Most things to do in Pembroke Park, FL with kids sit just outside the town line, and any honest guide has to start there. Pembroke Park covers 1.666 square miles and had 6,260 residents at the 2020 census, so what the town itself contributes is four municipal parks and a handful of places to eat. The beach, the indoor playgrounds, the ice rink, the water park and the science museum all sit 5 to 50 minutes away. This guide is arranged by drive time, closest first.
Pembroke Park’s Family Map, Sorted by Drive Time
Two roads organize everything. West Hallandale Beach Boulevard runs east to west through the middle of town and carries its restaurants and shops, while Pembroke Road runs along the north side. West Park borders the town on the north and west, Hallandale Beach on the east and Miami-Dade County on the south, and I-95 is a couple of minutes east, which is why a 15-minute drive covers so much ground from here.
Four rings do the work in practice. Under 5 minutes you have the town parks and a sit-down breakfast. Five to 15 minutes gets you the Atlantic, two boardwalks and a wetland natural area. Fifteen to 25 minutes covers Pembroke Pines and its indoor play, bowling, ice and seasonal water park. Twenty-five to 50 minutes buys museums, wildlife and airboats.
Age matters more than distance for choosing between them. Toddlers do best at the town playgrounds, the padded indoor play spaces and the shallow splash areas. Children roughly 5 to 12 get the most out of bowling, indoor mini golf, the tube ride and the science museum. Teenagers want the beach, the ice rink and an airboat.
Inside the Town Limits: Four Free Parks and One Family Table
The Raymond P. Oglesby Preserve is the best of the town’s four parks and the one to pick if you have a single free morning. The west-side site holds a walking and fitness trail, a playground, picnic tables, BBQ grills and rentable pavilions, and Visit Lauderdale notes it has lots of shade, which is scarce in this part of Broward. Pavilion and BBQ reservations go through the Town of Pembroke Park Parks Department at 954-986-0790 and need an application. The department keeps the parks open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and publishes no admission charge for any of the four.
Patrick Behan Park is the east-side equivalent and the other town site you can book for a birthday. It carries outdoor pavilion and BBQ rental facilities through the same application process, and its position near the Hallandale Beach line makes it the easier one for guests driving in from the east. Turn up without a reservation and you’re competing with whoever booked the pavilion that day.
Ryan Park and the Howard P. Clark Linear Walkway round out the town’s four sites, and both are mostly used by residents rather than visitors. Ryan Park is a west-side neighborhood park with no pavilion rental listed, so it works for an hour rather than an event. The Linear Walkway on the east side is the closest thing Pembroke Park has to a dedicated pedestrian route, and between June and September early morning is the only comfortable time to use it.
Untoasted is the strongest sit-down family meal with an actual Pembroke Park address, at 3121 W Hallandale Beach Blvd, Suite 101. The kitchen serves breakfast and lunch all day, from French toast plates to steak and eggs, so a table of picky eaters can be fed from one menu. It’s open every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which makes it a breakfast or lunch stop, never a dinner. Weekend mid-morning is the busy window. For the wider bench of options, our Pembroke Park restaurant guide covers the corridor and the towns around it.
5 to 15 Minutes: Beaches, Playgrounds and a Wetland Walk
Hallandale Beach and its boardwalk are the nearest ocean, under 10 minutes east on the same road that runs through Pembroke Park. Visit Lauderdale describes the sand as clear, pristine and peaceful, and the boardwalk gets steady use from walkers, joggers and cyclists. It’s quieter than Hollywood Beach, which is exactly why local families use it. If your household has accumulated boogie boards, beach wagons and bikes faster than the garage can absorb them, a 5×10 storage unit holds all of it.
Joseph Scavo Park in Hallandale Beach is the closest well-equipped public playground to Pembroke Park. The remodeled site pairs a playground with separate dog parks for large and small dogs, basketball and a walking path, so the child and the dog can both be dealt with in one stop. The city runs it as an open park rather than a ticketed one, which makes it a genuine answer for a cheap afternoon rather than a consolation prize.
The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk is a nearly 2.5-mile brick-paved promenade along the Atlantic, named one of America’s best beach boardwalks by Travel + Leisure, with a children’s water playground at Charnow Park. About 15 minutes from Pembroke Park, it’s the rare beach outing where a stroller rolls properly. Parking is split between metered street spaces and the Garfield, Nevada Street and Margaritaville garages, and weekends and the winter season are the hardest times to find a space, so arrive early or plan on a garage.
Snake Warrior’s Island Natural Area in Miramar, at 3600 SW 62nd Ave, is the quiet outlier: a wetland site that suits an older child who will actually look for birds for 20 minutes. Shade is limited across the open ground, so go early or skip it in summer.
15 to 25 Minutes: Indoor Play, Bowling, Ice and a Seasonal Water Park
Kids Empire Pembroke Pines is the default answer for children aged 1 to 12 when the weather turns. The padded indoor playground sits inside Pembroke Lakes Mall at 11401 Pines Blvd, with space for adults to sit and party rooms, and waivers are signed online before you arrive. Check current hours before you go.
Round1 Bowling & Arcade in the same mall is the other storm-day stop. Pembroke Lakes Mall lists Round1 and Kids Empire alongside the carousel in the food court, so one parking spot covers a whole wet afternoon. For mini golf, Puttshack Dania Beach at Dania Pointe runs indoor 9-hole games of about 30 to 45 minutes, with a junior price for ages 12 and under.
AMF Pembroke Pines Lanes gives you bowling, an arcade and party packages for kids and adults. The real selling point in August is that it’s all indoors and air-conditioned. Weekend evenings are the busiest stretch, so a weekday afternoon usually gets you a lane without waiting.
Pines Ice Arena runs public skating sessions and classes for first-timers through advanced skaters, which is an unlikely thing to find 20 minutes from a South Florida beach. Public session times shift around hockey and figure skating bookings, so check the current schedule before you drive over. Rental skates make it a low-commitment first attempt for a child who has never been on ice.
C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines is the regional park families drive to for a full day, roughly 25 minutes west and firmly outside Pembroke Park. Visit Lauderdale lists batting cages, a driving range, tennis, squash and pickleball courts, trails and rentable lakeside pavilions with BBQ grills spaced far enough apart for a bounce house. Broward County regional parks are free on weekdays and charge $3 per vehicle on weekends and County holidays, per the county’s fee schedule. Paradise Cove Water Park sits inside it on a separate admission ($15, or $10 after 3 p.m.), with the Paradise Pipeline slides, the 410-foot Crazy Creek tube ride, the Sharky’s Lagoon water playground and Parrot’s Point for kids 5 and under. It’s seasonal, open spring through September, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends only at the end of the season, so check the calendar first. The coolers, folding tables and party bins that come out three times a year fit in 5×5 lockers the rest of the time.
Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor in Dania Beach is the reward stop, pairing ice cream desserts with American classics, and the Kitchen Sink sundae is built for four or more people. Find it at 128 S Federal Highway with free parking, open Sunday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Don’t order the Kitchen Sink for a party of two.
25 to 50 Minutes: Museums, Wildlife and Airboats
The Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale is the strongest rainy-day option in the region for school-age children, about half an hour north. Hands-on exhibits run from Florida Ecoscapes to The Makerspace, with daily animal encounters, and the AutoNation IMAX Theater has the largest movie screen in South Florida. It’s open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Buy the IMAX slot together with admission, because showtimes are fixed and the good ones go.
Young At Art Museum in Plantation is built around making things rather than looking at them. It’s at 8000 W Broward Blvd, Suite 1208, inside Broward Mall, with the main entrance on the northeast side near LensCrafters, which makes parking and lunch trivial. Hours run Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (last admission 5:30 p.m.), closed Monday and Tuesday, with admission at $12. Call 954-424-0085 before making the drive.
Flamingo Gardens in Davie puts 60 acres of botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary about 25 minutes northwest. The sanctuary holds alligators, river otters, bobcats, panthers and native birds, the grounds hold thousands of plants including Florida Champion trees, and the 1933 Wray Home sits on site. It’s open daily 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Go in the morning, when the animals are actually moving.
Everglades Holiday Park at 21940 Griffin Road runs 60-minute airboat tours through the sawgrass, and every tour includes the Gator Boys Alligator Rescue show. It’s open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, the last tour leaves at 5 p.m. sharp, and there’s a cafe and gift shop on site. Book the earliest tour of the day for the calmest water and the most wildlife. Hours are subject to the weather, so a summer thunderstorm can take your slot away.
Heat, Storms and the Bad-Weather Plan
Summer heat is the constraint nobody plans around, and it decides more family days here than rain does. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport put July and August highs at 90°F, with lows around 78°F. Between June and September, schedule anything outdoors before 11 a.m. and hold the indoor list in reserve.
Afternoon thunderstorms are close to a daily feature once the rainy season starts in May, and the town runs a Thor Guard lightning prediction system for that reason. When the sky goes dark, Kids Empire, Round1, Puttshack, the AMF lanes, Pines Ice Arena and the Museum of Discovery and Science are the fallbacks. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 with a statistical peak on September 10, so book refundable rates if you’re traveling between August and October. Our guide to the best time to visit Pembroke Park breaks the calendar down month by month.
Beyond the four town parks, nothing on this list is walkable from a Pembroke Park address, so budget for a car and for parking. Beach meters fill fastest on winter weekends, when the town’s population doubles as Canadian snowbirds arrive. That same season brings the longest restaurant waits, and it peaks December through April.
South Florida humidity is the other quiet problem, because it ruins the things families store badly: sports gear, craft supplies, sleeping bags and photo albums all suffer in a hot garage. Climate-controlled storage in Pembroke Park is the fix for anything you want back in the same condition. When the garage has stopped being a garage entirely, a 10×10 unit holds the contents of three rooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What to do in Pembroke with kids?
Start with the four town parks, then drive. The Raymond P. Oglesby Preserve and Patrick Behan Park cover playgrounds and picnics inside Pembroke Park. Within 15 minutes you reach Hallandale Beach, Joseph Scavo Park and the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk. Within 30 you get Kids Empire, Round1, AMF Pembroke Pines Lanes, Pines Ice Arena and, in season, Paradise Cove Water Park. Our wider Pembroke Park things to do guide covers the adult side of the same map.
What free things can you do in Pembroke Park with kids?
The town publishes no admission charge for its four parks, and only the pavilions and BBQ areas at the Preserve and Behan Park need a reservation. Joseph Scavo Park in Hallandale Beach is an open city park, both boardwalks are free to walk, and Charnow Park’s children’s water playground sits right on the Hollywood Broadwalk. The beaches cost nothing beyond parking, which is the one line item to plan for.
What are some fun places for kids to visit in Pembroke Pines?
Pembroke Pines carries most of the indoor options. Kids Empire and Round1 inside Pembroke Lakes Mall cover play and games, AMF Pembroke Pines Lanes handles bowling, and Pines Ice Arena runs public skating sessions. C.B. Smith Park adds batting cages, trails and rentable pavilions, with Paradise Cove Water Park and its Crazy Creek tube ride inside the same grounds on a separate ticket from spring through September.
What are the best family day trips from Pembroke Park?
The four that reward a full day are the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, Young At Art Museum in Plantation, Flamingo Gardens in Davie and an airboat tour at Everglades Holiday Park. All sit between roughly 25 and 50 minutes out. Leave early in summer, because heat and afternoon storms both build after lunch. Our Pembroke Park day trips guide goes further afield.
Is Pembroke Park a good area for families?
Pembroke Park works as a base rather than a destination. The town is small and largely residential, almost half of residents live in mobile homes, and it has no mall, water park or major attraction inside its borders. What it has is a central position: the ocean is under 10 minutes east, the family attractions of Pembroke Pines are under 30 minutes west, and I-95 is minutes away.
Storage Space for the Gear Families Accumulate
Kids generate equipment faster than a South Florida house generates closets, and Value Store It’s Pembroke Park facility rents month-to-month with no long-term contract, which fits a problem that lasts a school year rather than forever. A narrow 10×5 space suits strollers, folding chairs and a couple of bikes, while 5×15 units take long awkward loads like paddleboards and folding tables. Step up to 10×15 storage or a 10×20 unit once camping bins and holiday decorations join the pile, and the 10×30 size is what people rent while a house is being renovated around them. If you’re not sure which one you need, the storage unit size calculator works it out before you drive over.
