The best things to do in Fort Lauderdale, FL with kids fall into two groups: the beaches, playgrounds and animal parks you do outdoors, and the short list of indoor places that rescue a rained-out afternoon. Almost all of it sits within a forty minute drive of the sand, and several of the best options cost nothing beyond parking. This guide covers the outdoor half first, then the indoor half, with age ranges, honest parking notes, and which places close on Mondays.
Where the Family Attractions Actually Sit
Fort Lauderdale runs on three parallel strips: the beach and its hotels along A1A, the Intracoastal Waterway a few blocks inland, and the downtown museum cluster on the New River a mile west of the sand. From a beach hotel, nearly everything here is under half an hour away. Broward County also packs 31 municipalities edge to edge, according to Visit Lauderdale, so several of the best family days happen in Dania Beach, Davie, Coconut Creek or Pompano Beach. This guide names the real town for each stop.
Outdoor Things to Do in Fort Lauderdale With Kids
Start outdoors, and start early. The wet season runs May through October with a thunderstorm most afternoons, so mornings belong outside and the afternoon is when you buy museum tickets.
Fort Lauderdale Beach Park and Hugh Taylor Birch State Park
Fort Lauderdale Beach Park is the simplest beach day with kids of any age, because the playgrounds, grills and picnic tables sit right behind the sand. The lot fills by mid-morning on weekends. Across the road, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park charges one per-vehicle fee, opens 8am to 8pm daily, and is the better value: a two mile paved loop through tropical hammock, a playground, a tunnel to the beach, and Intracoastal frontage where kids watch the yachts pass.
Whiskey Creek at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park
Whiskey Creek is the answer for toddlers and nervous swimmers. It's a shallow mangrove-lined tidal waterway running parallel to the beach in Dania Beach, twenty minutes south, with no waves and no jellyfish. Restrooms and picnic tables sit close to the water, which isn't true of most beaches here, and Whiskey Hideout rents kayaks and paddleboards for older kids. The park sits under the airport landing path, so expect regular jet noise.
Friedt Park and the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Beachfront
Friedt Park, fifteen minutes north in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, has a rebuilt beach-themed playground with mist machines and real shade, two blocks from a wide, clean beach. Adirondack chairs under pavilions are where the adults end up, and an ice cream parlour sits near the pier plaza. Best for roughly ages 2 to 9. Parents need to know there are no lifeguards here, and parking is metered with a three hour maximum.
Pompano Beach Pier and Its Splash Playground
Pompano Beach Pier is the best four-in-one stop in the region: a lifeguarded beach, a shaded playground, a splash playground with a non-slip surface, and the pier itself, free to walk if you're not fishing. Pelicans are guaranteed and Hillsboro Lighthouse is visible up the coast. It's twenty-five minutes north and jammed by afternoon, so come early and use the Pier Parking Garage on NE 3rd St.
Flamingo Gardens in Davie
Flamingo Gardens is a 60 acre wildlife sanctuary twenty-five minutes west in Davie, where kids hand-feed flamingos, watch otters through a viewing window and walk through an aviary, alongside tortoises, bald eagles and a Florida panther. Wildlife encounter shows run at 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm, and the gates open 9:30am to 5pm daily. Buy the small bags of bird food at the desk, because the feeding is the part children remember.
Butterfly World in Coconut Creek
Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, thirty minutes north, holds roughly 20,000 butterflies and birds in walk-through aviaries, plus a lorikeet feeding where the birds land on you. Plan an hour or two rather than a day. Last entry is 4pm and the butterfly and lorikeet areas close at 4:30pm. The nectar cups are cash only, which catches people out.
Everglades Holiday Park: Airboats and the Alligator Show
Everglades Holiday Park sits at the western edge of Fort Lauderdale city limits, thirty-five minutes from the beach. The trip is about an hour on an airboat through sawgrass, then a twenty minute alligator show where guests can hold a baby alligator. School-age kids love it, and the engine noise is a lot for toddlers, so bring ear protection. The last airboat leaves at 5pm sharp. Our guide to day trips from Fort Lauderdale covers the longer runs west.
Boat Rides on the New River and the Intracoastal
The Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi is transport and attraction at once, running daily 10am to 10pm across more than thirty stops with narration from the captains, so a family downtown can reach the beach without a car. Buy tickets in advance.
Bluefoot Pirate Adventures is the most reliably kid-pleasing hour in the city, aimed at ages 3 to 10, with costumes, water cannons and a staged pirate battle. It sails through the day, so it pairs with a beach morning.
The Jungle Queen Riverboat leaves Bahia Mar for a 90 minute narrated cruise past waterfront homes and Port Everglades. It runs Wednesday through Sunday and closes Monday and Tuesday.
Indoor and Rainy-Day Things to Do With Kids
South Florida rain arrives fast and usually passes within an hour, but a wet August afternoon still needs a plan B.
Museum of Discovery and Science
The Museum of Discovery and Science, downtown beside the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, is the default rainy-afternoon answer in Fort Lauderdale. Interactive exhibits cover Florida ecology, the Everglades and prehistoric animals, and there's a large-format theatre. It holds school-age children for most of a day and works for preschoolers in shorter bursts.
Xtreme Action Park
Xtreme Action Park puts indoor go-karts, bowling, roller skating and an arcade under one roof, which is why it lands on every Broward family list as the bad-weather fallback. It suits older kids and teens best, and it's the rare place where a nine year old and a fifteen year old both stay busy. Check height requirements on the venue's own site first.
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
NSU Art Museum sits at the western end of Las Olas Boulevard and is free every day for anyone 17 and under, which makes it the best-value indoor hour in the city. Everyone gets in free on the first Thursday of the month, when hours run to 7pm. It's open Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 5pm and Sunday noon to 5pm, and closed Mondays.
Parking, Weather and What Closes on Mondays
Check the day of the week before you drive anywhere. NSU Art Museum is closed Mondays and the Jungle Queen is closed Monday and Tuesday, which quietly ruins a lot of first days. Beach parking is the other problem: public lots fill by mid-morning at weekends, and one per-vehicle fee at a state park usually beats feeding a meter all day.
Weather shapes the schedule more than anything else. Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 and peaks on September 10, according to the National Hurricane Center, so anything you'd hate to lose to Florida humidity belongs in climate controlled storage in Fort Lauderdale rather than a hot garage. Our best time to visit Fort Lauderdale guide breaks the year down month by month.
Walkability is narrow here. Las Olas, the Riverwalk and downtown work on foot, and the Water Taxi covers the gap to the beach, but everything else needs a car. Families who want the hotel to carry some of the load book the Pelican Grand Beach Resort for its lazy river pool, or The Lago Mar Beach Resort and Club for its free parking, genuinely rare on this coast, and more sit in our roundup of family friendly hotels in Fort Lauderdale. One last local tip: bring a wagon, not a stroller, and note that a 5×10 storage unit holds the whole beach kit between seasons.
Where Fort Lauderdale Families Keep the Overflow
Raising children here means owning a lot of equipment, and Broward houses are mostly single story with a garage that fills inside a year. Value Store It rents in Fort Lauderdale month to month with no long term contract, and the sizes step up alongside family life. A 5×5 locker takes the baby gear you're keeping for the next one, a 5×15 unit swallows paddleboards, kayaks and a rack of bikes, and the same fifty square feet also comes as a 10×5 unit with the door on the long wall.
Bigger jobs scale from there. A 10×10 unit clears a garage while a room gets repainted, a 10×15 unit or 10×20 unit covers a household during a renovation, and the 10×30 unit handles a household plus a trailer. The storage unit size calculator beats guessing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fort Lauderdale a good place to visit with kids?
Yes. Greater Fort Lauderdale carries 24 miles of Atlantic beaches, several lifeguarded with playgrounds behind the sand, plus calm no-wave water at Whiskey Creek for small children and animal parks within a thirty minute drive. The tourism board dates the shift away from a spring break identity to 1986.
What are some free things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids?
The Riverwalk along the New River is free to walk and the best orientation hour for a first visit. Pompano Beach Pier is free to walk if you're not fishing, Friedt Park's shaded playground costs nothing, and beach access is free even where parking isn't. NSU Art Museum is free daily for under 18s, and free for everyone on the first Thursday of the month.
What can I do with kids in Fort Lauderdale today?
Check the day and the sky first. On a Monday, NSU Art Museum and the Jungle Queen are closed, so aim for a state park or the science museum. If a storm is coming, book the Museum of Discovery and Science or Xtreme Action Park. On a clear morning, Fort Lauderdale Beach Park plus a Water Taxi hop covers most ages.
What is there to do in Fort Lauderdale with teens?
Teens do better with go-karts and open water than with playgrounds. Xtreme Action Park handles the indoor half, and the reef a few hundred feet offshore makes beginner snorkeling worthwhile here rather than a novelty. Colony West Golf Club in Tamarac lets under 17s play free with a paying adult after 3pm.
What indoor kid activities are there in Fort Lauderdale?
The Museum of Discovery and Science is the main one, with interactive Florida ecology and Everglades exhibits plus a large-format theatre. Xtreme Action Park covers go-karts, bowling and skating under one roof, and NSU Art Museum is the quiet, cheap option. The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale is air conditioned when you just need to be dry.
Planning the Rest of the Trip
Two days covers the essentials: a beach morning with a playground, a boat ride, and one museum held back for weather. For everything beyond the family list, our wider guide to things to do in Fort Lauderdale picks up where this one stops. If you're moving here rather than visiting, the team at our Fort Lauderdale storage facility can talk through what fits what you own.
