Fun Things To Do in Louisville, Kentucky With kids
Louisville, Kentucky is a pretty cool city to visit with kids. Right on the Ohio River, Louisville has a rich history and has maintained the feeling of an older city. Additionally, it’s right on a major node of interstates, making it a convenient place to visit from a variety of directions. From the river front, to a fantastic zoo, to fossils, check out our favorite fun things to do in Louisville, Kentucky with kids.
The Riverfront Area
The riverfront area of Louisville is the heart of the city. With paddleboats docked, riverside parks, and an adventure playground, this is WORTH checking out. River Road will take you to different places along the river.
The Adventure Playground
While you can’t actually see the river from the playground, you can still feel the breeze. Tucked away here is a fantastic playground for kids of all ages. With multiple different structures to play on, there’s plenty to keep everyone engaged. In the summer months there’s also a splash pad with different levels for different ages.
My kiddos loved the whole area, but their two favorite parts were the playground designed to look like a river boat and the splash ground.
The Big Four Bridge
An old railroad bridge, the Big Four Bridge is now open just for pedestrian traffic. You can take a stroll up to the bridge (the ramp isn’t far at all from the Adventure Playground) and then cross the river on the bridge.
Along the way, you’ll see great views of the Louisville skyline and possibly even a riverboat or two journeying past.
If you walk across the entire bridge you’ll be in Indiana, which for some reason REALLY excited my preschooler. (It also helped give her a more concrete idea of what state boundaries can look like.)
Just note- the walk is pretty long if you choose to go all the way across the bridge. We brought our stroller wagon and were glad we did. Additionally, it’s pretty breezy up there. If it’s in the colder months make sure you bring coats and hats to bundle up your little ones with.
Riverboat Tours
There’s two riverboats that regularly take tours of the Ohio River. On old fashioned paddleboats, your kids can get a feel for what transportation felt like in early American history.
Check out their website for different tours available, but there’s A LOT of options here, with many tours catering towards little kids. One tour focuses on STEAM activities for kids. Others are more seasonal or holiday themed, including a pirate themed one and a Halloween themed cruise.
We chose to do the Harbor History one (I know- a buzzkill compared to a pirate themed cruise), but this one was only an hour long AND it was the cheapest, so it suited our little kids best. Plus, it still had kids activities available which we all loved.
You do need to get there about half an hour early to board, so be sure to factor that into your schedule.
And after your tour, check out one of the many restaurants in this area! Many are right on the river and great for kids!
More information can be found on their website here.
Falls of the Ohio
Ok- this is technically in Indiana, but it’s literally right across the bridge from Louisville making it a ten minute drive from Louisville.
This place is AWESOME for kids- especially if your kid is obsessed with fossils.
The Falls of the Ohio feature exposed limestone beds where you can search for fossils. According to their website, “ The 390-million-year-old fossil beds are among the largest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world.” That’s pretty awesome! While you can’t collect anything you find within the park, it’s fascinating to look at.
Behind the parking lot are two dig areas full of rocks that have been transported from nearby quarries. In these dig areas you CAN take things that you find (because the rocks aren’t actually from the protected area of the park).
My daughter loved sitting on the edge of the dig areas with her makeshift paleontology kit sifting through rocks. We were also so thankful that a volunteer took the time to help teach my daughter how to identify fossils and pulled forth all sorts of rocks for her to look through.
In the visitor center is a small gift shop, a bird-watching area, and an exhibit (the exhibit does charge an admission fee, but the rest of the park is free.)
Lewis and Clark Significance
Besides the fossils, the Falls of the Ohio are also important historically. This is the site where Lewis and Clark met up and started their journey west. This is also a Lewis and Clark NPS site, so definitely ask for one of the junior ranger booklets to complete with your little one! Once it’s completed, you can return it for a badge. (And Lewis and Clark is a GREAT introduction to get kids hooked on history. It’s just inherently engaging. If you’re looking for more activities to introduce Lewis and Clark to preschoolers or young elementary students, check out my post here.)
There’s a statue of Lewis and Clark at the entrance to the park, and if you travel a mile up the road, there’s the George Rogers Clark home site, which was the home of William Clark’s older brother and also has significance to the Lewis and Clark expedition. My preschooler loved exploring this site.
A couple of tips for making your trip here enjoyable:
It can get up to 20 degrees hotter on the fossil beds than it is by the visitor center. The exposed rock beds reflect the heat, so if you’re heat sensitive, I recommend visiting on a cooler day.
If it is a warmer day, definitely bring plenty of water and sun protection. If you’re going on the fossil beds make sure you’re wearing sturdy shoes.
There are occasionally fossil hikes that are led by park rangers and are free. If you have older kids or if you have kids that are interested in every single aspect of fossils, this could be a good option. However, if your kids are younger or aren’t as enthusiastic about fossils beyond a basic level, I recommend skipping the guided hike. We started one and our little ones got pretty restless pretty quick. Once we wandered off on our own and could go at a slightly faster pace- they were more engaged again.
Last safety tip- keep an eye on the water level. This area is prone to dramatic floods- and historic floods are even marked along the path up to the visitor center. There are alarms that sound if the water is getting too high- make sure you’re heeding those.
The area around the Falls of the Ohio is also fun to visit. Just down the street is a playground, a picnic area, and an ice cream place with great views of the river and the Louisville skyline. It’s the perfect end to a fossil and history adventure!
The Louisville Zoo
Ok- hear me out. There’s nothing incredibly snazzy about the Louisville Zoo on the surface. They’re not one of a handful of places to host pandas and they’re not home to a world class chimp center.
But we’ve been to A LOT of zoos and there is just something so charming about the Louisville Zoo that we absolutely love.
It’s big enough to have GREAT exhibits. The gorilla exhibit feels like you’re walking in a rainforest and it features several great viewing areas to observe the gorillas.
Glacier Run features polar bears and a grizzly bear along with seals and sea lions. It’s set up to feel like an Alaskan outpost for explorers. (The Glacier Run exhibit actually won an award not too long ago.)
Near Glacier Run is also a splash pad that has a pirate ship and is awesome in the summer months.
And the best part about the Louisville Zoo? Its manageable size. It’s big enough to feature great exhibits with a wide variety of animals. But it’s not so large that you can’t make a couple of loops through it.
I’d factor in half a day for it, giving you plenty of time to pair it up with another activity.
For When Our Kids are Older
Museum Row
A block or so away from the river is an area full of museums. There’s a science museum, a history museum, the Louisville Slugger museum, and the Muhammad Ali Center to name a few. It would be easy to let kids pick a different museum based on different interests.
When our kids are older we plan on taking advantage of this.
For now, we’re just enjoying letting them see the giant bat outside of the Slugger museum and a historic car outside of the Frazier history museum. (Plus- these things are free! Always a win in my book.)
Locust Grove
George Roger’s Clark was one of the earliest founders of Louisville. His home has been preserved and the grounds are free. This is a place I’d like to take my daughters to explore when they’re just a little bit older.
(Plus, they offer a lot of events at Christmastime which can be a great way to get kids interested in historic homes.)
Honorable Mention
Frank Olmstead Park Systems
My oldest daughter has huge dreams of visiting New York City, so I thought she would love to see a park designed by Frank Olmstead since he also designed Central Park.
There’s several Frank Olmstead parks in Louisville, so we visited Cherokee Park. I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t. It wasn’t the easiest to navigate. The playgrounds were fine, but nothing spectacular.
I could see traces of Central Park, but overall it was a bit of a let down.
Maybe if we’d had more time to explore the trails it would have been better, but as a place to stop and have a picnic lunch- I think there’s easier places.
But if you also have a kid that’s obsessed with the idea of New York City, this could be something of interest to them.
More information is available on their website here.
Closing Thoughts
Louisville, KY is a great place to visit with kids. With so many different options to choose from, there’s sure to be something for every family.
And if you’re wanting to explore Kentucky more, be sure to check out my post about what to do in Central Kentucky with kids.
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