August is National Family Fun Month, so start planning now using this A to Z guide to summer family fun in Wichita!
A – All Star Adventures and All Star Sports
Whether you visit All Star Adventures on the east side or All Star Sports on the west side, you’ll find acres of fun for all ages. Each location offers specific attractions so be sure to check out their websites to find miniature golf, go-karts, laser tag, climbing wall, bumper boats, batting cages, driving range, arcade and Wichita’s only amusement park rides.
B – Baseball
Catch the NBC Tournament every summer, celebrating nearly 90 years of collegiate and amateur baseball.
C – Cycling
Whether you prefer mountain biking, gravel grinding, or riding your bicycle among the bustle of the city or the solitude of a rail-trail, you’ll find a place to bicycle in Wichita. And now, you can do so with 100 bicycles brought to the city through Bike Share ICT. Read this blog post on favorite areas to ride.
D –Douglas Design District
Take your family for a visit to the Douglas Design District, a 3-mile stretch with more than 300 locally-owned businesses with an emphasis on design. Be sure to check out the district’s beautiful murals, including a Wichita-themed work of art on the side of College Hill Deli that is Insta-perfect for a family photo.
E – Escape rooms
Show off your family’s creativity for an hour of fun, teamwork and excitement as you find clues and solve puzzles to escape one of three rooms at Wichita Room Escape or Entrap Wichita Escape Room.
F – Food
From handcrafted ice cream made with local ingredients at Churn & Burn to more than 4,500 candies and nuts at The Nifty Nut House to NuWay, serving crumbly burgers since 1930 – Wichita has more than 1,000 restaurants, including many that are only found here!
G – Golf
Your family will have a blast playing FootGolf, a combination of soccer and golf, at L.W. Clapp Golf Course. If traditional golf is your game, the city of Wichita's five public golf courses annually log 200,000 rounds of quality, affordable golf. Golfweek Magazine ranks Auburn Hills among the top five municipal courses in Kansas. Flint Hills National Golf Club, near Andover, has hosted the USGA Senior Championship and USGA Women's Championship.
H – History
Explore the history of Wichita and our cowboy culture at one of our history museums, including Old Cowtown Museum, where you can see blacksmiths working, taste cold sarsaparilla at the saloon and witness a live gunfight in this recreated 1865 town. Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper is another interactive western experience: a traditional cowboy show filled with family-oriented comedy and western music served alongside lip-smacking' all-you-can-eat barbecue.
I – Ice skating
The Wichita Ice Center is a great place to enjoy leisure skating during public skate sess
ions or learning to play hockey, figure skate or speed skate.
J – Jump
Urban Air Trampoline Park is a 30,000-square-foot indoor trampoline park and family fun center in west Wichita and Aviate Extreme Air Sports is inside the Wichita Sports Forum in northeast Wichita. They have foam pits, dunking zones and more, as well as specific areas for younger kids.
K – Keeper
It is the most iconic sculpture in Wichita, the Keeper of the Plains towers 44-feet above the point where the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers meet in downtown Wichita. This land between the two rivers is sacred to the Native American people and is home to the Mid-America All-Indian Center. Wichitan and Native American artist Blackbear Bosin created the Keeper, which was erected back in 1974 to keep a watchful eye on the city. Be sure to catch the Ring of Fire ceremony as the pots are lit for 15 minutes each night, as weather permits. Be part of this piece of history and learn about the culture still alive in downtown Wichita.
L – Lemur
One of the most popular exhibits at Tanganyika Wildlife Park, you will be able to hand feed ring-tailed lemurs. The animals love to eat Craisins and will often put on a show for those offering treats. Tanganyika specializes in wildly different animal encounters, like the lemur feeding, in addition to viewing the animals.
M – Motocross
Let the dirt fly at Bar2Bar MX Park, an off-road motorcycle racing complex hosting open to the public four to five times each month for training, practice and recreation. The track attracts riders throughout the region because it's one of only a few in the Midwest built with loose, sandy loam and it is Kansas' only American Motorcyclist Association(AMA)-sanctioned track. Wichita is also home to Jeeps Motorcycle Club Inc., the oldest, continuously active motorcycle-oriented association in our area and has 80 acres of riding fun on seven tracks.
N –Nature
There are many ways to enjoy nature in Wichita: explore the Great Plains Nature Center or any of our more than 125 parks and trails, visit the zoo or local wildlife, spend a few hours among the themed gardens at Botanica Wichita and the nightly lighting of the fire pots at the 44-foot-tall Keeper of the Plains sculpture on the Arkansas River.
O – Old-fashioned soda fountain
Cool off with a soda or ice cream made the old-fashioned way, from brown cows, green rivers and egg creams to banana splits, malts and floats at Old Mill Tasty Shop in downtown Wichita. They’ve been in business since 1932 and showcase one of the most complete vintage fountains still in use. It has the back bar, mirror, brass rail and a marble counter that seats nine.
P – Performing arts
Each summer at Century II Performing Arts Center, Music Theatre Wichita self-produces five Broadway-scale musical productions using a unique mixture of top-flight professionals from Broadway and Hollywood working hand-in-hand with talented Midwesterners. Click here for this summer’s schedule. Check out other live performance options with Wichita Grand Opera, Wichita Symphony Orchestra and Theatre League Wichita.
Q – Q-Line Trolley
Jump on board the free Wichita trolley, the Q-Line, for fun and convenient transportation to restaurants, bars, hotels, museums and entertainment venues throughout downtown. For adults, grab a Wicked Brew Tour passport and make your way around Wichita’s breweries and coffee shops to win a free t-shirt.
R – Rock climbing
Bliss Climbing and Fitness is a full-service indoor rock climbing gym featuring a 38-foot top-rope and lead climbing wall, auto-belays, 15-foot bouldering wall, training room, yoga and cardio. You’ll find novice to advanced routes.
S – Swimming
Rock River Rapids in Derby has a lap pool, zero-depth pool, children’s water play area, the 600-foot-long lazy river as well as diving boards, aqua climbing walls and four feature waterslides.
T – Theaters
If you’re a family of movie aficionados, then the high-end Warren Theatres are where you want to be. Get a bite at the Warren Diner out east before seeing a movie in their grand auditorium, or if everyone in your group is 21 years or older, buy tickets in the Warren 21 section and enjoy reclining, heated seats and individual armrests, reserved seating and an expanded bar and food menu. View a blockbuster on one of the largest IMAX screens in North America at the west location. The Warren Oldtown is the only all-digital theater in Kansas that serves food inside the theater so you can enjoy a premium movie experience without leaving your ultra-luxurious high-back rocking chair (must be 18 and over after 8 p.m.).
U – Under the stars
Check out the wonder of outer space at the Lake Afton Public Observatory. Here you can discover the universe through a telescope or visit several hands-on astronomy exhibits.
V – Video games
Headshots Bar & Grill is a Wichita’s first video game bar serving classic American pub food and cocktails while offering complimentary video games. They’ve got a wide variety of Xbox360, Wii, XboxOne, PS4 or WiiU games to choose from. You can also visit The Arcade for vintage cabinet games.
W – Wichita museums
Let 33 museums in Wichita take you to distant cultures, days gone by and the edge of space. You’ll discover that museums in Wichita are one of the best things to do in the city. Art museums, history museums, our cluster of museums along the river – you can see one of the most complete tyrannosaurus rex in the country or a Frank Lloyd Wright house and much more!
X – Xtreme Racing
Wichita has your need for speed covered - from indoor electric go karts at The Alley Indoor Entertainment and Xtreme Racing to separate outdoor tracks for children and adults at the eastside All Star Adventures and the westside All Star Sports, which runs NASCAR-style cars. Race up to 45 mph at Xtreme Racing. Karts are Italian, sleek, fast and fun. All three facilities offer complete entertainment, with a variety of games, rides, activities and food.
Y – YMCA
Visit one of the Greater Wichita YMCA’s eight full-service locations, including four with waterparks.
Z – Zoo
The Sedgwick County Zoo is the seventh-largest zoo in the U.S. and the state’s most-visited outdoor attraction. The zoo is home to more than 3,000 animals of nearly 400 species. See orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, tigers, penguins and the Elephants of the Zambezi River Valley, the third-largest elephant exhibit in the country.
