1. Imagine it Children's Museum: Every second Tuesday of the month, the admission is free. It's the Target Free 2nd Tuesdays. This is a great interactive children's museum, where your little ones will stay busy, one activity after another. The range of activities include, painting on the paint wall, loading balls in a kid sized crane and moving it through a ball machine, building sculptures on a kid sized crane, putting on a raincoat and using little fish poles to "fish" the ducks, filling up boxes with produce in a conveyor belt to send it for delivery etc.
2. Atlanta Botanical Garden: If you are a Bank of America (BOA) customer, and have a BOA ATM, Debit or Credit Card, you can get free admissions here on the first weekend of every month. There is even a 2 acre children's garden with a host of interactive activities, Tree house, Dinosaur garden, Vegetable garden, sunflower fountain etc. Kids will love running around anywhere in the open space!
3. Atlanta Fern Bank Museum: This venue also offers the same free admissions program for BOA customers on first weekend of every month. As soon as you enter the museum, at its main hall, the kids will be amazed to see the Giants of the Mesozoic exhibit. This Exhibit recreates the setting of when the largest Dinosaurs lived, and how it got its preys. At the time of this writing, The Ends of Earth: Polar Bear to Penguins Exhibit is going on. For toddlers to preschoolers there is a Children's Discovery Room, where they can learn about basic concepts of nature through playful activities. For Children 6-9, A walk through Time in Georgia Exhibit, lets them discover the different Geography of Georgia, form Jekyll Island Pier to wildlife in the mountains.
4. Atlanta History Center: This is also free on first weekend of every month with BOA card. Don't be fooled by the name! Even if the kids are not too much into history, there's plenty to do. The kids can enjoy the interactive museum, tour 2 houses including the Swan House, visit Victorian Playhouse, walk in the nature trail, and visit the gardens.
5. Stone Mountain Park: This is one of the most popular and visited places in Atlanta. You can pay an all day pass -$34 for all ages, except $19 for kids 3-11. However you can still have plenty of fun without spending the money on the pass. All you do need to pay is $8 parking permit fee per vehicle and pack a picnic bag and you will find number of things to enjoy for free. You can hike up the Stone mountain, sit by the picnic area overlooking the carving on the mountain or many other picnic areas, play at the children's playground, walk around The Crossroads, where you can see the 1870's southern town living, visit the Stone Mountain Museum, go to one of its beaches, or just walk anywhere in its 15 miles of nature trail. During summer, you can enjoy free laser show in the evenings.
6. City Pass: For $69 (value: $118.93) for adults and $49 (value: $85.53), you can visit any of the following 6 Atlanta Attractions within a 9 day period.
- Coca Cola
- Georgia Aquarium
- Atlanta Botanical Garden or The Fern Bank Museum
- Atlanta History Center or The High Museum of Art
- Zoo Atlanta
- Inside CNN Tour
7. Centennial Olympic Park: This Park is located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, and is in the vicinity of other popular attractions, such as the Coca Cola, Georgia Aquarium, CNN etc. This is where a lot of festivities and concerts took place during the 1996 Olympic Games. No matter what the season is, there is always something the kids can enjoy for free!
- Music at Noon: Every Tuesday and Thursday from April - October from Noon to 1pm you can enjoy the local musicians playing R&B, Jazz, Pop etc.
- Every Wednesday from April - September, there are free concerts from 5:30 - 8 pm
- Fourth Saturday Family Fun Days: Every fourth Saturday from April - September, noon to 4pm there is a free family fun movie. The kids can also enjoy other interactive activities.
- Fountain of Rings: This fountain in the middle of the park is the world's largest interactive fountain, symbolizing the 5 rings of the Olympics. There's a spectacular show with light and music, every day throughout the year, at 12:30, 3:30: 6:30, and 9:00pm
- Ice Skating: This is the only outdoors skating rink in Atlanta.
8. Chattahoochee Nature Reserve: Just located about 15 miles North of Atlanta. Tickets are $5 Adults, $2 children, and children under 2 are free. All activities with the general admissions ticket are free. This nature reserve allows children to learn about the ecology of Chattahoochee area and its habitat. Here are some of the things the kids can enjoy
- Star Lab: This is a portable planetarium, where the kids can gaze at the galaxy and the solar system. They can also see how the sky looked, through the eyes of ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Native Americans etc.
- Animal Encounter: Every Thursdays and Fridays at 10am and 4pm, kids can see a resident animal from the nature center up close, and learn about its habitat from the Center's Naturalist.
- Guided Hikes: Every Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 and 3:00pm there are guided Hikes through the trails of the nature center.
9. Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel / Hard rock Cafe: It's a Hotel in the heart of Downtown, a cylindrical glass of tower. You can go to the 72nd floor observation deck, and see the entire city. Going up and down in the glass enclosed elevator is part of the fun. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and under. After you've gotten good view of the city you can walk up to Hard rock Cafe Restaurant. From 11-2pm you can enjoy lunch at the Hard Rock Café for $8.99, kid's meals are $7.50 with a drink, which is quite a bargain for downtown. The 4 page kids menu -Lil' Rocker menu, teaches them about, how to rock, reuse and recycle, and even comes with a packet of tree seeds.
10. Story time: In, and around Atlanta, almost all libraries, and Barnes and Noble bookstores have 30 minute-1 hour Story times for different children age groups, 1- 2 times a week. This is a great activity for the kids and some downtime for you, for free. In addition to stories, the activities may include sing -along, dancing, arts and crafts etc.
Also read my post on: 10 Kid friendly places to visit in NYC @ a Bargain or FREE, at http://www.travelbargainmama.com
Which one of these or any other kid friendly places in Atlanta is your kids favorite to visit?
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