There is no need to spend money in order to enjoy a family-friendly activity in Colorado. Check out our top 5 picks for free family-friendly activities in Colorado!
5 Free Family-Friendly Activities in Colorado
Visit a Free-Admissions Museum
There are many museums in Colorado, that don’t require a paid admission, that you and your family can visit!
Photo Credit: ©Flip Dlafonso. Photograph courtesy of ©Festivalnet
Littleton Museum is situated on 40 acres and features two 19th-century living history farm sites, where Museum staff and volunteers dress in period-appropriate costumes, work on the farm sites, run the blacksmith shop, and teach in Littleton’s first one-room school, offering a “living history” perspective to the museum visitor. The museum also features live stock animals as well as a Kids’ Connection area, that provides interactive hands-on exhibits and activities.
Hiwan Heritage Park, located in Evergreen, is a museum that is located in a 25-room lodge and that features original and historic furnishings as well as Native American artwork, that is on permanent display.
The Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum is home to one of the state’s two Goodwill Moon Rocks, collected during the Apollo 17 mission to space. The Museum also displays other minerals, fossils, gemstones and meteorite and historic mining artifact exhibits on two floors.
Photograph courtesy of ©Town of Frisco
Frisco Historic Park and Museum preserves and promotes the Town of Frisco’s heritage and history. The Museum consists of collections of artifacts and structures, such as a Schoolhouse and outbuildings, brought in for preservation for guests to walk through free of charge. The Museum also features a special Kids Zone that features a variety of interactive exhibits.
Enjoy Fruit & Vegetable Picking at a Local Farm
Picking your own fruits and veggies is a fun way to spend the day with your family, and it also provides opportunities for nutritious education as well!
Photograph courtesy of ©Berry Patch Farms
Berry Patch Farms is a locally owned and operated 40-acre farm that allows you to pick your own strawberries, raspberries, currants, pie cherries, plums, apples, basil, flowers and pickling cucumbers from May through September. Families are encouraged to bring their children so they can learn more about agriculture and to have an authentic farm experience.
Orchard Valley Farms is a locally owned and operated working farm that offers just-picked sustainably grown local produce. Pick your own raspberries, cherries, peaches, blackberries, nectarines, apples, cucumber, basil, dill, tomatoes, chili peppers, okra, eggplant, green peppers and pumpkins from Mid-June through October.
Visit a National Wildlife Refuge
Photograph courtesy of ©U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region
National Wildlife Refuges provide habitat for more than 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species and more than 1,000 species of fish. More than 280 threatened or endangered plants or animals are protected on wildlife refuges.
Visiting a National Wildlife Refuges are free and open to the public and offer adults and children alike the opportunity to view animals, take tours, fish, learn, hike and more.
Colorado features seven National Wildlife Refuges: Baca, Alamosa, Monte Vista, Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Two Ponds, Rocky Flats, Arapaho & Brown’s Park.
Swim Outdoors at a Lake or Reservoir
Photograph courtesy of ©Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce
Colorado offers many swimmable lakes and reservoirs for you to enjoy free of charge.
Chatfield State Park Reservoir features 1,500 acres of surface water and a swimmable beach area. Cherry Creek State Park Reservoir features a roped-off swimmable area along a sandy beach. Grand Lake is Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake, allows for public swimming and features the town’s boardwalk that takes you all the way to the lake.
Visit a Colorado Ghost Town
Photograph courtesy of ©Aspen Historical Society
Colorado features over 600 ghost towns that were once vibrant towns for gold, silver and coal mining, milling, farming and more. Now these towns are abandoned and offers visitors the opportunity “a window” to our past and history.
Ashcroft Ghost Town is a historic ghost town near Aspen, that once boomed in the 1880s, and was once home to two newspapers, 20 saloons, a school and private homes. St. Elmo Ghost Town was built in 1878 and 24 of its original buildings still remain including a mercantile, saloon, county courthouse and jail, and many private homes. Independence Ghost Town was a leading mining town in the 1880s and the remain of its original buildings include a stable, a general store and a cabin.