Where to Have Family Fun in Charlotte, NC
Ready for some family fun in Charlotte NC? Because we’ve got some great suggestions for your next outing in the Queen City!
At first glance, Charlotte, the second largest banking center in the U.S. (after New York City!), might seem less than kid friendly, but there's actually plenty to do with kids of all ages here.
Charlotte is exploding with growth right now: more than a 100 people move there a day per 2021 reports, and more than 29 million people vacation there each year.
We’re from Charleston, SC, which is about 3.5 hours from Charlotte—it’s one of our favorite long weekend locations.
Among those newcomers and visitors are lots of families looking for the best kids activities in Charlotte!
Whether it’s your first visit or your 10th, there’s always something to do in this fun city.
Here are our kid-tested and parent approved best places for family fun in Charlotte NC.
This post contains affiliates. If you choose to purchase through the links, I will receive a commission at no charge to you.
I was provided tickets to some of the featured events or attractions in order to write this article. All opinions are mine.
Updated 6/2022 | Written 3/2015
The Best Places for Family Fun in Charlotte NC!
Discovery Place Science
Recommended ages: 6-12 for the main exhibits; 0-7 for Kidscience area
If you're only going to one place in Charlotte, North Carolina, with kids, this indoor play area and museum needs to be it.
NOTE: Discovery Place Science is the original Discovery Place. In recent years, two other locations—Discovery Place Nature and Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville—have been added due to its popularity. We recommend all of the sites, but this review focuses specifically on the one in Uptown Charlotte.
At the water table in Discovery Place Science
On a personal note, I have long standing memories of Discovery Place! For part of my childhood, I lived in Upstate South Carolina, which was only a quick road trip from Charlotte.
As a result, I visited Discovery Place many, many times during elementary school. There even was one trip where I attended a lock-in!
Twenty years after my last visit, Discovery Place still loomed large in my mind, and I hope that it actually as cool as I remembered it being.
As soon as I walked in, I knew that my fears had been for naught.
While the museum has retained some of what I remember, there were several updated areas that I would've been delighted to experience as a kid.
My daughter, who was a toddler the first time we visited here, adored the Kidscience area, which is geared to budding scientists ages 0-7.
While her favorite part was the water table, there's also an enclosed play area, a gears exhibit, and several interactive toys that test gravity.
One of the residents in the amphibians special exhibit
Elsewhere in the museum, there's also an aquarium area where we spent a good bit of time.
Other favorites include an incredibly cool exhibit on gravity with levers that allow you to pull your entire body weight up yourself, and an interactive space to learn about building materials.
Check out the classroom space to see which daily demonstrations are being offered.
Exhibit inside of Discover Place Science
While we were there, two special exhibits were included in the ticket price: one was on illusions and the other was on poison dart frogs.
Of the two, the frogs were far more kid friendly with their terrariums and brightly colored information signs.
Illusions exhibit at Discovery Place Science
The illusions exhibit was fascinating. One thing we liked about this exhibit was that we got to use a black light flashlight to read the info panels at each piece!
However, it was much less kid-friendly than others in the museum: no touching, lots of strange noises, very dark, and with a big emphasis on modern art styles.
Phone: (704) 372-6261
Address: 301 N Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina
Hours: Friday-Monday 10:30 AM-4:30 PM, Closed Tuesday-Thursday
Admission: $28/adults, $25/seniors and $23/children; $5 off if tickets are purchased online.
If you're staying in the Dunhill Hotel, you're in luck, as the hotel is just across 6th street from Discovery Place.
>> Read a review of the historic Dunhill Hotel in Charlotte NC. <<
Levine Museum of the New South
Recommended ages: 2+
[2022 Note: The Levine Museum has temporarily closed as of May 15th, 2022 as it is restructuring its collection and community offerings. A physical museum space will be central to the next chapter of the Levine Museum, while also adding in community outreach, digital learning opportunities, and pop-up historical learning events.
See the Levine Museum of the New South website for updates and additional learning materials.]
A museum that focuses on textiles, the economy, and the Reconstruction might not be the first place that you'd think to take a kid.
Yet, the Levine Museum of the New South has plenty for visitors of all ages.
Cotton gin on display at Levine Museum of the New South
Exploring the hands-on portion of the cotton exhibit
Replica of the local Woolworths where sit ins occurred in Charlotte to protest segregation
One of my main areas of interest is Southern history.
While there are plenty of places that focus on the antebellum South, you don't hear too much about what happened after Appomattox Courthouse.
When I found out that the Museum of the New South focuses on, well, the new South, I slotted it into our schedule to see what it was all about.
Playing in the NCNB banking exhibit
Winding its way through the years immediately after the Civil War, the textile boom, segregation and then integration, and finally the banking era, the museum follows the rise of Charlotte.
Replica of lunch counter where anti-segregation sit-ins were staged
As we explored each section, there were plenty of things to touch, hear, and see from the different textures of processed cotton to banjo music from the 1920s.
More recent history, such as the Civil Rights Movement was thoughtfully presented through exhibits like a replica of a lunch counter where protesters staged sit-ins during segregation.
I liked the layering that the museum offered.
My dad and I could read the information cards to discover more, while my daughter (and the many other kids in there) were busy testing out the floors in an old farming house or trying on clothes in a 1940s Belk department store.
Overall, this museum should be on your must-do list of things to do in Charlotte NC with kids because of its sweeping approach to history, and its interactive exhibits that make Charlotte’s history incredibly accessible.
Phone: (704) 333-1887
Address: 700 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC [Temporary location]
Hours: Temporarily closed as the museum moves to a new location
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Imaginon: the Joe and Joan Martin Center
Entrance to Imaginon in Uptown Charlotte
Recommended ages: 2+
In the heart of the Uptown area of Charlotte is this theatre-library-play place combo, a must on your list of Charlotte kids activities.
I am jealous that Charleston doesn't have something similar, as I could see my kids and I enjoying many afternoons here.
When you first enter the center, you’ll see the book in the Spangler Library in this large, airy space along with an interactive play area.
The Spangler Library has reading material and activities for kids up to late elementary school, while the Loft area includes reading space for middle schoolers and teens.
Both library areas are run by the Mecklenburg County Library system. It’s a library, but cooler!
You’re welcome to linger and read for as long as you’d like, or you can head around the corner to the second major part of Imaginon, the McColl Family Theatre.
There’s also a smaller children’s theater, the Wells Fargo Playhouse, onsite.
The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
We attended my daughter’s first play in this theatre on her first trip to Charlotte!
During our 2015 visit, a children's group from Canada reimagined three of Eric Carle's stories, including that childhood staple, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Throughout the show, the kids were encouraged to participate by yelling out animal names or numbers.
Even for the younger ones who couldn't keep up with the stories perfectly, the bright colors, puppets, and black lights were plenty to keep little eyes focused.
Eric Carle on Stage at the McColl Family Theatre
There's a constantly changing line-up of fun children's shows and activities, so if you're in the area, see what's playing.
There's no charge to use the library or play areas, which is perfect for a rainy afternoon when you're searching from some kids activities in Charlotte!
Phone: (704) 416-4600
Address: 300 East 7th Street, Charlotte, NC
Hours: Monday-Thursday 9 AM-8 PM, Friday-Saturday 9 AM-5 PM, Closed Sunday
Admission: library and play areas are free; variable cost for theatre events (see box office for details)
Sealife Aquarium Charlotte
SeaLife Aquarium in Concord Mills Mall, Charlotte, NC
Recommended ages: 1+
The moment that we walked into the Aquarium, my toddler was mesmerized.
At Sea Life, families can wander through the curated exhibits to learn about a wide range of marine animals and habitats.
Even if your kids are small, as mine was when we visited, they’ll be dazzled by the colorful fish and layered displays.
When I first saw the Aquarium was inside the Concord Mills Mall, I was afraid that the smaller size would mean that the aquarium wouldn’t be very exciting.
I need to learn to quell those prejudices since the place ended up being seriously interesting.
A resident at the Sealife Aquarium
Sea Life packed 20 exhibits into the space, but it never feels crowded for the animals.
My toddler liked the touch pool where we were able to feel hermit crabs and chocolate chip sea stars.
She also loved the huge walkthrough tunnel where we were able to see sharks and manta rays gliding above us.
There are behind-the-scenes tours offered as a part of your ticket.
These tours are quick but interesting. You get to see the biggest pool from above, ask questions about the animals, and see how and what they're fed.
Phone: (855) 450-0512
Address: 8111 Concord Mills Boulevard, Concord Mills, NC
Hours: Monday-Thursday 11 AM-5 PM, Friday 10 AM-5 PM, Saturday 10 AM-6 PM, Sunday 12-5 PM
Admission: $17.99/adults, $14.99/children ages 3-12, free for under 3
NASCAR Hall of Fame
The entrance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame
Recommended ages: 3+
My dad and daughter practice their pit crew skills!
Before I go any further, let me tell you that, before visiting the Hall of Fame, my racing knowledge was limited to whatever I've picked up during repeated viewings of Pixar's Cars.
I love vintage cars, but I've never gotten into stock car racing.
So, for me to recommend visiting this place must mean that it's pretty cool.
And it is!
With three floors of displays, movies, interactive exhibits, it doesn't matter if you can name every Winston Cup winner.
Your kids will love seeing the progression of cars on Miracle Mile (which starts with a Hudson Hornet, or Doc Hudson, for fans of the Cars movie) and feeling the different road finishes on famous raceways.
Practice how you'd wave the victory flag up on the fourth floor, and then see how quickly you'd be in the pit crew in the children's area on the third floor.
A vintage Hudson Hornet on display
While true race fans will automatically love this place, it's also one of the best Charlotte NC attractions for families since kids can learn about a popular facet of the South's culture--and where it's okay for them to run around and touch everything!
Address: 400 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Charlotte, NC
Great Wolf Lodge Charlotte/Concord
Outside of the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte, NC
Recommended ages: 3+
This indoor water park in the Concord Mills area was a hit with my preschooler, and I definitely recommend it as one of the best family things to do in Charlotte this weekend!
This large complex centers around a massive indoor water park.
The toddler splash area at Great Wolf Lodge, Charlotte, NC
Guests at Great Wolf Lodge stay onsite, and the waterpark tickets are bundled into the room price.
My kids could play forever in the toddler splash area when they were tiny, though we’ve migrated to the big wave pool, kids play area, and the slides these days.
Also on property are multiple restaurants, an arcade, and a wide variety of free activities.
Don’t miss the nightly story time in the lobby!
>> Get tips on how to maximize your visit to Great Wolf Lodge with toddlers and preschoolers! <<
Which of these places for family fun in Charlotte, North Carolina, would your kids be most excited about?
