Things to Do in Boulder With Kids

Everything here comes with the price, whether it's indoors, and the ages it's meant for, so you can work out in about a minute whether somewhere suits your children and your afternoon. Where a venue doesn't publish an age range we leave the column blank rather than guess, because a guess is what gets you to the door with a child who's turned away.

Scott Carpenter Park at 1505 30th Street is the best free afternoon in town: a playground the city describes as having crater and rock play structures, a skate park, open turf and a diamond field. Sledding is allowed in winter and so is slacklining. Note the pool next to it's a separate, paid facility, so you can use the park all day for nothing and never go through the pool gate.

Valmont Bike Park at 3160 Airport Road is 42 acres of natural-surface cycling terrain, and in the city's own words, "the park is free and open daily from dawn to dusk as weather and trail conditions allow." There's a playground, restrooms and a shelter on site. The city doesn't name a beginner loop or a kids' area, so bring the bike your child is already confident on.

On the mall itself, the animal sculptures children have climbed since the mall opened in 1977 are still there on the 1400 block: a snail, a rabbit, a frog and a beaver, in bronze and marble, by David Sosalla. The city calls the area a play node. Just remember the mall has its own rules, so no dogs, bikes or skateboards on it.

And the library is free, including its makerspace. More on that below. Everything else free is in the free things to do guide.

The city runs three recreation centers with indoor pools: North Boulder at 3170 Broadway, South Boulder at 1360 Gillaspie, and the East Boulder Community Center at 5660 Sioux Drive. A daily pass is $15 for adults, $11 for 60 and over, $9 for youth 2 to 17, or $32 for a group of four with a maximum of two adults, and it works at all three centers on the day you buy it. East Boulder also has a climbing wall and South Boulder has a Ninja Studio.

One planning note: the city closes pools for maintenance, generally in August, and posts the dates on each facility's page. Check before you drive out.

For climbing, Boulder has four gyms and they suit different ages. ABC Kids Climbing on 32nd Street is the only youth-specific one, and says its walls, mats, routes and equipment are built for athletes "from 2 1/2 years old up to adults," though it's built around coach-led programs rather than open climbing. Boulder Rock Club on Mapleton has ropes and bouldering plus Tiny Tots for four and five year olds and a teen intro and belay class for 12 to 17. Movement on Valmont sells a $29 day pass with shoe rental at $6. And The Spot on Prairie Avenue, which opened in 2002 as the first bouldering gym in the United States, is bouldering only with no ropes, so it suits kids who are happy climbing unroped over mats.

The Main Library at 1001 Arapahoe Avenue runs free storytimes and youth programs, as do the NoBo, Meadows and George Reynolds branches. It's worth knowing this is the Boulder Public Library District, an independent district rather than a city department.

The real find is BLDG 61, the library's makerspace, which it calls a free community workshop dedicated to hands-on learning. Open Studio drop-in times are posted, no registration is needed, and all ages and experience levels are welcome. Two rules matter for families: anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian to sign a release form every single visit, and anyone under 14 must be supervised by an adult at all times. A second makerspace, STUDIO 24, runs at the NoBo Library.

Skip the Carnegie Library for Local History with children, whatever other guides say. It's a by-appointment research library.

There's no public ice rink in Boulder. The only rink in town belongs to CU's Student Recreation Center, and CU's own page is explicit that you need a Rec Center membership to use it, with recreational skating limited to students, members and their guests. It appears on Boulder family lists regularly. There's no roller rink here either.

Growing Up Boulder publishes an interactive Child-Friendly Boulder Activities map covering playgrounds, family trails, museums, splash pads and safe outdoor spaces, filterable by age, accessibility and neighborhood, with printed copies at visitor centers, kiosks and the library. It's a local nonprofit running the Child Friendly Cities Initiative here. It started as a University of Colorado program in 2009 but left the university in 2021, so it's independent now.

When the weather turns, the rainy day and indoor guide has the full indoor list. The easiest trails for short legs are on Outdoor Boulder, and the free things to do guide covers everything that costs nothing. The full Boulder guide covers every other category.