Top Spring Things to Do with Kids in the Great Lakes Bay
Lace up your sneakers & grab snacks for the kids — spring has arrived! Now is the time for fresh-air adventures & family fun!
Squeal with delight while zooming through treetops at an unforgettable aerial park. Take in a ball game, travel the zoo, or even tap maple trees together. When the kiddos are ready for easy-breezy fun, discover the best of what spring brings when you Go Great Lakes Bay in Michigan as a family!
Dow Gardens
Frankenmuth
Make forever memories at Michigan’s biggest indoor waterpark & family fun center — Bavarian Blast at Bavarian Inn Lodge! Try 16 new waterslides, a wave pool, mini-golf & mini-bowling, a three-story ropes course, and 170+ arcade games.
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Frankenmuth
Dive into Zehnder’s Splash Village Hotel & Waterpark, with a six-story Family Raft Ride, four-story tube slides, an arcade, and poolside dining options!
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Dow Gardens | @consistently_curious
Outdoors + Nature
See 22,000+ blooms at Dow Gardens! Visit the Children’s Garden and explore a canopy walk through the trees — with a glass-floor viewing platform four stories high!
Team up as a family and swing through the trees on ziplines, ladders, and rope bridges at Frankenmuth Aerial Park.
Make sweet memories at Chippewa Nature Center! See syrup made at the Sugarhouse, or tour the Sugarbush at Tap-A-Tree outings.
Spend a day on the shoreline at Bay City State Park. Pack a picnic, enjoy the play area, and climb the observation towers in Tobico Marsh!
Hop onto the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail — and look to Ray’s Bike Shop or Nor’East Outdoors to rent rides for your family.
Tours + Experiences
Climb in & cozy up for a horse-drawn carriage ride with Fantasy Carriage Company or Frankenmuth Carriage Company. (Ask first, but kids can usually pet the horses!)
All aboard “Lucy,” the bright-red trolley! Join Golden Ticket Trolley Tours for a Family Ride through Frankenmuth, complete with a kids’ playlist.
Frankenmuth
Pet Rosie The Donkey & hold Mr. Nibbles at Grandpa Tiny’s Heritage Farm, a working farm filled with hands-on experiences.
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Saginaw
Meet 150+ animals, then ride the hand-carved carousel & miniature train at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo!
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Birch Run
Discover the Reptile Sanctuary & Rainforest Experience and get acquainted with 200 exotic animals at Wilderness Trails Zoo.
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Dutch Village Adventure Park | @dutchvillageadventurepark
Outdoor Mini-Golf + More
Golf around a rushing waterfall during mini-golf at Dutch Village Adventure Park, then hit the batting cages.
With mini-golf, bumper boats, go-karts, laser tag, and arcade games, spring into good times at Fun Way Amusement Park!
Putt-putt your way through 18 holes overlooking a marina at Buoy 18, enjoy the game room for free, and grab some ice cream!
Pick between two mini-golf courses at Alpine Mountain, or play both! With bumper boats & go-karts, too, enjoy your time together.
Have a ball at a Great Lakes Loons Minor League Baseball game — and snap a family photo with mascot Lou E. Loon!
MMCM | @mmcmadventures
Museums + More
Crawl into a larger-than-life mouth, experiment at the Tinker Track — Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum is filled with fun, interactive galleries for hands-on exploration!
Catch a show that’s out of this world at Delta College Planetarium — and climb to the rooftop observation deck for a bird’s-eye view of Bay City.
Open in May, see big smiles at the Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum — and the world’s largest collection of motorized fire trucks!
Arts + Entertainment
See which kid-friendly shows are in town at Midland Center for the Arts, The Dow Event Center, The Temple Theatre, or Bay City State Theatre.
Work on a piece together at Painterly Pottery or Space Studios, both with handcrafted pottery for your family to personalize.
Choose a family art project from the Craft Bar inside Studio 23/The Arts Center — instructions & supplies are provided!
Valley Lanes | @shineonsunfish
Indoor Family Fun Zones
Enjoy bowling, indoor mini-golf, an arcade, bumper cars, laser maze, and escape rooms at Valley Lanes.
Hit the bowling lanes at Stardust, crash into fun with bumper cars, play arcade games, and take on laser tag!
Step back in time at Crazy Quarters Arcade and discover dozens of classic arcade games & pinball machines.
Let them fly at Urban Air Adventure Park, with giant trampolines, climbing walls, an indoor zipline, laser tag, and bumper cars!
Play pinball & arcade games as a family at Brinstar — then bite into tasty burgers & fresh-cut fries.
Jump into Airborne Adventure Park where the whole family can fly through the air on wall-to-wall trampolines.
Find your way through thousands of mirrors inside the Ultimate Mirror Maze — and try The Vault Laser Beam Challenge.
Stop by the River Place Game Room for 40+ arcade games and the chance to earn cool prizes!
Let the little ones burn off energy inside The Playground, a fun playscape for kids — with perfectly poured lattes for parents.
Bavarian Inn Castle Shops | @bavarianinn
Kids’ Shopping
Browse toys, candy, and souvenirs at Bavarian Inn Castle Shops — and let the kids pick treats from the bakery.
Find fun souvenirs, hit the arcade, and sample fresh fudge at Frankenmuth River Place Shops.
With Go! Games & Toys for kids to Pottery Barn Outlet for parents, discover 100+ stores at Birch Run Premium Outlets.
Shop for wooden toys & puzzles (or a new spring kite) at Toyberg, or explore “a toy store, unplugged” at Joyful Tantrum.
Feel joy & magic any time of year at the world’s largest Christmas store, Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland!
Butterflies in Bloom
Kid-Friendly Spring Festivals
Enjoy a heaping helping of family fun at Funtown Chowdown Food Truck Festival or see thousands of brilliantly colored butterflies during Butterflies in Bloom at Dow Gardens!
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
Zehnder's Splash Village
Delta College Planetarium
Midland Center for the Arts
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
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
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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Go Great
When you planned on clear skies & sunshine, but Mother Nature has something different in mind — look to this guide for weatherproof ways to spend the day indoors as a family in Frankenmuth!
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Go Great
When you planned on clear skies & sunshine, but Mother Nature has something different in mind — look to this guide for weatherproof ways to spend the day indoors as a family in Bay City!
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Go Great
When you planned on clear skies & sunshine, but Mother Nature has something different in mind — look to this guide for weatherproof ways to spend the day indoors as a family in Midland!
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Go Great
When you planned on clear skies & sunshine, but Mother Nature has something different in mind — look to this guide for weatherproof ways to spend the day indoors as a family in Saginaw!
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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
