Fun Attractions for Your Kids in Boston

Museums, Aquariums, IMAX, Tours, Food, Fun

Looking for places to take your kids in Boston? Whether you're in Boston for a few days or one day, you and your kids will have plenty to do. From Duck Tours to 3-D sharks,  you and your kids will find Boston offers a lot to explore. Here are some attractions


The New England Aquarium (www.neaq.org; Central Wharf
617.973.5200) There was a commercial for the New England Aquarium from which any 30-something adult from Massachusetts will undoubtedly recall the line “I can walk like a penguin.” Your kids will have the option to mimic the penguins that live at the New England Aquarium, but they may find the sharks more interesting. Kids these days!  

Among the aquarium’s features (besides a beautiful spot on Boston's harbor...) are the central spiral ramp surrounding a huge fish tank, and an indoor overlook where said penguins swim, play, and get fed on a regular basis for visitors to see. Kids will also enjoy the stick-your-hand-in-here tank where sea urchins and other crawling creatures somehow manage to survive constant manhandling by youths. Outside the aquarium, you can board the ferry boat where they hold the sealion shows. You kids will enjoy the trickster sea lions and, if they sit close enough to the front, possible get picked to participate in the show. What the ferry amphitheater lacks attractive ambience, it makes up for with very uncomfortable bench seating.

More comfortable is the IMAX theater, which, why wouldn’t an aquarium have an IMAX theater? IMAX shows bring nautically themed movies to Boston with films like Sharks in 3D or James Cameron’s Titanic documentary. There’s an extra cost for getting in.  

General Admission to the NEA is $17.50 for adults, $9.95 for kids, which they count as ages 3-11. (Kids over 11 may not find the aquarium as interesting as the younger guys, and don’t show up as much, so maybe it wasn’t worth discounting them?) IMAX tickets are $9.50 for adults, $7.50 for kids (3-11) with discounts for double-features. That’s a lot of IMAX.