5 FREE Family Activities in DFW

There are tons of things do do with your kids in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Zoos! Museums! Events! When you add it all up, it can get a little expensive… But it doesn’t have to be that way.

FREE things you can do in Dallas with kids:

The Children’s Boardwalk at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens is Free!

I love the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and the majority of it is free.   My boys love running along the raised boardwalk that has children’s activities throughout.   They can stop at a station to learn about wildlife, hear bird calls or learn if trees poop.   Yep, this super important information can be learned there. If you follow the boardwalk through the woods and cross a little street, a bridge, a lilly pad pond and follow the trail through some beautiful flowers, you fill find this fountain.   It is motion-sensitive so be aware when you walk across the gazebo, you might get a little wet!

Be a Dallas Tourist, it is FREE!

There are great places to visit in Dallas that people from all over the world flock to see.   Often we overlook these amazing attractions when planning our own activities.   I lived in Memphis for 4 years and never made it to Graceland, so I speak from experience! One really neat free Dallas attraction is Pioneer Plaza. You can get up close and personal with an entire cattle drive.   The whole scene is pretty incredible.   Life size and in “action”.   My kids love exploring the exhibit and always end up a little wet because the creek/pond area is too much to resist. Another of my favorite free Dallas attractions is Thanksgiving Square. There is art, statues, water fountains and streams surrounding the Thanksgiving Square Chapel which in itself is an incredible sight.   Outside kids can explore and play.   Inside (they ask for a small donation if you enter the Thanksgiving Square museum area) there are more uplifting non-denominational exhibits of thanks.   In the chapel, visitors can write down what they are thankful for and place it in the Thanksgiving Square bowl.

The Fort Worth Water Gardens are Free!

This is the coolest place.   You walk down pretty steep stepping stones to the bottom and take the path around and back up.   When I was down there, it was the noise that surprised me.   It is almost deafening, but in a pleasant-I-am-in-the-middle-of-a-ton-of-water kinda way. There are quite a few different gardens in the Fort Worth Water Gardens.   There is a wall of water and a really large series of big fountains. My favorite place was the Serenity Pool.   Of course, there is no serenity when you have three boys in tow.

The River Legacy Living Science Center in Arlington is FREE!

The River Legacy Living Science Center is located in Arlington and it is a museum filled with learning stations for children.   There is even a small play area for the youngest visitors.   Outside the center is a series of trails that can be explored along the river. The museum has bright, light windows and a pleasant homey atmosphere.   There are live river animal exhibits along with a series of stations outlining how water starts and ends. Obviously, I haven’t listed the hundreds, possibly thousands of area parks and places to hike scattered throughout Dallas-Fort Worth and the ‘burbs, but don’t overlook them on a sunny afternoon as a source of entertainment. Go! Have fun! It is free!