There are so many things to do in Vegas with kids, and that often comes as a surprise to many out of towners. Now whether or not it disrupts your moral compass to bring your brood to Sin City, well that’s up to you. But people do it every day. And one thing I know for sure is that while Las Vegas might be a playground for adults, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have mass appeal to the underagers.
Sure, it’s safe to say their eyes are probably going to pop out of their heads a couple times at the pool, but consider their blushing cheeks a rite of passage and look for other ways to keep them busy. Like anything from this list of good, clean fun you can have with your entire family in the middle of Sin City.
I’ve been a local travel writer and editor since 2013, and now as a mom myself, I’m always looking for kid-friendly things to do in Vegas. And the good news is, they’re getting easier and easier to find.
As Vegas continues to grow and evolve, its reign as the entertainment capital of the world is expanding right along with it. With the addition of professional sports teams like the Las Vegas Raiders, the Aces, the Golden Knights and a professional baseball team (fingers crossed), not to mention new concert venues like the MSG Sphere, there are even more things to do with your kids than ever before.
Catch a world-class Las Vegas show
Yep, Las Vegas is known for world-class entertainment and lots of people secretly come to our shows just to see boobies (PG-13 vocabulary). Contrary to popular belief, not every show on the Strip is a smorgasbord of T&A. As a parent, the last thing you want to do is sit through something that makes you want to pluck your eyelashes out one-by-one, so I promise you’ll enjoy these Vegas shows as much as your kiddos.
*Just so you know, there are affiliate links in this post which means if you buy the item through our link, we may get a small commission for telling you about experiences we love. It costs you nothing extra but you'll be supporting our small business and helping us keep this website running, so thank you! You should also know we've lived and worked in Vegas for more than 15 years and wouldn't recommend something we haven't personally experienced or know several people who have. Here's our full disclosure policy.
Blue Man Group The Luxor Hotel
Tickets start at $49 (USD)
If you want to be impressed by big productions (and who doesn’t?), you won’t go wrong with the Blue Man Group. It’s a wild combination of music, theatrics and art deliver a high-energy performance that’ll have your kids talking about it for years. Plus, they’ll get a pretty rad Halloween costume idea out of it.
Tournament of Kings
The Excalibur Hotel
Tickets start at $41 (USD)
Speaking of costumes, the Tournament of Kings has been a Las Vegas staple for decades and it’s pretty easy to see why. You're probably thinking the cheesiness factor on this show is a little high for your liking, but hear me out. Your family will be transported to a medieval celebration that features knights, horse jousting, dancing, singing and a feast fit for a king. It's so wildly different from any other show on the Strip because it doesn't depend on the set design, it's all talented performers and real animals. This is probably also a good time to inform you that feast we talked about will be enjoyed sans cutlery…because as a historically accurate show, forks and spoons weren’t provided at dinner parties during the Middle Ages. The good news is, when Junior launches his chicken leg at this event, nobody will even look at you twice.
Jabbawockeez
MGM Grand Las Vegas
Tickets start at $49 (USD)
Do you have budding performers in your bunch? The Jabbawockeez got their start on America’s Got Talent before crushing it on MTV’s Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew. Since then, they’ve entertained Vegas audiences with their distinct hip hop style, incredible creativity and choreography, and of course, their signature white masks.
David Copperfield
MGM Grand
Tickets start at $71 (USD)
If you’ve been wowing your mini-me with that old “quarter behind your ear” trick, you could take them to see an actual magician. David Copperfield and Mat Franco are two of the most celebrated magic shows in Vegas, and for good reason. Their illusions have entertained audiences all over the world for decades. And you don’t get to stay relevant that long unless you’re doing something right. Copperfield is, well a legend, and Franco is sincerely a nice guy with major talent. These magicians are entertaining for everyone in the family, from the 5 year old’s to the 50 year old’s.
Mat Franco
The LINQ Hotel
Tickets start at $62 (USD)
The Beatles LOVE
The Mirage Hotel
Tickets start at $69 (USD)
The Beatles LOVE by the extraordinary minds at Cirque du Soleil is one of my favorite kid-friendly Cirque shows in Vegas. While most people will lean towards the otherworldly Mystére at Treasure Island for its unique costumes, giant baby and enormous inflatable snail, LOVE is like a confetti cannon exploded. The sensory elements like glow in the dark jellyfish that descend from the ceiling, bubble machines that create massive iridescent spheres big enough to close around the performers and audience interaction with parachutes are why you’ll love it. Oh, and last but obviously not least, the music.
Mystére
Treasure Island
Tickets start at $69 )USD)
Explore a Vegas museum or art exhibit that isn’t boring
Area 15
3215 S. Rancho Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89102
Tickets start at $49
Area 15 is one of the newer family-friendly attractions in Vegas. And this immersive entertainment district is about as unique as it gets. The brainchild of artists who may or may not have consumed lots of psychedelics, it’s like a modern-day glow in the dark mall meets all-night skating rink. But unlike your childhood relics, there are celebrity-chef driven restaurants, immersive art activations like Meow Wolf's Omega Mart, virtual reality, contemporary art pieces, an arcade, indoor golf, bars and shopping. There’s even a zipline. You’ve probably never been to a place like Area 15 before, and neither have your kids, so just book the tickets.
Madame Tussauds
In front of The Venetian Las Vegas
Tickets start at $38 (USD)
Let’s get real for a second. If you live in the middle-of-nowhere U.S.A. (like I did growing up), the closest you’ve probably ever been to a celebrity is when you pressed your nose to the TV screen. But in Vegas, celebrities run wild like gazelles on an African safari. And you can get up close and personal with them without their pesky bodyguards strong-arming you.
Madame Tussauds has more than 100 wax figures that look exactly like your favorite stars; many of them even come in and sit for the artists. This means that while your kids are gazing up at their favorite Avengers or sports hero, you can get a closer look at J. Lo’s caboose. There’s also a cool multi-sensory theater at the end of the exhibit your whole family will love.
Bodies...The Exhibition
The Luxor Hotel
Tickets start at $32 (USD)
We’ve seen the outside, now let’s get a closer look at the inside. Bodies...The Exhibition and Real Bodies are like anatomy classes and sex-ed classes rolled into one. If your kids enjoyed dissecting owl pellets in school (or private parts still make them giggle), they’ll be floored by the whole-body specimens. That’s right folks; people still donate their bodies to science, so those of us who are still breathing can see what we all look like without skin. Here’s a good time for life lesson: The exhibit at Luxor also has a healthy lung and a smoker’s lung on display so you can show your kids exactly what happens to their bodies when they experiment with smoking.
Real Bodies
The Horseshoe (formerly Bally's Las Vegas)
Tickets start at $19 (USD) kids 3 and younger are free
Titanic: The artifact exhibition
The Luxor Hotel
Tickets start at $24 (USD) kids 3 and younger are free
At Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, you can show your kids that history can be entertaining. You’ll all receive boarding passes with the identity of a real passenger listed aboard that fateful ship (you’ll find out at the end if the passenger survived). Then, there are more than 300 artifacts to see and full-scale replicas of the Grand Staircase and the Titanic’s Promenade Deck to explore. The Promenade Deck is where you can actually feel how frigid the temperatures were the night the ship struck the iceberg after setting sail from Southampton in 1912.
The Mob Museum
Las Vegas, NV
Tickets start at $16 (USD) kids 10 and younger are free
Now it’s time for some more history, only this stuff isn’t covered in your textbooks. The Mob Museum takes you inside the world of organized crime, when zoot suits and Tommy guns were more than just a Halloween costume. The museum features personal items from legendary mobsters like Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel and teaches visitors about life and crime on both sides of the law. Bonus for the grown-ups; there’s a distillery in the basement, called the Underground, making authentic Prohibition-era moonshine and cocktails. Set your kids loose in the museum upstairs and soak up all the period details and spirits in the fun subterranean speakeasy.
Minus5 Ice Bar & Experience
The Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian Las Vegas
The LINQ Promenade
Shoppes at Mandalay Bay
Tickets start at $13 (USD)
For families with kids 4 and up, you can shrug on a warm parka with gloves and explore a whole different world made entirely of ice. At the Minus5 Ice Bar and Experience, the walls, seats, drinking glasses, bar tops and even the artwork is all hand-carved and made entirely of ice. After 9 p.m. it becomes a bar, but before that witching hour, they have a fun mocktail menu for the kids. The photo on the left is my girlfriend and me at the location in the Shoppes at Mandalay Bay, donning our warm white fur coats while seated on the ice throne with the resident penguin.
Get your adrenaline pumping at Vegas theme parks
There’s no need to drive for hours to get to your favorite amusement park when you’re in Vegas. They’re all neatly settled on the Strip.
Slotzilla Zipline & Zoomline
Fremont Street Experience
Tickets start at $49 (USD)
If a 12-story slot machine with a 100-foot drop-off sounds like something you’d like to launch your kids from, then SlotZilla is exactly what you need. It’s all the fun of hearing their screams without the fuss of Child Protective Services on your doorstep. The zip line sends you flying 850 feet across Fremont Street, high out of the clutches of those drunken revelers below. The taller and awesome-er Zoomline sends you racing up to 35 mph headfirst, à la Superman. This is your chance to show Junior no matter how old he thinks you are – you can still show him who’s boss.
The Adventuredome
Circus Circus Las Vegas
Tickets start at $30 (USD)
The Adventuredome is America’s largest indoor theme park, spanning more than five acres. There’s something for every member of the family, from extreme roller coasters like El Loco and Canyon Blaster for the big kids to 4D motion rides and a special FX theater for the little guys.
The Big Apple Coaster
NYNY Las Vegas
Tickets start at $19 (USD)
The Big Apple Coaster at New York-New York sends more than a million visitors on a joyride each year. You’ll get an incredible view of the Strip before you plummet 144 feet into loops, hills and corkscrews at speeds of 67 miles per hour.
Thrill Rides
The STRAT
Tickets start at $5 (USD)
The STRAT is home to a collection of nail-biting “holy cow I may pee my pants” thrill rides perched 1,049 feet above the Las Vegas Strip. The Big Shot, X-Scream, Insanity and SkyJump dangle your body and your mental health by a string, all for the sake of an extreme laugh. These rides are definitely for the big kids and even then, they may chicken out too.
Vegas Indoor Skydiving
Tickets start at $99 (USD)
If you always wanted to experience the thrill of skydiving, but the thought of jumping out of a plane scares the bejeezus out you, there’s still hope with Vegas Indoor Skydiving. Instead of plunging down – you’ll soar up, inside a padded wind tunnel with a “fan” that generates winds up to 120 miles per hour. Once the propeller kicks into full gear, you’ll float high above the netted floor where your awesome guide will flip, spin and maybe even fly next to you. The view may be different, but at least you won’t have to worry about being the bug on the windshield. Know what I’m sayin’?
Take in the incredible Las Vegas views
The High Roller
The LINQ Promenade
Tickets start at $8 (USD)
The High Roller in the LINQ Promenade is the world’s largest observation wheel at a whopping 550 feet tall. With 28 enclosed pods and a 360-degree view of Vegas, it’s hard to go wrong with this one. If you’re still in the zipline mood, you can leave the High Roller and walk over to FLY LINQ where you’ll zipline 114 feet (35 meters) above the LINQ Promenade toward the Bellagio Fountains.
Maverick Helicopter Tours
6075 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119
Tickets start at $139
If you want to make a lifelong memory your family will never forget, you’ve got to get above the Strip. Maverick Helicopters takes you on a truly unforgettable flight high above the glittering lights along Las Vegas Boulevard. A fifteen-minute aerial tour is the perfect combination of awe and exhilaration, and it’s just long enough for the nervous flyer before their feet are back on the ground. This is one of my single-best pieces of advice for travelers. Very few people know they can see the Bellagio Fountain show from above, so take advantage while you’re here.
Big Bus Tours
Bus Stops along Las Vegas Blvd.
Tickets start at $45 (USD)
Having kids is hard work and sometimes you want to get the biggest bang for your buck without a lot of effort. The Big Bus Tours are the perfect way to take in all Vegas has to offer from the comfort of your own rear-end. The open-air double decker bus cruises up and down the Strip so you can see all the iconic sites and hear unbelievable Vegas stories from your tour guide. Don’t forget to take selfies at the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. You can’t go home without them.
And your final things to do with kids in Vegas
discover vegas' resident wildlife
Shark Reef Aquarium
Mandalay Bay
tickets start at $29
Nope, I’m not referring to the tipsy tourists. The Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay joins only 10 percent of aquariums nationwide who are accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, it’s also the only one in the entire state of Nevada. Needless to say, they’re kind of a big deal. There are more than 1,200 species of marine life to see, including sharks, a 300-pound sea turtle, exotic fresh and saltwater fish. In addition to the super neat shark tunnel, guests can also check out exhibits with crocodiles and piranhas, and even pet some stingrays. They’ve even got packages where you can feed their critters. I filmed a segment on feeding their sea turtles and it was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in Las Vegas. Except that whole trying to talk to a camera while making sure my fingers don’t get snapped off by a kale-crunching turtle.
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Ashley Oñoz-Wright has been a travel writer and editor based in Las Vegas, NV for the last ten years. Her work has been featured in Manifesting Travel, Modern Luxury, Sophisticated Living, Greenspun Media Group, Vegas.com and LasVegas.com. She holds a degree in Sociology & Anthropology from DePauw University.
