10 Kid-Friendly Places to Go in Atlanta for Bargain or Free

1. Imagine it Children’s Museum: Every second Tuesday of the month, admission is free. It’s Target’s second Free Tuesday. This is a great interactive children’s museum, where your little ones will be kept busy, one activity after another. The range of activities includes painting on the paint wall, loading balls into a children’s crane and moving it through a ball machine, building sculptures on a children’s crane, donning a raincoat and using small fishing rods to ‘fish’ the Ducks. , fill boxes with products on a conveyor belt to send them for delivery, etc.

2. Atlanta Botanical Garden: If you’re a Bank of America (BOA) customer and have a BOA ATM, debit or credit card, you can get free admission here the first weekend of every month. There’s even a 2-acre children’s garden with lots of hands-on activities, a tree house, a dinosaur garden, a vegetable garden, a sunflower fountain, and more. Kids will love running around anywhere in the open space!

3. Atlanta Fern Bank Museum: This location also offers the same free admissions program for BOA patrons the first weekend of every month. As soon as you enter the museum, in its main hall, children will be amazed to see the Giants of the Mesozoic exhibit. This exhibit recreates the scenario of when the largest dinosaurs lived and how they obtained their prey. At the time of writing this article, the exhibition The Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bear to Penguins is taking place. For toddlers and preschoolers there is a children’s discovery room, where they can learn about nature basics through playful activities. For children ages 6 to 9, the Walk Through Time in Georgia exhibit lets them discover the different geographies of Georgia, from the Jekyll Island pier to wildlife in the mountains.

4. Atlanta History Center: This is also free the first weekend of every month with the BOA card. Don’t be fooled by the name! Even if the kids aren’t that into history, there’s plenty to do. Kids can enjoy the interactive museum, tour 2 houses including the Swan House, visit the Victorian Playhouse, walk the nature trail, and visit the gardens.

5. Stone Mountain Park: This is one of the most popular and visited places in Atlanta. You can pay for an all-day pass: $34 for all ages, except $19 for children ages 3-11. However, you can still have a lot of fun without spending the money on the pass. All you need to pay is an $8 parking permit fee per vehicle and pack a picnic bag and you’ll find plenty to enjoy for free. You can climb Stone Mountain, sit in the Carving Mountain View Picnic Area or many other picnic areas, play in the playground, walk The Crossroads where you can see southern city life in 1870, visit the Stone Mountain Museum, go to one of its beaches, or just walk anywhere on its 15-mile nature trail. During the summer you can enjoy a free laser show in the evenings.

6. City Pass: For $69 (value: $118.93) for adults and $49 (value: $85.53), you can visit any of the following 6 Atlanta attractions in a 9-day period.

– Coca Cola

-Georgia Aquarium

– Atlanta Botanical Garden or Fern Bank Museum

– Atlanta History Center or High Art Museum

-Zoo Atlanta

– Inside CNN tour

7. Centennial Olympic Park: This park is located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, and is close to other popular attractions such as Coca Cola, Georgia Aquarium, CNN, etc. This is where many festivities and concerts were held during the 1996 Olympics. No matter what the season, there is always something for kids to enjoy for free!

– Music at noon: every Tuesday and Thursday from April to October from 12:00 to 13:00 you can enjoy local musicians playing R&B, Jazz, Pop, etc.

– Every Wednesday from April to September, there are free concerts from 5:30 to 8:00 pm

– Fourth Saturday Family Fun Days: Every fourth Saturday from April to September, from noon to 4 pm, there is a free family fun movie. Children can also enjoy other interactive activities.

– Fountain of the Rings: This fountain in the middle of the park is the largest interactive fountain in the world, symbolizing the 5 rings of the Olympics. Spectacular light and music show, every day of the year, at 12:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

– Ice Skating: This is the only outdoor skating rink in Atlanta.

8. Chattahoochee Nature Preserve – Located about 15 miles north of Atlanta. Tickets are $5 adults, $2 children, and children under 2 are free. All activities with general admission are free. This nature reserve allows children to learn about the ecology of the Chattahoochee area and its habitat. These are some of the things that children can enjoy

– Star Lab: This is a portable planetarium, where children can contemplate the galaxy and the solar system. They can also see what the sky looked like, through the eyes of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Native Americans, etc.

– Animal Encounter: Every Thursday and Friday at 10 am and 4 pm, kids can get up close and personal with a nature center resident animal and learn about its habitat from the center’s naturalist.

– Guided Walks: Every Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Guided walks are carried out along the nature center trails.

9. Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel / Hard rock Cafe: It is a hotel in the heart of Downtown, a cylindrical glass tower. You can go to the 72nd floor observation deck and see the whole city. Going up and down in the glass-enclosed elevator is part of the fun. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under. After having a good view of the city, you can walk to the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant. From 11-2pm you can enjoy lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe for $8.99, kids meals are $7.50 with a drink, which is a bargain for downtown. The 4-page kids’ menu, the Lil’ Rocker Menu, teaches them how to rock, reuse and recycle, and even comes with a packet of tree seeds.

10. Storytime: In and around Atlanta, almost every library and Barnes and Noble bookstore has 30-minute to 1-hour storytimes for different age groups of kids, 1-2 times a week. This is a great activity for the kids and downtime for you, for free. In addition to stories, activities can include singing, dancing, arts and crafts, etc.

Also read my post on: 10 Kid-Friendly Places to Visit in New York for Bargain or FREE, at http://www.travelbargainmama.com

Which of these or other kid-friendly places in Atlanta is your child’s favorite to visit?