Guide to Indoor Play in Kansas City

Whether it’s snow, rain or just way too hot, moms need indoor play options in Kansas City all year long. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to get the wiggles out, no matter what age kiddos you have.

To inquire about including your business in this indoor play in Kansas City guide, please email us at [email protected]

LEGOLAND Discovery Center & SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City

Fun for the whole family! Surround yourself with millions of LEGO® bricks and come face-to-fin with thousands of sea creatures with a visit to LEGOLAND® Discovery Center and SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City. Book your tickets online in advance to save time and guarantee entry.

Urban Air

Urban Air is the ultimate indoor adventure park suitable for kids of ALL ages (and kids at heart) to explore our thrilling and award-winning attractions, challenge their body and mind, and most importantly…have a blast! Our two Kansas City locations in Lenexa, KS and Overland Park, KS offer the perfect destination for unforgettable kids’ birthday parties, exciting special events, and a unique destination for the whole family to jump, soar, race, climb, and play. Fun awaits, rain or shine!

When it comes to family activities, we’re proud to be the number one choice. We know jumping in a room full of trampolines will always be fun for kids, but we wanted our adventure parks to be so much more. We are WAY more than your average trampoline park!

Urban Air

Rainbow of the Heartland

Rainbow of the Heartland

There are no limits to the grins and giggles at Rainbow. Play sets, trampolines, basketball all in one space! Bring the kids to jump, climb, swing, and play in our massive indoor showroom for just $7.50 per child. Our punch cards make great gifts too! Hosting your playgroup? Call ahead for groups of 6 or more for the best play date ever. Water is always available or parents may bring along their own soft drinks and snacks, store them in our refrigerator, and let the kids enjoy snack time in the party room. Let’s play!

Union Station - Science City

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Internationally awarded for “Visitor Experience” by ASTC and regionally awarded “Favorite Family Friendly Attraction” by Visit KC Visitors Choice Awards, Science City powered by Burns & McDonnell is named one of the country’s TOP 25 science centers. It educates and entertains hundreds of thousands of science-thirsty children of all ages, including the very youngest learners. With more than 50 hands-on environments, you’ll become part of the action as you discover new things about yourself and the world around you. Each exhibit space offers an interactive workout for both mind and body including the Maker Studio, Riveting Robots and the newest Battle of the Brains exhibit opening May 2025! Kansas City’s Science Center is THE place for inquisitive young minds to create, explore, and experiment with the BIG world of science through hands-on learning and non-stop fun.

Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station

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Combining interactive astronomy education, spectacular public shows, and telescope viewing opportunities, the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium is Kansas City’s greatest connection to the night sky and beyond. Come see a guided star tour and learn all about the night sky in Kansas City. Explore the universe, or dive under the ocean in one of our educational documentaries. Don’t forget about our late-night laser shows featuring music from your favorite artists, and special events such as telescope viewing.

Fun Run

Fun Run

Fun Run specializes in indoor FUN for children ages 1-12 years old. We offer open play 7 days a week and birthday party packages. One price gets you ALL day play at our facilities. No need to leave for lunch when you can grab a pizza or a snack from our Fun Run Cafe. At the Liberty location, you will find inflatables, multi-level skymaze, two story wooden village, toddler area, interactive floor projection games, build your own Pet Shop, and a small arcade. Our Blue Springs location offers inflatables, multi-level skymaze, wooden village, toddler area, interactive floor and wall projection games, build your own pet shop, small arcade and kangaroo jump. Bounce. Run. Play with us!

Rendezvous Climbing Gym

Indoor Play Guide - Holly Messner

Rendezvous Climbing Gym in Leawood, Kansas, offers an exciting indoor bouldering experience for your school-aged kids of all skill levels. With 16-foot climbing walls, thick memory foam padding, and a focus on safety, it’s perfect for families, parties, or individual fun. Beyond climbing, the gym features a café, social spaces, game tables, and board games, creating a welcoming community atmosphere. Trained staff ensure a supportive experience, and rental gear is available. Whether you’re climbing or relaxing, Rendezvous is a great destination for active indoor play.

MY Play Cafe

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Kansas City’s First Play Cafe! Newly expanded to THREE LOCATIONS: Lee’s Summit, MO + Gardner, KS + Northland KC, MO. MY Play Café offers a clean, imaginative play-area for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. As well as a barista-staffed café serving gourmet espresso drinks, tea, smoothie and Boba for everyone to enjoy! Our space is large enough for the children to run and play, yet intimate enough for adults and caregivers to relax, have a conversation, or catch up on work. Ages 7 & up are FREE! Ask About the Free Café Helpers Program to earn a Free Café Drink.

Inspired Play Cafe

Inspired Play Cafe

Kansas City’s upscale, educationally-inspired play cafe with flexible 2-hour play times now in TWO LOCATIONS, Overland Park & Merriam! Can’t make it on time? Don’t worry, sign up or walk in and stay for 2-hours from your arrival but always check our play times to ensure we are open to the public so we don’t miss you! Our play cafe was intentionally designed to promote the whole child and family, while connecting and supporting our community through our multipurpose space with parent lounges, worktop bar seating overlooking our play space, and full service food and drink menu through our coffee shop. You can see your children play from any viewpoint in either location and don’t have to chase them around. Finally a space dedicated to caregivers just as much as the children! We are open 7 days a week, 365 days a year and would love to meet you soon.

Matt Ross Community Center Indoor Pools (Overland Park Parks and Recreation)

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Dive into excitement at Matt Ross Community Center indoor pools! With three vibrant pool areas, the options for water-filled fun are endless. The leisure pool is a blast for all ages, boasting an 18-foot water slide that twists and turns, a lazy river for a laid-back drift and water toys like a waterfall table and spinning umbrella fountain for the little ones. With zero-depth entry and a maximum depth of 3.5 feet, it’s the perfect aquatic paradise. Add to that a lap pool and a spa, and there’s truly something for everyone to enjoy. Your aquatic adventures await year-round!

The Little Gym of Kansas City - Prairie Village & Leawood

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For children ages 4 months to 12 years (and their parents), The Little Gym gymnastics programs help children learn and grow through movement and imaginative play.

Our environment is fun, but our purpose is serious. That’s why we embrace a proprietary philosophy called Three-Dimensional Learning, in which physical activity is a conduit for nurturing your whole child. The Three-Dimensional Learning approach to skill development means that every class we offer fosters growth in three holistic dimensions—Get Moving, Brain Boost, and Citizen Kid.

We offer SERIOUS FUN through classes, camps, and so much more!

Johnson County Museum

KidScape Johnson County Museum

Come play at KidScape at the Johnson County Museum! KidScape is a fully-immersive, interactive history experience where kids time travel to different periods and communities from the region’s past. Work on the farm, perform at the theater or the puppet show, teach in the school, deliver the mail, care for patients at the hospital, or fry up some burgers at the diner. There’s 3,500 square feet of fun to explore and learn while having fun! Admission is $6/adults, $4/kids and includes admission to the Museum!

The Regnier Family Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City

KCMC Indoor Play Guide - Carlos Corredor

Come learn, play, and grow with us! Wonderscope is the region’s only fully accessible, non-profit children’s museum dedicated to providing STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math – educational experiences for young children and their families – all with a fun Kansas City theme. Wonderscope features 15,000 square feet of indoor exploration (plus 1/2 acre of year-round outdoor adventure). Daily programs are included with museum admission or membership. Memberships, starting at $150, are available and offer unlimited admission to the museum and programs for a full year. Birthday party packages are also available. Open Tuesday-Sunday.

The Escape Game

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The Escape Game Kansas City is an escape room located in Kansas City’s favorite shopping center, Country Club Plaza. The Escape Game is America’s premier provider of escape rooms. Each game is multi-room adventure where you and your team will have 60 minutes to follow clues, solve puzzles, and complete your mission! You might escape. You will have fun!

The Peace Pavilion

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The Peace Pavilion is a unique interactive kid’s museum designed to teach the concepts of peace through creative, fun, hands-on learning activities. Every element in the museum is designed to empower people to incorporate peacemaking skills into their everyday lives.

The museum has more than 40 interactive exhibits that engage visitors in learning a variety of life skills such as self-acceptance and appreciation, communication, cooperation, conflict resolution, cultural appreciation, and planetary stewardship.

We also offer a toddler room that allows little ones to learn about the same four concepts areas on their level. Kids get the most out of this experience when their parents, grandparents, and/or caregivers are directly involved in exploring the exhibits with them.

The peace pavilion is open to the public Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. We schedule large tour groups on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 9am and 2pm.

Kanga's Play Center

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America’s newest indoor play venue offers kids hours of running, climbing, jumping, and sliding through incredible play spaces. Kids 3 and under can play in our dedicated toddler play area, while the bigger kids can explore our 7,200 square foot, multilevel playscape. We offer a variety of budget-friendly all-inclusive birthday party packages that make party planning stress-free so you can enjoy the celebration. All our birthday party packages include unlimited playtime, a private party room, a dedicated party host, yummy food and drinks for the kiddos, and bounce back passes for each child guest.

Johnson County Library

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Johnson County Library is the place to learn, explore, enjoy, create and connect. There’s something for all ages and interests with 14 locations and a comprehensive eLibrary. Your Library card unlocks access to helpful resources, technology, homework help, engaging programs, volunteer opportunities, entertainment and much more.

Early literacy lays the groundwork for a child’s successful future. The Library’s early literacy program, 6 by 6, Ready to Read, has encouraged parents to talk, read and sing songs with babies and children to help them understand and use language. Find early literacy resources like Books to Go kits, Storytimes, early literacy events, book recommendations and more.

Beat the Heat at SuperKidz Club

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This 9,500 sq ft indoor playground in Mission is owned by a real life mom, which means she’s thought of… well, everything. I usually cringe at the thought of Oliver crawling through germ-infested tunnels, but this place is cleaner than my own home.

Jump for Joy (and for Tired Kids!) at Sky Zone

Sky Zone Kansas City

Sky Zone also offers a dodgeball area, swinging silks into a foam pit, arcade games, party rooms, CLEAN restrooms, water fountains and a pretty great snack bar. We ended our trip with a round of Icees.

The MVPs of Indoor Play Time

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Hours of Paw Patrol would be my 3-year-old’s preference for how to spend the hours of her day, but we all suffer with crankiness from too much time in front of the TV, so we try to limit it unless we’re sick. Here are my 5 MVPs of indoor play at the moment. All of these require very little work on my part and keep my kids decently entertained, long enough for me to sit down and do things like write this blog post.

Easy Sensory Bins & Indoor Activities

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Cabin fever will set in eventually, and there is a good chance that my five-year-old and two-year-old will mutiny if I don’t keep them busy. To avoid locking myself in the bathroom to hide from their whiney demands, I’ve put together a few cheap, easy, tried-and-true ways to keep them occupied when we can’t go out!

KC’s Magical Places Where Moms Work and Kids Play

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Finding time to get together with other mom friends is difficult at best when you consider nap times, music classes, and doctor appointments. Finding a place to chat is even harder when kids want out of the house but mom wants uninterrupted discussion or even more challenging – a place to get work done. There are several magical places in the KC metro where working mama and active kids can co-exist.

Activate Awesome at Urban Air Lenexa

Urban Air

Whether you’re looking to book your kiddo’s next birthday party or for something to do on a chilly afternoon, Urban Air has it all. Seriously. Your kids can jump, climb, sky ride, and slide while you sit and relax in a massage chair, grab lunch, or participate in the fun yourself.

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