Utah is a great place for kids to have fun. There are so many museums. You know the classics already, Museum of Curiosity and Discovery Gateway Museum. They are awesome and totally worth going, but I want to share some really fun ones for kids.
These are a bit off the radar and are currently offering fun activities and events. I love discovering new places to take my kids, and all kids love getting out and even taking new adventures. I love museums that are hands-on, educational, and fun. It’s fun for me because I can learn and see all the fun things with my kids, and they are sure to have a blast.
Five Fun Museums in Utah that You Might Not Know About
Bean Life Science Museum
The Bean Life Museum is in Provo on the BYU campus. This is such a fun kid-friendly museum. It is recently remodeled and so beautiful on the outside and the inside. So, if you haven’t been in awhile you will be amazed!! It has three floors of exhibits of animals. Why go on an African safari when you can go here and stare into the eyes of a lion?
It has a marine and freshwater exhibit and so much more. It also has a really cute toddler playland area too. The best part is it is FREE and your kids will totally love it. Parents will love to walk around too and see all the animals.
Bean Life Science Museum Hours: The Bean Museum has hours from 10am-9pm so it gives you plenty of time to go after school.
Special Events: The museum offers a preschool Discovery Reading program Thursdays at 11am and a Discovery Drawing Craft day the 2nd Saturday of the month from 2-3pm.
Website: https://mlbean.byu.edu/
BYU Museum of Art
This is another fun museum for kids in Provo on the BYU campus. I love it because it allows your kids to experience an art museum that is FREE and open to kids. They love having kids there.
Events and Activities:
They have a fun self-guided scavenger hunt for the kids to fill out during your visit. Another fun program they have is Open Studio the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month (The next one is October 15th). You can go between 10am-noon and the kids get to do an art activity and take it home. They also do a Vincent van Gogh and Play every Tuesday and Thursday for toddlers and moms. They get to make a fun art project. Both of these activities are free.
For More Information: http://moa.byu.edu/learn/family-programs/.
Hours:
Monday – Tuesday: 10 AM – 6 PM
Wednesday – Friday: 10 AM – 9 PM
Saturday: 10 AM – 6 PM
Sunday: Closed
Rockwell Ice Cream
When you’re done visiting theses fun museums in Provo, take your kids to the cutest ice cream shop in downtown Provo. Their ice cream flavors are so fun and different. It is darling and your kids will love the fun environment and the chocolate chip cookie ice cream cones.
Since you saved on the museum fees, go ahead and treat the kids here. Their three most popular flavors are Rockwell Road, Honeycomb, and Muddy Buddy.
Lehi Hutchings Museum
If you’ve ever seen “Night at The Museum”, this museum is just like that on a smaller scale. It’s only $3 for kids and $4 for adults. It has a little bit of everything, from local history, to state history, to a wild west town.
Your kids can go into a jail cell that was actually a jail they used up until the 1970s. It used to be an actual police station in Lehi. They have cool 
hands-on signs so your kids know when they’re allowed to touch. The kids felt an armadillo shell and dug for fossils and loved walking around from room to room. There is a lot to see.
Events:
They have a really cool event coming up October 7th and 8th. It is a Harry Potter Night. This fun night lasts from 5-8pm. They’ll have live animals, owls, characters dressed up, and the whole museum set up Like Harry Potter. It’s only $5 and should be a huge hit.
Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum
If you have a dinosaur fan in your house, this museum is perfect for you. You can discover the prehistoric world of dinosaurs, dig for fossils, and see the dinosaur garden. It is located in Vernal, Utah, just three hours from Salt Lake City. They have great displays of huge dinosaurs and even a fun kids dig for fossils area.
We went a few years ago on our way to Colorado, so if you’re going on a trip put this on the road trip and stop in and see how fun it is. It has a short Movie to watch called “Stories in Stone.”
Outside in the Dinosaur Garden, they have 14 life-size models of the prehistoric animals and dinosaurs. They are huge and will amaze your little ones. Kids 5 and under are free, kids 6-12 are $3.50, and Adults are $7. Just 15 miles away is the Dinosaur National Monument. You can do a scenic drive and see a whole cliff side of dinosaur fossils right there on the mountain side.
Camp Floyd
This is a fun museum and historical on site area that you can tour with your kids. A lot of people only think you can go with a school field trip, but it is open to the general public from 9am-5pm.
It is quite inexpensive at only $1 per child, $2 for adults, or $6 for the whole family. It is located in Fairfield, Utah, about 10 miles past Eagle Mountain. I think it is fun to take your kids out of the city and out in the countryside of Utah. It’s a beautiful drive and not that far.
The US Army and stagecoach travelers met at Camp Floyd in the town of Fairfield, Utah. This is a really cool historical site. I’m kind of a history buff because I love true stories.
The kids love it because they can run around and the see “olden days” as my son calls it. They have a stagecoach inn the kids can walk in and see how and where they lived, a museum showing the history, and really awesome artifacts from before the civil war. They have a school house that is locked, but you can ask the museum curator to let you in.
Upcoming Events:
Camp Floyd is shortly having a Halloween inspired event called Ghosts at Camp Floyd. You can find out more here. The event is $5. Register by calling 801-768-8932.
Ghosts at Camp Floyd is only 3 nights: Oct 15, Oct 22, and Oct 29th from 7pm-9pm. You will do paranormal investigating to see if it’s truly haunted. I asked if it scary, and the museum curator said not really, so use your personal scare meter to decide. This is fun for anyone that loves the Halloween spook and anything ghost related.
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