Indoor Play Places and Activities for Kids in Wichita

Oh baby it’s getting cold outside! When the weather is frightful and your kids aren’t acting delightful – you need to find things to do with the kids indoors to burn off all of that energy! Turn to our comprehensive list of indoor play places and activities in the Wichita area for help.

Public Libraries

Public Libraries are a great resource for families. The children’s reading area at the library usually  has puzzles and lots of books to read.  In addition, there are many free activities and story times throughout the year. Libraries are also a great place to check out books and rent free movies. Below, is a list of some of our local libraries in Wichita and the surrounding area.

• Wichita Public Library has story times, 3D printing classes, STEAM to go kits, family movies, book clubs, lectures and other free events that vary by location.
• Andover Public Library has a Children’s Story Time, activity bags, and even yoga among other activities.
• Botanica the Wichita Gardens has a wonderful indoor library with a tree house, books and toys! Its a hidden gem and a great place to visit. 
• Goddard Public Library offers children’s story times, take home kits, and fun movement classes. 
• Derby Public Library has a variety of youth and family programs throughout the year including preschool and baby story times, weekly Tween Zone activity days, and literacy programs filled with activities and imagination for all ages.
• Haysville Community Library  has many activities for kids and families throughout the year, including story time book clubs, board game events, and movie nights.

Free and Cheap Play Areas / Indoor Playgrounds

• Kansas Aviation Museum: has 2 huge rooms upstairs for kids to play in including full-sized playground equipment with slides, an airplane to climb in, coloring pages and so much more. Click HERE to find out how to go for FREE
• McDonald’s Indoor PlayPlace: Take the kids for an ice cream treat or for lunch. Either way, you can enjoy the free Wi-Fi while the kids enjoy the indoor PlayPlace. The McDonald’s locations on Seneca & Douglas, Hydraulic & I-135, West Kellogg & Maple St., K-96 & N. Rock Rd., Webb Rd. & Harry St., and the Park City location on 61st St. & I-135 all have indoor PlayPlaces.
• Chick-fil-A Playgrounds: Locations at 21st & Maize, Maple & Ridge, and Central & Rock Rd. have indoor playgrounds. Enjoy some drinks or a full meal and let the kids play to their heart’s content.
• Burger King Playland: Eat lunch out and let the kids play at the Burger King Playland locations at 21st & Woodlawn, and Kellogg & Greenwich Rd.
• Carousel Skate Center Play Zone: The new Play Zone is open during all public skate sessions. It is now Wichita’s largest indoor play place. Up to 100 kids can play in it at a time! Kids can have a good time in the Play Zone for $4 ($5 on weekends), and skate for $8 ($10 on weekends). Check the Carousel website for current public skate times. Carousel is located at 312 N. West St.

Places to Go Bowling

• West Acres Bowling on Central and Ridge Rd.: has lots of weekly bowling specials, including Sunday Funday including reduced lane and shoe rental as well as half-price arcade games. 
• Seneca Bowl on Harry and S. Seneca: has a daytime special Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. where you can bowl as much as you want for $10 per person. (Does not include shoe rental.) They also offer the same special Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. See their website for other specials.
• Northrock Lanes on Rock Road between K-96 and 21st St.: This alley also has the same specials as West Acres (same ownership). See website for details.
• The Alley Indoor Entertainment: Also under the same ownership as West Acres and Northrock lanes, this alley contains the same specials. 

Places to Play Tabletop Board Games and Arcade Games

• The Arcade in Downtown Wichita: Play retro arcade games such as Pac Man, Galaga, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat all for one entry price – $10 for adults, $8 for kids.
• All Star Adventures on E. Webb Rd. between 13th St. and Central: is known for its many outdoor games but they also have several indoor attractions too including an arcade with 85 games, Bowlingo (similar to bowling), and bumper cars. Visit their webpage for coupons and special discounts.
• All Star Sports on 21st St. just East of Tyler Rd.: has an indoor arcade, laser tag, a climbing wall and a free yellow tornado slide to entertain the little ones. Check online for specials and promos before you go.
•  Chuck E. Cheese: S. of K-96 on Rock Rd.: Kiddie rides, video and arcade games, laser challenge, pizza and more all in one location. If you sign your kids up for the Chuck E. Club, they will receive a special discount for their birthday.
• The Alley Indoor Entertainment: Located on E. 13th: The Alley not only contains a large bowling alley but also their arcade features state-of-the-art video games and tons of old-school classics. VIsit their website for discounts and specials.

All In One Indoor Activity Centers

• The Alley Indoor Entertainment on 13th and Greenwich Rd.: has bowling, go karts, an arcade and more all indoors. If you sign your kids up for the Birthday Club, they will get one free game of bowling during their birthday month.
• Chuck E. Cheese S. of K-96 on Rock Rd.: Kiddie rides, video and arcade games, laser challenge, pizza and more all in one location. If you sign your kids up for the Chuck E. Club, they will receive a special discount for their birthday.
• The Greater Wichita YMCAs: has 9 locations in the Wichita area that offer a variety of activites including indoor swimming, rock climbing walls, gyms and a variety of family activities. Even if you don’t have a membership, you can get a single day pass for $10 or a family day pass for $25.
• South YMCA and North YMCA have a FREE late night teen program on Saturdays from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.. This program is free for Y members and non-members alike.
• All Star Adventures on E. Webb Rd. between 13th St. and Central: is known for its many outdoor games but they also have several indoor attractions too including an arcade with 85 games, Bowlingo (similar to bowling), and bumper cars. Visit their webpage for coupons and special discounts.

Places to Skate

• Carousel Skate Center on West Street: is a great place to stretch your legs and roller skate on a polished cement floor. They have daily public skate sessions. Check their website for current times and specials.
• Skate South on MacArthur and Hydraulic : offers a traditional wooden floor to roller skate on. Check their schedule on Facebook  for open skate times, and specials including $3 nights on Wednesdays.
• Roller City on 3234 S. Meridian: has a polished hard wood floor for skating. Visit their website for open skate times and weekly skate specials. They also offer speed skating classes.
• Wichita Ice Center on Maple and Sycamore St.: is the place to go for ice skating lessons, hockey lessons, and public ice skating sessions. They also have a lots of specials that rotate on a regular basis. Wichita Ice Center discounts
• You can also sign the kids up to (Roller) Skate for FREE up to two times a week!

Places to Jump / Trampoline Parks in Wichita

Wichita is fortunate enough to have several indoor trampoline parks and indoor inflatable bounce houses too.  These are a great place to wear the kids out in a short amount of time while having lots of fun.

• Urban Air on Kellogg and Irving St.: has an indoor ropes course, trampolines, a dodgeball court, a foam pit and a basketball dunk area. Check out their special events and pricing sections for coupons and details about events such as Jumperoo Toddler Time as well as Teen Night.
• Jumpy Jump Land has three locations in (Andover, Haysville, and Bel Aire): They offer lots of fun in the form of inflatable bounce houses. Check out the schedule at each location to find the open jump times. They are $7 per kid and adults are free with paying child.
• Aviate on K-96 and Greenwich Rd.: is Wichita’s largest indoor trampoline park. They have a Ninja Obstacle Course, dodgeball, an Air Dunk basketball area, a slack line, trapeze,  aerial silks, log roll, foam pits and a Kid Zone. View their Activities section on the website for special pricing such as Family Night and Junior Flight (preschool).
• Acrobatic Academy: Located on N. Maize rd.: This facility is chalked full with different acrobatic classes as well as an open gym times with a foam pit and a large tumble mat. See website for details.

Places for Kids to Climb Indoors

• Bliss Boulder & Climbing Complex on Greenwich Rd. and E. 29th St. N: is “Wichita’s only full-service indoor rock climbing facility”.  Visit their webpage for a full list of weekly specials.
• Greater Wichita YMCA: rock walls (see details in the All In One Indoor Activity Centers section of this post.)
• Urban Air: has an indoor ropes course “built 30+ feet high above Urban Air’s trampoline attractions. Visitors can climb, zip, soar and adventure through the state-of-the-art High Ropes Course.”

Indoor Interactive Museums We are lucky to have such a wide variety of kid-friendly museums in Wichita. The following are a list of museums that the kids can learn at while getting the wiggles out.

• Great Plains Transportation Museum, 700 E. Douglas. Your little train lovers will love this place! There is a small indoor museum and gift shop. Outside, there are lots of train cars they can climb on and go inside of. Adult admission $7, children 3-12 $4, children under 3 are free. 
• Wichita Toy Train Museum, 130 Laura Street. Open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except on holidays) Admission is $7 for Adults (age 13 and up), $5 for Youth (age 6 thru 12), free for Children (age 5 and under).
• Exploration Place in Downtown Wichita: has both traveling and permanent hands on exhibits such as the Design Build Fly exhibit and the medieval castle to play in. There’s always something fun to explore at Exploration Place.
• Wichita Art Museum near the museums on the river: is in itself not a place for kids to run and play in the exhibit area. However, they do have the Chihuly Bridge that kids can walk on in socks or barefoot. They also have a kids room in which everything is hands on. They can make crafts, color, read and play with the puppet theatre. The WAM is free on Saturdays. They also offer a free  Family Artventure where you can drop in anytime on select Saturdays and a free Art Start program on Tuesdays and Thursdays for ages 3-5. (Reservations are required for Art Start.)
• Museum of World Treasures on 835 E. 1st St.: is an eclectic mix of everything from dinosaur bones, to Egyptian mummies, sports memorabilia and World War exhibits. The exhibits are not hands on but they also have a newly opened children’s area called Ivan’s Playhouse where kids are free to climb and explore. They also have a Family Night among other events and specials.
• Kansas Aviation Museum on 3350 South George Washington Blvd.: Your kids can explore the world of aviation through simulators. You can visit during regular hours or enjoy the Little Aviators Program every Friday from 10 a.m. to noon. This event is for children 5 and under. Admission is FREE for each child, plus one accompanying adult.
• Old Cowtown Museum allows kids to travel the streets of Wichita as it would have looked in the 1800s, hear the stories of the folks who lived in that time, play in an historically accurate schoolyard and more! Check out the link above for museum hours and prices.

Other Kid-Friendly Museums

If you’re looking for more of an educational adventure with the kids, you’re in luck. Wichita and the surrounding area has a wide variety of free and reasonably priced museums to choose from.

• Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum on Main & William St. downtown: is a great place to take the family to learn about our city’s history. You can explore a Victorian cottage, a vintage toy exhibit, as well as an exhibit all about Wichita’s history among others. There is also a children’s area where they can touch and explore a telephone booth, a typewriter and all the uses of a buffalo. Admission for children under age 6 is FREE. Adults are $5 and kids ages 6 to 12 are $2.
• Kansas Firefighters Museum on 1300 S. Broadway: is inside of a two-story original Wichita firehouse. This is a kid-friendly museum (Though I have not been myself. Not yet anyway!) They are open on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment for groups over 15. Admission is FREE for kids under 5, adults are $5, seniors are $2.50 and students in grades K-12 are $3.
• City Arts, in Old Town Square,  offers a variety of adult and youth art classes as well as a free art gallery.
• Coutts Museum of Art (in El Dorado) open Tues-Fri from 10am-5pm and Sat from 12pm-4pm. Admission is FREE and all are welcome! This museum is a unique regional destination museum and historic gathering place.
• Kansas African American Museum provides fun and educational opportunities for the entire family. On the fourth Saturday of each month families gain information on a wide array of topics as it relates to African American Culture. VIsit the link above for admission and hours.
• Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in the Wichita Boathouse at 515 S Wichita. Admission is free, but there is a suggested $3 donation for adults.The KSHOF is only open by appointment at this time. To schedule a time to tour, please contact [email protected].
• Mark Arts Museum galleries are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. Visit their website for an array of class options for all ages! 
• McCormick School Museum is the oldest school building in Wichita. It is open Sundays from 2-5 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Admission to the museum is free, although donations are accepted.
• Mid-America All Indian Center Museum where you can learn a variety of stories about American Indian culture and heritage. Children under 6 are FREE. Children are $4 and adults are $7.
• Ulrich Museum of Art 1845 Fairmount Street(Located on the Wichita State University campus) Admission is free.
• WWII History Center (in El Dorado) is located at 119 W. Central in downtown El Dorado, Kansas.  The Center is open every Saturday from 12:00pm to 4:00pm except for holidays. Admission is free, but there is a $2.00 per person suggested donation.

Story Times and Learning

• Botanica the Wichita Gardens offer FREE story times for members but check their website for more information. 
• Library (see the library’s website for specific times. They vary by location.)
• Great Plains Nature Center on 6232 E. 29th Street North : offers several different FREE story times throughout the week including Naturally Crafty on Tuesdays where they can make a craft, FREE Story Time on Wednesdays, and Little Nature Lovers on Thursdays.
• Barnes and Noble on 1920 N. Rock Road: offers FREE Story Time every Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by an activity related to the theme of the story.
• Kansas Humane Society Tot Tuesday on 3313 N Hillside St: is held on the first Tuesday of each month during the September – May school year in the KHS Learning Center from 10:30 to 11 a.m. There is a suggested donation of $4 per family. Pre-registration is not required.
• FREE Sedgwick County Zoo Tot Tuesdays
• Free with admission, enjoy educational and interactive activities during Tot Tuesdays are provided by Sedgwick County Zoo and other area museums and attractions on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
• Moxie Junction, a locally-owned coffee shop in Maize, offers FREE story times and activities for kids on Tuesday mornings at 10:30 a.m.

Places to Craft with the Kids

Crafting is an awesome indoor kids activity, but save the mess at home with these kid-friendly make-and-take craft places!

• Evans Ceramic Supply, a family owned Wichita business since 1966, has walk-in paint your own pottery times as well as a full supply shop for clay, paints, glazes, tools, and a mold manufacturing company called Starlite Mold Co. Their hours are Monday thru Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost for paint your own pottery is $7  per person per day, plus the cost of the ceramic items. Their ceramics range from $3.50 for a small piece, to $15 for a large piece. No reservations needed unless you have a group of 6 or more! Then call (316) 262-2551 to make arrangements. They are located at 1518 S Washington.
• Color Me Mine is a paint-your-own-pottery studio. It is open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. & Sunday 12 p.m.-6 p.m. unless otherwise noted on their event calendar. Walk-ins are welcome anytime or contact them for a table reservation 316-425-5614. The studio fee is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Ceramics start at $16.
• Paint the Town offers a variety of host-guided paint parties for kids and adults alike. They also offer take-home paint kits that include the canvas, paints, and instructions. 
• Michael’s Kids Club every week, offer inexpensive crafts for kids 3 and up as well as free virtual art classes. 
• Karg Art Glass in Kechi: Make your own hand-blown glass ornaments. It is offering seasonal “Make-Your-Own…” options such as pumpkins and ornaments. While this may not be the cheapest craft at $30-$40 a piece, it is definitely a unique experience for kids and adults alike. Call 316-744-2442 to make your reservations.
• Home Depot: On the first Saturday of the month, Home Depot stores in Wichita offer free kids’ workshops for kids ages 5-12.
• Great Plains Nature Center: (See the Story Times and Learning section for more details.)

Places to Watch a Children’s Show or Play

• Wichita Children’s Theatre and Dance Center
• Intrust Bank Arena
• Crown Uptown Theatre
• Music Theatre Wichita
• Wichita Community Theatre
• The Orpheum