ticklish mini-manicure from a cleaner shrimp or talking to a SCUBA diver about the massive green moray eel that just whooshed by her in our 230,000-gallon shark exhibit, we invite you to spend some quality time with us because nature is a curious thing.

At the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, we believe that discovery starts with you. Explore our exhibits, meet our wild animals, take a hike, join a class—all while creating meaningful memories. We make science relatable by cultivating your curiosity. When you visit the Museum, you’ll have the opportunity to delve deep into the past in our dinosaur hall, discover the outer reaches of the Universe in the Shafran Planetarium, and experience natural wonders in outdoor galleries. Children can experience hands-on learning in Smead Discovery Center, where the motto is "please touch!" Traveling exhibits bring the world to Cleveland with an ever-changing variety of new subjects to explore.

Visiting Cleveland Botanical Garden is a captivating way to enjoy the great outdoors. Whether you want to experience a rotating roster of seasonal activities or retread your favorite attractions, we’re excited to be your destination to learn, explore, and grow. Rain or shine, flowers are always in bloom at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Enjoy the diverse plant and animal life in the Costa Rica biome or the stunning Madagascar Glasshouse before heading outside to enjoy the exterior gardens, which include dozens of winding trails through diverse landscapes, from wooded glens to manicured Japanese zen gardens and a Children’s Garden straight out of a fairy tale.

Tour this restored 618-foot historic ship and see what life was like on board a working Great Lakes freighter. Explore the 1925-built Mather from stem to stern and see its huge cargo holds, brass and oak pilot house, elegant guest quarters and four-story engine room. Walk the decks and marvel at the “engineering firsts” that helped transform Northeast Ohio into a great industrial center. Experience the golden era of steamships on one of the best. In town for the 4th of July or Airshow? Get great seats aboard the Mather! **Photo by Kay from Goal of Losing

The Cultural Gardens are a symbol that nations and people can share the same space in peace. We strive to live our mission of “peace through mutual understanding.” The Cleveland Cultural Gardens are one of Northeast Ohio’s oldest and most beautiful treasures. Some 33 dedicated gardens, designed and cultivated by distinct cultural or nationality groups, adorn the drive along Martin Luther King Boulevard and East Boulevard in Rockefeller Park. Founded in 1916, the Cultural Gardens are unique to the world. They represent the diversity and multiculturalism that is Cleveland, and bring to life the Gardens’ mission, “peace through mutual understanding.” They also tell the story of our region’s immigrants. Depicted in the gardens are the poets, philosophers, peacemakers, composers, scientists and others who have contributed to world culture. The Gardens are home to Goethe (German Garden); Yeats (Irish Garden); Chopin (Polish Garden); Dante (Italian Garden);  Nikola Tesla (Serbian Garden); Nizar Qabbani (Syrian Garden); Mark Twain (American Garden); Gandhi (Indian Garden) and many others. (Click on our “statues and monuments” tab to see who’s in the Gardens!). Also featured in the gardens are symbolic sculptures and replicas of or tributes to sacred monuments in other lands.