You know, I was never a fan of being dragged to the art museum as a kid. It was boring! Who wants…read moreto stand around looking at pictures all day? But I think if the museum had been like it is now, I would have loved it. Even as an adult, it adds so much to the experience to have the themed activities in nearly every gallery. There are games, writing and drawing prompts, books to read, and more to really connect people of all ages with the artwork and keep you coming back. The free admission on Sundays and $5 Thursday nights are great, too! Whether you're local or visiting, it really is worth your time to spend a few hours at one of the most accessible museums in town.

If you enjoy art then you will enjoy spending time at the Columbus Museum of Art. They have…read morerotating exhibits plus a large collection of modern art. The staff is warm and welcoming. As a family level member of the Cincinnati Museum of Art my wife and I were able to get in free. Sundays are free to everyone I believe. They do charge $10 for parking but if you make a purchase in their gift shop or cafe the parking fee is reduced to $5. It was a great way to spend the morning and a membership not only saves you money but also supports the arts.

We live in Pittsburgh, but love going to Columbus to visit its many family-friendly experiences…read more The Cosi is always on our list. Each of the attractions are so engaging and unique from one another. I love the town of Progress and the water play area with Poseidon. We ate at the cafeteria on our last visit and the food was better than expected. It's much better to go when it's not crowded as it can be a bit overwhelming when it's busy.

Great day for the kids. Pretty interesting for adults, too. The permanent exhibits are fascinating,…read moreand they have some rotating exhibits included with general admission. It's irritating that the special exhibits have extra entry fees, but I guess that's how things are these days. Everything has an upcharge. The food in the cafe tastes good, is overpriced, and is unforgivably stingy. The chicken salad sandwich would probably be good if they actually put chicken salad in it, and for the price, they damn well should. The exhibits are dusty and could use a cleaning. This, to me, was ridiculous, and took away from the experience. The kids probably didn't care, but when you're a parent throwing money at a place, hand over fist, you at least would like it clean. Good lord, the gift shop... handfuls of target and dollar store crap your kids will bawl their eyes out for. Be prepared. You've seen everything there at half the price.

This botanical garden and conservatory is fabulous! We had such a good time my son wanted to go…read moreback a 2nd time during our trip. The Chihuly exhibit is perfect and such an amazing fit that it seems like every conservatory should have a blown glass exhibit. The inside of the building has a lot under construction, but even still was really amazing. The outside gardens are beautiful and really wonderful for kids. They have a great children's garden section, as well as a fantastic model train section. On top of all of that, they also have a glad blowing workshop outside in the summer and you can watch an artist at work blowing glass. I found that fascinating, and definitely bought a piece from the gift shop after watching it! The pieces on the shelf outside in the workshop are really beautiful. Oh, and on top of everything else they have a great cafe with actually good food! I wish this was in my city, because I could come here all the time!

I am a member of the Holden arboretum and Cleveland botanical. And while in Columbus I decided to…read morestop and visit their botanical garden. And I inquired if a discount is given if I am a member of Cleveland. And they informed me they do reciprocal. So I was able to attend with my membership for no additional charge. I must admit that this place is currently under construction. But that just means more great botanical fun is heading there way. I am excited to see it when it opens in 2027 fall. My time here today was great. I had a ton of fun here. I was pretty excited to see their train garden. Where they have many different models of trains going through a garden. There are so many different things to see and do. They have many hands on experiences for children as well. You need to get here and bring those kids to have fun.

Simply put, Otherworld is OUT OF THIS WORLD! Don't even finish this review. Load up the car and go…read morethere now. I did zero research before going here. It was a place on my wife's "must see" list and so we went. Pulling up to the experience is underwhelming. It's located in an old mall that looks like it's auditioning for a post-apocalyptic dystopian zombie future. But, this is a perfect example of don't judge a book by its cover. From the moment that the experience starts, you're transported to another world and you're on a choose your own adventure that doesn't disappoint. The individual exhibits are all unique and so well thought out. You keep thinking "I can't believe I'm seeing this" and "I can't wait to see what's in the next room". This is certainly a place that we'll travel to go see again, and I've already told my friends and family about how special it was. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Now off to see their Philadelphia location...

The kids kept asking to come here, so we finally did. Good…read moreplace for families, and it was pretty busy when we went. The lighting made me a little dizzy afterward, but the kids had a good time.

Some of the exhibits might be showing their age, but it's always quiet and climate controlled and a…read moregreat place to bring out of town guests for a little overview of Ohio and the opportunity to hang out in a Lustron House. There are often activities and presentations on the weekends, which add an extra bit of fun to your visit. As with most things, membership is an excellent value - you'll get free admission to 50+ sites around the state with the basic level and can upgrade for free event tickets and NARM reciprocity.

We started the morning visiting the Ohio state capital, and then we decided to learn more about…read moreOhio. The Ohio history center is located a few miles north of downtown Columbus. We started walking through the nature of Ohio and then moved on to the galleries. We ended up walking the galleries in the wrong order but the galleries were not really connected. We learned some great Ohio history. They had cool things on display like a mastodon skeleton and a Lustron house. We sent about 2 hours walking around the museum. The one negative I found with the museum, a lot of the information was older. Like some of the information panels only went up to the early 2000s. They have a village exhibit outside but it was closed when we visited. They also had a gift shop that was closed the Saturday we visited. Also they have a small cafe on the top floor but it didn't have many options for actual food, just some snacks.

Why have I lived in Columbus my whole life and never known this existed until my nephew visiting…read morefrom out of town suggested it?? We went yesterday just in time to see the 'best of 2026' show and we loved it! It is indeed more that just crafts, it was also kinds of works of art done by craftspeople and there were lots of beautiful pieces to look at. Loved that we were also able to interact with voting for our favorite, and also a scavenger hunt (with stickers as prizes). Such great things in the gift shop and loved the silent auction section too. I know for sure I'll be back every time they have a new show- it's free to enter, walk around and see great art. And the employee working was so friendly and told us all about it and gave us lots of helpful info and attention. Highly recommend, we were there about an hour, lovely way to spend some time during a hot afternoon.

On a whim I reserved a spot for an autumnal crown making event. It was wonderful! Lots of fun,…read morecreativity, snacks, and laughter. The instructor was great and other participants even shared supplies. I look forward to another event!

A lovely little museum on the OSU campus. It's totally free and you don't need to spend much time…read morethere, but you will learn a lot. They have a great display of fossils and gems found locally, in the US, and around the world. I also loved that they give you information about how the science of geology and paleontology has evolved in recent years, how scientists put together dinosaur skeletons, and even how to distinguish a fossil from a non-fossil. I enjoyed my time there! Parking is limited, so make sure you check signs before walking away from your car.

Located on the Oval at The Ohio State University, Orton Hall Geological Museum is the second oldest…read morebuilding (1893) on the campus. It houses a museum, library, The Din-O- Store shop, offices and laboratories. The museum holds 54,000 specimens and a research facility which has been visited by those in the Earth Science field from around the globe. The Hall is of the (Richardsonian Romanesque style) and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Geological Museum is part of the School of Earth Sciences. It's founder Edward Orton was the first president of the University and Professor of Geology. Research, teaching and outreach is conducted here. During the hours of 8am-5pm, there is usually someone in the museum that will identify a rock, mineral or fossil that you bring to the museum. Many of the specimens were discovered in Ohio. Today, Ohio is situated at 40 degrees North but at one time it was 20 degrees south of the Equator about where Australia is today. Consequently, Ohio has outcroppings that date from the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras which contain exotic fauna and flora. A special note, the museum has a bell tower and plays chimes which I always enjoyed except at 8 am in the morning.

It was my first time going to the Central Ohio Fire Museum and learned a lot about the the former…read morefirehouse with the history of firefighting and how to be safe from a fire. The tour guide was a firefighter himself and gave a great knowledge about fighting fires. I got to ring the bell. I would recommend going to The Central Ohio Fire Museum to learn more of the history of firefighting and staying safe from a fire.

My 4 year old LOVES all things firefighters. We stopped in on a Saturday morning when we had a…read morespare 2 hours and were met with enthusiasm from all the staff and one firefighter staff gave us a detailed tour. She made the museum exciting and engaging for our kiddo. The play area was so fun for him and we had to drag him away or he could have been there all day. He got a helmet and sticker on the way out and wore the helmet all the way home (on the airplane). Highly recommend for littles or bigs that love firefighters and history!

What a cute area in Ohio! I stumbled upon this area when searching for things to do on Yelp. When I…read morewas planning to visit, I did not have any particular place in mind to visit; I just planning to stroll and pop into places if they looked enticing. We had our dog with us so we did not do an abundance of walking around. From what I saw, there were no places that welcomed pets in the businesses. It makes sense and it was no biggie, I just did not spend as much time as I would have if pets were welcome. I stopped into what I thought was a deli but more like a restaurant with a counter, hoping to purchase goodies for home. There are several stores for shopping, which were fun to browse. I only purchased some chocolates in a candy store, which apparently were made in house. I definitely want to visit here again with more research.

This is a lovely historic neighborhood just a couple miles south of downtown Columbus. If you have…read morea free afternoon and the weather is nice, it's well worth a visit to Schiller Park (dog-friendly with benches) which has a garden and statue dedicated to the German poet Schiller. I took COTA Bus #5 from downtown Columbus (Ohio Statehouse) and explored the area just north of the park. The brick houses and cobblestone alleyways provide a glimpse of life in the 1880s and early 1900s when this area became a central hub for the German-American community. I don't think there are too many kid-friendly activities or museums nearby - but it makes a pleasant excursion if you're stuck at the Convention Center for a conference in downtown Columbus. Street parking looked a bit challenging. If Bus #5 is running slow on your return trip from the German Village back to the downtown area (it can be up to a 30 minute wait if you just missed the last bus), consider taking an Uber/Lyft taxi instead.

Went on a Saturday around 12, started to get pretty busy around 12:45-1:30. Which makes the…read morecave/cavers very tight to walk through. While your down there your using a provided map to guide yourself around and match the corresponding areas ( Ex; A to A or 1-1 ) We went after it had just rained the night before, so everything was VERY wet. Wear waterproof/walking shoes if you plan on exploring. Be prepared to get dripped on by very cold water coming off nearby rocks, and the "ceiling". Coming down the initial very steep stairs is a beautiful view of different levels of rocks decending into a tunnel/cave where the rest of the cavers are. Tons of puddles all over the ground from collected rain water and the "droplets". Most the areas are about big enough for one person to walk through the tunnel areas at one time, and if your a larger person i DO NOT recommend going down there. Some areas are extremely tight and really only accessible to someone under 4'5 and around 100 pounds or less. (Im 5'4, 140 and some areas i almost got stuck cause it was too tight going through the rocks. It is neat to see though, i dont think id want to do it again as it is just wet rocks and the furthest tunnel was closed from the previous year that occurred from some heavy rain water. (The water collected, over time causing a collapse). So that was kind of a bummer but i get it for safety reasons. The gem mining was fun, definitely loaded with a lot of "gravel" type rocks so that was new for me, Ive only ever had ones with dirt/sand that yield rocks/gems/shark teeth. We found some really interesting gemstones in each tray. The petting zoo was great. I thought it wad Going to be boring and smelly, and i was happily wrong. The goats were adorable, when we came in a baby jumped through the fence and was following our group. And when we came inside the "pen" to pet them he ran back in it was very cute! The deer were a little skittish but very sweet and gentle. The treasure hunt/maze was VERY fun we enjoyed getting different prizes snd trading them within the group.

It's really a great place for people of all ages there's mining for gems there's a cave. Our…read morefavorite part is the animal petting zoo. It's mostly comprised of goats with a few pigs and Zoe the cow "Queen of the barnyard!" It's not exactly conducive for people in wheelchairs. It has a lot of gravel which can make it challenging when you go into the petting zoo. The restrooms are NOT handicap accessible. Which was annoying but we had a work around thankfully. My experience was a five star, but the lack of handicap parking and all the gravel and no handicap accessible bathroom. I have to give it a 2 but because it was so much fun I give it a 5.