My kids and I live in Wichita. We love doing stuff. Especially free stuff. Here’s my list of our favorite free places to go and do cool stuff.
PBS Childrens Education & Discovery Center. This is a thing we just discovered existed not too long ago, and we already love it. It’s a free indoor playground in town. It’s out east, right next to the AMC movie theater on Rock. The playground has sensory tubs, dramatic play, crafting, a 3D printer, free books (everyone leaves with 1 free book), and a director of education who floats around helping children and parents utilize all the cool things in the center. It’s a very cool place and one of our new favorite places to go.
The Wichita Art Museum. This bad boy used to cost to get in. Not anymore! It has an awesome kids play area called “The Living Room.” It also has a glass bridge with that weird blown glass that looks like coral inside of it (the kids love walking over it). There’s an outdoor art path too, but you’ll probably want to eat through all the stuff inside first. They also teach classes to kids as well. This is called Art Start. Art Start goes to Camp is the summer program, it used to be $5 but has gone up to $15 and the Buff Family is not super happy about this!
The Wichita Public Library. Specifically The Advanced Learning Library downtown (we call it “the big library”). It has a great outdoor playground, an indoor play area, a cheap book store (you can grab media for you and the kids for literal pennies on the dollar), a bunch of computers, building blocks, story times, cool activities (grab one of those paper fliers from the library that lists all the activities for the summer. It’ll give you everything the library does AND the city does. Lots of cool stuff. Mostly free). Plus books. Lots and lots of books too. Also movies.
Derby Public Library. This is a hidden gem, and technically “not in Wichita,” but we count the metro, as it’s basically just a cute little neighborhood of Wichita. You’re just a feeder town for our factories, Derby! But look at you getting a Target! You’re so cute! All right, back to why the library is cool. So, it has a GREAT indoor play area. Lots of dramatic play. Board games you can use at the library. Lego stations. Block stations. Dinosaurs. Dolls. A little play kitchen. Farm animals. It’s a legit indoor playground (like a DIFFERENT version of the PBS Kids playground in town). It also has FREE coffee for you coffee loving parents. It’s a nice machine that they pay someone to come out and fill whole coffee beans into it every so often (I forget the name of it “Jo” something, but it’s the same company Derby Public Schools use, and it’s high quality stuff…and it’s free!). It also has cool activities they do all the time for teenagers. The teenagers get a whole big room that you have to pass every time you come in, so my 5 year old is always a bit jealous that they get snacks and activities she can’t do yet, but she quickly gets over it as the indoor playground is so cool.
You also got the Sunflower App (definitely download that) that gets you into a bunch of museums, zoos, and centers that would normally cost money. I went with our top four always free places we love. Check ‘em out! You could easily burn 2 hours at any of the places on this list without the kids getting bored.