Preview Post: Devil's Lake State Park

Devil's Lake State Park is one of the state parks most visited by people I know.  It is most loved for its scenery, and there are many trails of varying difficulty throughout the park.  Devil's Lake also houses some Native American burial mounds.  The lake is clean, and many people camp here annually.

There's an unofficial travel guide website for the park at Devil's Lake Wisconsin


Devil's Lake State Park
S5975 Park Rd ~ Baraboo, WI ~ (608) 356-8301

Admission: State Park Vehicle Admission Sticker - $28/annual, $8/day

Preview Post: Aldo Leopold Center

The Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo is a nature center.  It is mostly enjoyed for the outdoors, but there are also buildings that function as learning spaces and museums about Aldo Leopold, a diligent conservationist.  There are tours you can take, or you can explore on your own.

Aldo Leopold Center
E13701 Levee Road ~ Baraboo, WI ~ (608) 355-0279

Admission: I do not believe there is an admission fee to enjoy the land.  Tours do require fees.

Preview Post: Augusta Wildlife Area

The Augusta Wildlife Area is a state preserve.  It's 2100 acres, so there is plenty of opportunity for outdoor exploration.  There is not any sort of playground, but there are trails.

August State Wildlife Area
Wildlife Rd ~ Augusta, WI

Admission: I believe you need a state park admission sticker.  $28/annual, $8/day

Preview Post: The Dells Mill

The Dells Mill is a historical site outside of Augusta, Wisconsin.  It is mostly a photo opportunity, but there is a museum there as well.  It sounds like they have pretty limited hours, though, so check before you go!  I believe they are only open on Saturdays.  Their website is not very updated, so I had a difficult time finding information.

The Dells Mill
E18855 Co Rd V ~ Augusta, WI ~ (715) 286-2714
Admission: Unsure

Homestead Animal Farm

We visited Homestead Animal Farm in Merton to get our pumpkins this year.  It is an awfully cute farm!

The petting zoo, kiddie play area, and hay ride were each $2.  The corn maze was $6 (woah!).  We didn't do that one.  They do offer a bundle price if you are planning to do it all.  It saves you a buck.

The petting zoo area was a lot of fun.  We could get as close to the animals as we wanted, and they were all pretty tolerant of lots of hands.  We even got to hold a baby chick!  The kids got a pretty big kick out of the chickens running loose around the farm.

The kiddie area was pretty small, but they did pack a lot in there.

 Not much for large motor, traditional playground activities, but there were lots of fine motor building and ball games.  They had a nice variety for little tyke experiments.  One of my pet peeves is when places make adults pay to supervise, and I definitely felt like this was not worth my entrance fee.  But the kids had a good time.

 

Our favorite was definitely the hay ride.  It was a small, cozy wagon, and the man running it was great.  We even had to stop for deer on our trail - twice!  It does not take you out to the pumpkin patch like we have been used to, but it was a nice length and a pleasant ride.

 

It seemed to me like the pumpkins were a bit pricey ($9 for a large one?), but these are the only pumpkins we've purchased this year so maybe I'm just out of touch with the going rate.

I was glad we went right away in the morning.  We spent about 2 hours there, and by the time we left it was starting to get pretty crowded.  It is a spacious farm, but the activity areas had a limited amount of participation.  I think it would have been frustrating with a lot more people.

There were port-a-potties available.

Homestead Farm
 W320 N9127 Hwy. 83 ~ Hartland, WI ~ (262) 966-3840

Kalahari Indoor Theme Park

The girl child wanted to go to Kalahari Indoor Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells to celebrate her birthday.  We were mostly in it for the rides, also the little one is not such a fan, so we ended up doing a few games as well.

There is a fair amount for the little ones to do, including a mini ropes course.

But she was in the sweet spot, being small enough to go on the kiddie activities and just big enough to do most of the grow-up ones as well.  The full-scale ropes course ended up being a little bit more unnerving than she anticipated, and one of the attendants who was working was FANTASTIC at helping to guide her through it.

She also enjoyed the variety of climbing walls.

We appreciated that there were options for unlimited-play wristbands as well as the ability to buy credits to use on anything in the park.  This worked out well for our family since we knew the kids would get their money's worth, but the we parents probably would not.  It was easy to reload our card if we ran low.

We were also VERY impressed with the staff.  We got really lucky and were there on a day that was not crowded at all.  Truthfully, we were able to walk right onto most of the rides.  There were a few that the adults had to go on with the kids.  We were all supposed to pay, but the attendants were all so nice about letting us go on with them without charging us!  It made our visit so much more enjoyable and the kids got to do a lot more than they would have if we had needed to pay for every carousel and Ferris wheel ride!  Little things like that made our experience a great one.  It was a bit more expensive than we usually spend for birthday fun, but I think we would all agree it was worth it.

We also didn't need to stay at the hotel, which was great for us.  I was a little bit surprised while researching that overnight guests do not get more of a discount on wristbands.

Kalahari Indoor Theme Park
1305 Kalahari Drive ~ Wisconsin Dells, WI ~ (877) 525-2427

The Little Farmer

The Little Farmer is a fall playland in Malone. 

There is goat-feeding.

And a whole play area with climbing structures (including some made of straw bales), tricycles, and all sorts of fun.  There were also inflatable bouncy horses, which were a lot of fun.

These pedal cars were a favorite for sure!

The kids also enjoyed the little garden, which had little hidden secrets.  They liked the natural tic-tac-toe a lot.

Most importantly, the Little Farmer has the best caramel apple bar!  You get to pick your perfect size apple and choose your favorite toppings.  You can even turn it into a caramel apple "sundae."

One thing I really appreciate about the Little Farmer is that you pay for what you do.  Anyone can wander around for free.  The food prices were not outrageous, and the play area was only $1 per person.  Adults had to pay, but I could deal with a dollar.

The maze and hayride were more expensive, around $4 each if I recall correctly.  They seemed a little bit pricey comparatively.  We decided to just go with the corn maze.  The maze includes a puzzle you try to solve as you work your way through, which was a pretty fun addition.

The Little Farmer
N9438 Hwy 151 ~ Malone, WI ~ (920) 921-4784
Price varies by activity

Preview Post: AmericInn Waterpark

The AmericInn in Ashland has an indoor waterpark.  It doesn't look like it's huge, but it might be a fun way to spend an afternoon.  From pictures I can find, it looks like there are two decent water slides and a splash area.  They do have day passes available.

AmericInn SplAshland
3009 Lake Shore Drive E ~ Ashland, WI
Admission: $10

Preview Post: Arcadia Aquatic Center

The Arcadia Aquatic Center looks like a great family pool.  It is an outdoor pool with zero entry.  It looks like there are a few kiddie slides and one big water slide.  I also see diving boards.  Looks like fun!

One downfall is everyone has to pay to get in, even adults who are supervising & not swimming.

Aquatic Center
415 Gavney Road ~ Arcadia, WI ~ (608) 323-2472
Admission: $4/person, Free/under 2 & seniors

Preview Post: Barlow Planetarium

The Barlow Planetarium in Menasha looks like a really neat place to visit.  I've actually never been to a planetarium, but I really want to take the kids here when they get a little bit older.

It is important to note that you have to look at their show schedule in order to plan your visit, but they seem to run shows pretty regularly.  They also hold special events throughout the year.

The Barlow Planetarium claims to have a state-of-the-art projection system.  It is run by UW-Fox Valley.

Barlow Planetarium
1478 Midway Road ~ Menasha, WI ~ 920-832-2868
Admission: $8/Adult, $7/Teen, $6/Child or Senior, Free/Under 3

Preview Post: Appleton Family Ice Center

Appleton Family Ice Center is an indoor ice rink.  They offer hockey and ice skating, but they also have open skate times when anyone from the public can come.

Appleton Family Ice Center
1717 E. Witzke Boulevard ~ Appleton, WI ~ (920) 830-7679
Admission: $5, $3 skate rental

Preview Post: Mead Park

Mead Park is a park in Appleton.  The playground looks pretty small.  There are picnic tables but not a shelter.  There is also a sand volleyball court.  No bathrooms though!

EXCEPT: at the pool!  This park is also home to an outdoor pool, complete with diving boards, water slide, and splash pad.

The park itself is free, but there is a fee for the pool.

Mead Park
1430 East John Street ~ Appleton, WI
Pool Admission: $1/non-swimmer, $3/child over 3, $4/adult, $3/seniors, Under 4 free

Monkey Joe's

We visited Monkey Joe's inflatable play place for a fun way to burn off some energy on a below-zero winter's day.  I had looked into the Appleton location, so I was pretty excited to see how it was in person.

I remembered seeing they had a parent's lounge, which I did not really find at the Waukesha location. There were plenty of tables to claim for our stuff, and there are massage chairs stationed throughout, but you do have to pay to operate them.

The kids had a blast, of course!  The littlest one (3yo) got the best deal because he was little enough to go into the toddler inflatable (which they ALL wanted to do) and was big enough to make it through the big kid ones.  The favorites were definitely the slides.

There was also an arcade area.  The kids wandered over every so often and enjoyed looking at the games, but we didn't spend any money playing them.  We also avoided the snack bar.

The place seemed very clean, including the bathrooms.  I did notice there didn't seem to be any good spot for nursing mothers.

Monkey Joe's
2040 West Bluemound Road ~ Waukesha, WI ~ (262) 549-3866
Admission: $10-11/child over 2, $6/under 2, Adults Free

Circus World Museum

Circus World Museum is Baraboo's most famous tourist attraction.  We got lucky enough to get a coupon through the library's summer reading program, and the younger kiddo was free, so that worked out well for us too.

We started out by walking through the museum, which was lots of fun because many of the exhibits are interactive.  I will say a few of them seem to be getting a little bit run down, but still fun and still worked.

Our next stop was the tiger show.  It was quite amazing.  I think the adults were even more impressed than the kids.

The circus definitely abounds throughout the grounds.

 There are remnants of the big top glory days...

 and current action to take in.

Our whole family's favorite part was the live circus - with elephants!  There were plenty of animal acts as well as human.

It was a great day of fun for the whole family.  It could definitely get expensive because there were lots of (pricey) extras to add on once you are in the place, but the shows were all included.

I do believe the shows are contracted, so they change from year to year.

Circus World
550 Water Street ~ Baraboo, WI ~ (866) 693-1500
Admission: varies by season (closed Nov-Feb): $9.95-$19.95/adult, $8.95-$17.95/senior, $4.95-$9.95/child (5-11), free/under 5

Regner Park

Regner Park is a large park in West Bend.  It looks like they have a LOT to offer, but we went there to swim.

I will start by saying it was a really nice beach and splash pad.  It is a man-made pond with lifeguards.  There began the less desirable qualities.  I am all for safety, but this place seemed little over-the-top.  Kids under....5? 6? (I'm not sure because the prerecorded repeating announcement contradicted itself) are required to be within arm's reach of their guardian.  Seems like a reasonable request, right?  Except the "kiddie" area of this beach is VERY shallow VERY far in.  I do not need to stand in water up to my ankles to keep my child within arm's reach.  I can sit on the beach and watch her safely. Yes, I know kids can drown in 2 inches of water, but in the very slim chance her face went in and didn't pop right back out, I could easily stand up and run to grab her in plenty of time.  And even kids with flotation devices are not allowed to go past their armpits without passing a swim test.  Now HERE is where the arm's reach rule would actually make sense to me.  If she's past her armpits I should be able to reach her.  But no matter because she can't go there anyway.  And flotation devices aren't allowed outside of the very shallow kiddie area, so...? Don't worry, if you even think about doing something that might not be allowed, a lifeguard will start yelling through a megaphone from their chair.  You can't entirely understand them sometimes, and you usually have no idea whether they are yelling at you or someone else, but there is a lot of yelling none-the-less.

Overall, the kids really did enjoy themselves, and it was a nice clean place.  And I will say I'm sure they almost never have any incidents.  I just found it to be a little bit stressful.  I was looking forward to be able to relax a bit knowing there were lifeguards watching, but it felt to me more like I was constantly on edge trying to make sure we weren't getting in trouble.  It would probably also be better if you went there a few times and were more familiar with the expectations.

In the winter, the pond turns into a skating rink, which sounds fun.

Also at the park: playgrounds, trails, a fishing pond, and sport fields.  There is a labrynth garden, too!  I wish I would have known, because I would definitely have dragged my kiddo there to check it out.

Would I go back to explore the park some more?  Absolutely!  Would I take my kids swimming there again?  No.

Regner Park
800 N Main Street ~ West Bend, WI ~ (262)335-5087
Admission: for swimming $4/adult, $3/child, 2&under free

River Bend RV Resort

River Bend RV Resort just outside of Watertown is more than just a campground.  It is actually a great place to hang out for a day!  To be honest, we were really only interested in their water park.

Now, if you're looking for a Wisconsin-Dells-caliber water park, this is not it.  But if you are looking for a swimming hole with some fun extras, River Bend is a great place to try.

First off, there IS an old-fashioned swimming hole.  Well, maybe not exactly traditional.

They have a shallow, sandy beach on one side.  Across the buoy line is much deeper with inflatable water equipment, like jumping pads and slides.  We did not venture that far with two little ones, but we did enjoy the floating lounges the resort puts out.  They are pretty sturdy and fun to float around on.

 The main attraction, though, is the pool area.  River Bend has a nice splash pad/kiddie pool.  We had to hold both of our kids (ages 5 & 2) back from racing in as soon as they saw it.  There are fountains, a spray arch, and a slide with a nice pad at the bottom, as well as plenty of open water for playing.

And then we ventured to the big pool!  I would say the main draw to River Bend is probably the big green water slides.  However, both of ours were still too small for those ones.  It is also worth noting that they do not run the entire time the pool is open.

Although the kiddo was a little disappointed she couldn't go on the big slides, they BOTH had a blast flying down the little slides.  There is a smaller frog slide (above, at the right) as well as a pretty decent-sized eagle slide (below, at the left).  We did lots of swimming practice and sliding.  The eagle slide was the definite favorite, but they are both good and fast.

We visited as soon as the pool opened in the morning, so we worked up quite an appetite by the time we dragged the kids out a few hours later.  We opted to order some lunch to-go from their restaurant.  It was reasonably priced and gone before we got home!

One thing I really appreciated about River Bend was that they allowed us to use our own floaties.  For some reason some places don't, but I always feel more comfortable when the kids have them on.

River Bend has nice bathrooms with coin-operated showers.

River Bend RV Resort
 W6940 Rubidell Rd ~ Watertown, WI ~ (920) 261-7505
Admission: 3&under free, Monday-Thursday $5/person, Friday-Sunday $10/person

Preview Post: Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin

The Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin is "Wisconsin's largest butterfly house and maze."  They also have bee, frog, toad, and turtle exhibits.  The butterflies look to be housed in a greenhouse-like structure, while the maze is shaped like a butterfly through the garden.

It looks like an enjoyable, relaxing stop.  I believe they are open seasonally.

Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin
N2550 State Hwy 47 ~ Appleton, WI ~ 920-475-0777
Admission: $6/adult, $3/child, 2 & under free

Rockin' Jump

 We have been to the Madison Rockin' Jump a few times now.  Originally, we were looking for a place to take our two-year-old for his birthday that he would LOVE.  There are so many places he enjoys, so we wanted to come up with something a little bit different so it would feel more special.

We decided on a trampoline park.  There are a few in Southern Wisconsin, but the toddler jump hours at Rockin' Jump fit our schedule the best.

 Needless to say, he had a blast!

Once she heard all about it, the big kiddo felt a little left out, so for Christmas we gave them a gift certificate and took them both back.

We've had so much fun here, we've even taken friends back with us!  One of my favorite parts about Rockin' Jump is their Rockin' Tots, when the entire trampoline park is only open to children 6 & under and their supervising adults.  It's great to let them run and play without worrying about them getting trampled.  For the older crowd, they also host Tween/Teen jump time.  And, of course, there are times that are open for all ages.

The facilities have always been very clean and well-kept when we have been there.  There are nice bathrooms.  We did not take diapers in (chose to change in the car before and after), but I believe there were changing stations.

The other part I LOVE is the pricing.  Parents do not pay to supervise their kids.  That is one of my pet peeves at a lot of child-centered places - parents pay admission even though they are really only there for their children.  Not here.  Only the jumpers pay!

Some advice before you go: sign a waiver online so you don't have to wait to do it there, and save your jump socks so you don't have to buy more next time.  Also, there is a maximum number of jumpers at any given time, so if you're going at a time that might be busy, either book a spot online or get there early.

I have never been to the one in Brown Deer, but I would assume it is very similar.

Rockin' Jump
2700 Novation Parkway ~ Madison, WI ~ (608) 819-5368
9009 North Deerbrook Trail ~ Brown Deer, WI ~ (414) 522-1945
Admission: anywhere between $5-$20, depending on when you go and how long you want to be there

Preview Post: Plamann Park

While Plamann Park in Appleton does not have a playground, they offer quite a bit in its place.  One of the park's main features is its trail system.

Another more seasonal attraction is the beach.  There is a small lake with sand beaches open for swimming in the summer.

In the summer, they also house a petting zoo with animals from area farms.

Plamann Park
1375 East Broadway Drive ~ Appleton, WI ~ (920) 832-4790
Admission: Free, fees for beach: free/seniors, $3/Ages 16&up, $2.50/Ages 4-15, free/under 4

Preview Post: Trout Museum of Art

The Trout Museum of Art looks like a typical small art museum.  While it is not geared toward children, it could be interesting for them, especially if you have one who is interested in art.  I think I would be most inclined to try one of their events that are more specifically for kids.  There are regular family art project days as well as performers that they bring in, called the Young Audiences series.

Trout Museum of Art
Fox Cities Building for the Arts ~ 111 West College Avenue ~ Appleton, WI ~ (920) 733-4089
Admission: "Varies by Exhibition" (?) but at the moment it's:
                    $6/Ages 11&up, $2/Ages 5-11, Under 5 free