Berkshires has plenty of indoor and outdoor fun on its Kids Trails
Berkshire Botanical Gardens
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Phone: 413-298-3926
A peaceful outdoor refuge of natural beauty, stunning display gardens, and classes for all ages and skill levels. The Children’s Discovery Garden, for children age 5 and older and their parents, focuses on plants and their ability to adapt to their surroundings. Other children’s activities and topics include building a Faerie House, the Color-Change Artist, Meet My Friend Herb!, and Creepers and Climbers. Check for seasonal changes in hours and programming.
3 Lake Moxie Road
The Forks, ME 04985
Toll-Free: 800-553-7238
For a memorable vacation...
Three different trips on the Deerfield River in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts offer varied degrees of excitement and experience. The Deerfield River Fife Brook Section, with fun, easy rapids, is a good introduction to whitewater rafting. The Deerfield River Monroe Bridge Section offers bigger whitewater. Lower sections of the Deerfield River are right for float trips for families with young children. Trips offered April 1 through October 15.
88 Old Main Street
Deerfield, MA 01342
Phone: 413-775-7214
Open: Daily, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; call for seasonal changes.
Situated on a mile-long street, Historic Deerfield preserves the architecture, artifacts and lifestyle of a New England town of the 18th and 19th centuries. Offerings include 13 period houses, exhibition galleries, and hands-on history activities for children covers topics like bees and honey, open-hearth cooking, and schoolhouse life in the 19th century. Check for seasonal changes in hours and programming.
300 North Main Street
Florence, MA 01062
Phone: 413-584-5457
It’s a walk in the Park!
A Private Non-Profit park located on the Berkshire Trail (Rt. 9) in Northampton, Look Memorial Park consists of 157 Acres of Park land. The Park features a 1.2 mile walking path, attractions such as a steamer train, bumper boats, Mini-Golf and Pedal Boats. Work up an appetite? Stop at the Picnic Store and pick up a delicious Hot Dog or Cheeseburger. The center of the Park features a large grassy field where guests often fly kites, throw Frisbees, play softball, or just sit and relax. Look Park is the Pioneer Valley’s best place for outdoor family fun, year round!
Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens
South Deerfield, MA 01373
Phone: 413-665-2805
For indoor and outdoor fun, visitors to this butterfly habitat can roam an 8,000-square-foot glass conservatory filled with butterflies, birds, insects, frogs, and tropical vegetation situated around a small waterfall and a pond of Japanese carp. Arts and crafts activities and educational talks for children are offered on Sunday afternoons. Check for seasonal changes in operating hours.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Springfield, MA 01105
Phone: 413-781-6500
Basketball fans will find exhibits, interactive kiosks, memorabilia, and hands-on activities. Children and adults can spend the day in the 80,000-square-foot facility shooting baskets on a regulation court, measuring their skills against sports legends in an interactive game. Kids are invited to coaches’ clinics on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Check for seasonal changes in operating hours.
21 Edwards Street
Springfield, MA 01103
Phone: 413-263-6800
Toll-Free: 800-625-7738
Move kids’ indoor fun to the outdoors with a visit to this loving memorial in the hometown of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known to all children as Dr. Seuss. The garden’s five giant bronze sculptures include Dr. Seuss with the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Yertle the Turtle, the Grinch, the Lorax, Gertrude McFuzz, Things One and Two, and Thidwick the Moose.
Springfield Science Museum
Springfield, MA 01103
Phone: 800-625-7738
The Science Museum is home to a live animal center with fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians in realistic natural habitats of an Amazon rainforest, coral reef, and New England harbor. In Dinosaur Hall, children can peer directly into the jaws of a full-sized replica of Tyrannosaurus rex. In the African Hall, a mock safari takes kids up to a bird’s eye view of the savannah. Check for seasonal changes in operating hours.
Tanglewood
Lenox, MA 01240
Phone: 413-637-1600
This is the legendary summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. Seating indoors and on the lawn. Watch & Play! is a Sunday afternoon program for children who will be attending the Sunday concert at Tanglewood. Volunteers gather young music lovers for a discussion about an instrument, a musical concept, or the performance later that day. Call for schedule.
302 Sumner Avenue (Route 83)
Springfield, MA 01138
Phone: 413-733-2251
Celebrating Nature's Diversity
The zoo is the home to exotic animals of many species throughout the world. Among its other offerings, the zoo’s Family Program Series for kids and parents brings animal experts to the zoo for informal programs and activities. Animal Stories in July introduces the excitement of nature through literature. Check for seasonal changes in hours and programming.
Whip City Speedway
Westfield, MA 01085
Phone: 413-562-8092
This track is a quarter-mile clay oval with a one-eighth-mile inner oval. Events include Open Wheel Sprints on the quarter-mile track with classes by the engine size; Modified Lites on the quarter-mile track, with heats and features the same length as sprintcars; and Microstocks, Competition Karts, and 250cc Youth Sprints. Outdoor fun for kids and families. Call for schedule.
