Best Kid-Friendly Outdoor Attractions in the Great Lakes Bay
Want to see excited eyes & ear-to-ear smiles on your little ones' faces? Here’s the surefire way: Go Great Lakes Bay in Michigan with this list in your luggage!
Get to dozens of magical outdoor spaces where toddlers giggle and teenagers come alive (and parents have just as much fun as the half-pints)! Bring your camera, your favorite sneakers, and your sense of family adventure — big smiles are just up ahead!
Buoy 18 | @frommichiganwithlove
Dow Gardens | @jenniferrussell1105
Take Your
Family Fun
to New Heights
to New Heights
Ziplining on an aerial adventure or soaring four stories high in the trees — there's no limit to the fun your family will have!
Midland
Explore 110 acres of floral beauty — including an award-winning Children's Garden — and America's longest canopy walk, four stories high in the forest treetops! Discover Spruce Arm tree-supported cargo nets and the Orchard Arm glass-floored overlook.
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Frankenmuth
Take to the trees together as a family! Rock ropes courses & ziplines galore, and cheer one another on through multi-skill-leveled challenges, made for ages seven & up. (Try Glow Nights or Twilight Climbs to skip the mid-day heat!)
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Midland
Venture out into 1,200 acres of awesome! Go hands-on in the Ecosystem Gallery; see a Native American wigwam, one-room Log Schoolhouse, and working Sugarhouse; and travel back to the 1870s log cabin Homestead Farm to meet friendly farm animals, May to November, for free!
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Grandpa Tiny's Farm | @x_stina
Have Hands-On Fun At
Zoos + Farms
Feed chickens on the farm, pet a friendly pygmy goat, or see adorable penguins swim — and enjoy your up-close encounter with the animals!
Saginaw
Go wild observing more than 150 animals — from river otters to a two-toed sloth — and be sure to ride the hand-carved carousel or take a spin on the miniature train! Toot toot!
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Frankenmuth
Tour this working heritage farm while pulled by a tractor! See the one-room schoolhouse along with lavender & sunflower fields, then pet & help feed the farm animals, including sheep, bunnies, pigs, and chickens!
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Birch Run
Prepare yourself for this 56-acre park with primates, zebras, lions, reptiles, parrots, and a special petting area. Meet more than 200 animals and make your kiddos’ whole day!
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Bay City State Park
Play All Day At
Sandy Beaches
+ Splash Pads
+ Splash Pads
Get ready for sunny fun when you cool off with a dip in the water or get doused by geysers & giant dumping buckets!
Bay City State Park | @shineonsunfish
Enjoy the Saginaw Bay shoreline, sandy swimming beach, and picnic areas at Bay City State Park — and the Tobico Marsh wetland preserve with walking trails, wildlife viewing, and observation towers! Or, whoop it up with water at the on-site Spray by the Bay Splash Park. You’re right alongside an amazing playground area, too!
Hit the beach at Haithco Recreation Area and make it a day full of playground fun, volleyball in the sand, tossing horseshoes, and renting your choice of paddleboat, rowboat, canoe, or kayak. Fish from the pier, grill up a picnic, and cool off at an earthy-themed splash pad!
Practice counting to 18 together at Frankenmuth Jaycee Spray Park, because this zero-depth water play area has 18 different fountains, sprays, and geysers — completely accessible for all ages & abilities and completely cool for family fun!
Play for ages in filtered-water, zero-depth splash sections at Celebration Square Splash Park! Enjoy Discovery Bay with misters for toddlers, Adventure Bay with showers & dumping buckets for children, and Action Bay with Spray Cannon water soakers & large Ground Geysers fun!
Get wet, wild, and feel wonderful! Be ready for belly laughs by the buckets, and waterspouts, at Longview Spray Park!
Splash right by the iconic Tridge (that's also an entrance to the Pere Marquette Rail Trail) at Gerstacker Spray Park. Watch the kids in the waterspouts? No way! This place is for the young and young-at-heart!
Gear Up For
Family Game Time
Mini-golf, go-karts, or an afternoon at the ballgame? You'll be all-in for good times on these family outings!
Midland
Buy peanuts & Cracker Jack, or brats & beer, from dozens of concession options on-site — and take your family out to the ballgame! With stadium seating & grass a’plenty, watch the Great Lakes Loons play ball. Be sure to visit the on-site playground & the Loon Loft gift shop on your way out!
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Dutch Village Adventure Park | @dutchvillageadventurepark
Have a blast playing mini-golf at Dutch Village Adventure Park — or swing at a bucket of balls in the batting cages! There's hand-dipped Hudsonville ice cream when you're through!
Create forever memories on the green, right by a bustling marina, at Buoy 18 Miniature Golf, Arcade & Ice Cream Shop — and have fun choosing your post-game ice cream treat!
Get a hole-in-one, race go-karts, ride bumper boats, run through laser tag, and cool off inside playing arcade games... all in one family-friendly place at Fun Way Amusement Park!
Choose between two 18-hole mini-golf courses at Alpine Mountain — or play both! Challenge the fam to bank-shot basketball, race go-karts & bumper boats, and indulge in ice cream.
Johnny Panther Quests
Cruise Into
Magical
Family Moments
Family Moments
With boats your whole crew can board together, these outings make family vacation an absolute breeze!
Boat Tours in Frankenmuth | @michiganaddicts
Spot wildlife galore on a family adventure through the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge with Johnny Panther Quests Adventure Trips! Board a shallow-draft boat and glide through the wilderness with a one-of-a-kind local guide, spotting bald eagles to deer drinking from streams.
Cruise aboard the 150-passenger paddlewheel Bavarian Belle Riverboat. Kids will love the ride and the refreshments available, adults will appreciate the narrated historical tour.
Board an electric boat for a one-hour Wine & Chocolate River Tour with Frankenmuth FunShips. "Big kids" sample wines, little kids sip sparkling grape juice, and the whole family wins!
Feel the wind in your hair and watch your little ones' eyes sparkle aboard a majestic tall ship schooner with BaySail. Choose between Great Lakes 101 daytime trips or Sunset Sails, Matey!
Join your local guide for a relaxing Saginaw River Guided Tour with Bay City Boat Lines. Let the kiddos enjoy snacks & soft drinks while they keep watch for the Saginaw River Rear Range Lighthouse!
Things To Do
Spend a long weekend checking items off this bursting bucket list when you Go Great Lakes Bay in Pure Michigan — and have a four-day adventure your family will never forget! Because here, it’ll be a toss up: who had more fun, the parents or kids?
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Bay City State Park
Go Great
Situated along the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron, Bay City is bursting with flavors to savor, boats to board, and places to play, carefree! You're on vacation and you've got a weekend to spend making beautiful memories together in Bay City!
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Go Great
Travel to Frankenmuth, Michigan for a weekend with your family and be ready for all kinds of over-the-top fun! This town is known as “Little Bavaria,” but it’s home to two of Michigan’s top indoor waterparks and the world’s largest Christmas store, making it a must-stop for more than 3 million who visit annually.
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Go Great
Splash at multiple spray parks, roam through colorful gardens and groves, and dare to take the country's longest canopy walk up to 40 feet high in the forest! It’s all here, and ready when you are, when you spend a weekend in Midland with the kids!
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Go Great
With hands-on, interactive museums, zoos & petting farms where your hearts will melt, and opportunities to bounce sky-high or squeal with excitement aboard a choo-choo train — Saginaw is a kid-friendly spot that adults will love, too!
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Author
Jen W. O'Deay + Go Great Lakes Bay
By: Jen W. O'Deay | Updates: Go Great Lakes Bay | Jen is a Saginaw native and owner of Feel These Words, an independent copywriting studio & home to the free "5 Day Website MiniBoost". Jen specializes in writing that connects, delivered through website copy, branded content articles, and WingWoman writing services. You'll find Jen camping with her family, laughing, and at feelthesewords.com
