If you are looking for a fun and cheap place to travel, you will probably want to check out my city! I love Kansas City and not only is it a great place for family travel, but if you live in the city you can plan the cheapest “stay-cation” to make you super mom! Not only is Kansas City a fun place for family travel at it’s FINEST, but it can e at its frugalist!
A good friend asked me for a list of free stuff to do in Kansas City for her family. She is coming to vacation in the Kansas City and is on a budget. I decided that she isn’t the ONLY one looking for this information. Kansas City is a great place to travel to, we have water parks, museums, shopping areas…but not everything is FREE. We have enough free stuff where you can really keep your family busy for the entire weekend! So I went ahead and created a LIST for you! THEN, I thought if my family was traveling to Kansas City on a budget what are some CHEAP things that we could do!
Kansas City FREE Things To Do
Kaleidoscope : Hallmark owned, Kaleidoscope is an amazing and FREE art center, that holds daily FREE family arts and craft classes. ALL of the items you make, you get to keep! It is FUN, bright, and totally cool! It has tons of fun little playing areas that inspire imagination and fun! Parking is free as long as you get it validated for a couple of hours. It is also attached to the Hallmark Visitor’s Center!
The Hallmark Visitor’s Center: It is a MUSEUM basically of all of the neat Hallmark items throughout the years! It has tons of little exhibits, even a short feature film in a movie theater, and a machine where you can make your own bows! That is my daughter’s favorite part, although I LOVE making the bows too. ☺
Crown Center: Hallmark and Kaleidoscope are both located at CROWN CENTER. Crown Center is an awesome shopping area that is just a short walk away to our Union Station. Crown Center has GREAT shopping, food, and often have events outside their splash fountain plaza and meet and greets in the mall!
Union Station: In the heart of the city and near Crown Center! You can find a miniature train museum and it is free to check out! They also have a little play area as well with trains for the kids to play! A great way to spend your weekend!
The Money Museum: This is a HUGE hit with kids! You can go and tour the MONEY museum where there are lots of activities! You even get to leave with a FREE BAG OF MONEY! (Shhhh it is shredded, but if you feel like trying to put it together, you could be rich!) Kids will LOVE it, plus you get to come home with a new shredded money craft!
The Nelson Art Gallery: So WE love art! This museum is awesome and they also have different events throughout the year. It is iconic for the big shuttlecock that are largely displayed in the front of the museum. There are cool areas where you can go for walks and check out really fun art! Also great family photo opportunities!
The Legend’s: Another huge shopping area with a cute fountain and tons of outlet stores! Although shopping does cost money, this is still a fun shopping area to check out! Especially because they have great deals, you can go online and print out some early coupons, and then hit the outlets!
The Plaza: Kansas City is known for their awesome Plaza area, near downtown. It is blocks of the cutest and historic buildings filled with great shops! But the neat thing about the Plaza is ALL of the fountains they have located. You will see tons of fountains. Get a handful of coins and let your kids have fun snapping photos and making wishes in the fountains. If you are here around the holidays you can also check out the BEAUTIFUL Holiday lights that are displayed and outlined around all of the buildings!
Deanna Rose Farmstead: Deanna Rose is FREE during the weekdays and ONLY costs $2 on the weekends. It is the cutest little farm with petting zoos, park areas, pony rides, old school house, cave, and MORE! You can walk around, pack a picnic, and make an ENTIRE day at Deanna Rose! It is so much fun! We love it!
Zona Rosa: Another outdoor shopping area, but they have some fun froggy fountains and an open courtyard! You will often see families eating around the courtyard and even going into their open indoor play area. It is perfect for the really little ones to bounce around a slide in a very padded area!
Liberty Spray Grounds: This is a park in the Liberty area that has a spray area where water shoots up from the ground! This park also has a couple of picnic areas and a playground! If you are wanting to spend the day outside, you can always pack some sandwiches or get some Kansas City BBQ and take it to the park to enjoy!
CHEAP things to do in Kansas City
Line Creek Train Rides: These cost about $1 or $2! They are located in the Northland. You can also pack a picnic and ride around in a real train! My kids LOVED doing train rides! Although, this isn’t “free” it is pretty close to FREE!
The Springs Aquatic Center: Here is another great northland waterpark. There isn’t anything SUPER huge and cool about it other than we LOVE how clean it is, we love the lazy river, and the kid play area is a blast! Plus being able to visit this waterpark is friendly to your pocket book! If you are less than 48” in height, you get in for $6 and if you are taller you get in for ONLY $9! What a great way to spend the day at the pool on a budget! If you show up after 5pm you will score $3 off and still get to play from 5pm-8pm! You can also visit Monday – Thursday from 9am-11:30am for $5 and play in their splash area! It is great for little kids and is usually happening during their swim lessons.
The Powell Gardens: A huge and natural botanical garden about 35 minutes away from the city. They have many festivals and events. You can go on a 3.25 mile walk through the gardens on a nature walk. Visit all the different types of gardens. If you are lucky you might stop by there during one of their festivals! The butterfly festival is my personal favorite time to visit! Have your kids pack their own cameras and make it a missing to take some beautiful pictures of nature! Admission prices range based on the event but they are about $12 for adults and $4 for children (Kids 4 and under get in free.)
If you are planning a trip to Kansas City and want to budget a little bit more money places like The Kansas City Zoo, a sporting event, Legoland, Sea Life, Science City, World’s of Fun, Oceans of Fun, and Schlitterbaum should definitely be on your list of things to do! We also have tons of festivals, night time movies outside, and family days throughout the city!