Austin Children's Museum, Austin

The tale of the Austin Children's Museum begins in 1983, when a band of parents and teachers started setting up educational exhibits and children's activities throughout the city. This “museum without walls” stretched into schools, parks, and malls, delighting children and families with a sense of whimsy and a place where play was rewarded. In the years that followed, the museum shed its nomadic beginnings and found a permanent home inside the pleasant green walls of the Dell Discovery Center. Firmly rooted, its exhibits have entertained and enlightened more than 800,000 youngsters and their parents while earning praise from the writers of [Little Austinite](http://gr.pn/TK71TP). Today, the sprawling 12,500-square-foot facility is a kaleidoscope of color and lights, where whippersnappers play with giant building blocks, cobble recycled materials into crafts, and marvel at golf balls as they soar through loops and shoots. Others explore the miniature Global City, where they take on roles such as veterinarians in the pet clinic, cooks in the diner, or stray raccoons hiding in the grocery store. Throughout the week, a team of educators leads [Discovery Time](http://gr.pn/TK7nd2), guiding lads and lasses through kid-friendly science experiments that launch paper helicopters and make slime. The museum also hosts [Storytime](http://gr.pn/TK75Tp), where grownups read playful stories aloud to encourage creativity and instill a love of literature in young readers.