Disclosure: Our family received free admission to some of the attractions featured in this post. All opinions expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something featured in this post - at no extra cost to you.
Extending from the Everglades to the Atlantic Ocean, the Greater Fort Lauderdale area is an amazing Florida destination for adventurous families to explore. If outdoor adventures are your family’s thing, you’ll find plenty of thrilling things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids.
From Everglades adventures to animal encounters at gorgeous gardens and an incredible, hands-on science museum for indoor fun, our picks for the top family activities in Broward County are perfect for both South Florida locals and family travelers.
Experience the Everglades on an Airboat Adventure at Sawgrass Recreation Park
Looking for a family-friendly way to experience the Florida Everglades? Sawgrass Recreation Park, located along US 27 in Weston, offers a thrilling 40-minute guided Everglades airboat tour perfect for families.
An airboat tour through the Florida swamp is one of the best ways to experience the real Florida beyond the beach and theme parks. It will leave you in awe of nature.
What Can You Expect on an Everglades Airboat Tour?
With a friendly and knowledgeable Everglades airboat captain as your guide, you’ll glide through the sawgrass with the wind whipping through your hair. The captain will stop along the way to point out alligators, birds and other wildlife and share facts about the Everglades ecosystem.
Sawgrass Recreation Park airboat adventure tours also include admission to the park’s animal sanctuary exhibits. Families can meet adopted and rescued reptiles and even pet a baby alligator.
More Than a Thrilling Thing To Do in Fort Lauderdale With Kids: Everglades Airboat Tours Promote Conservation
The mission of Sawgrass Recreation Park is to raise awareness for the importance of preserving the fragile Florida Everglades ecosystem and the wildlife that depend on it. The airboat adventure and exhibits offer a fantastic opportunity for families to learn about the Everglades and interact with the animals that call it home.
The Sawgrass family aims to provide an adventure that inspires future generations to protect the amazing Everglades environment. They certainly succeeded in inspiring our family.
Is an Airboat Ride Really a Kid-Friendly Thing To Do in Fort Lauderdale?
Yes, airboats are loud and can go fast. It’s not for every child but adventurous kids are sure to love it. It’s an exciting ride that glides smoothly over the water.
Is a Florida Airboat Ride Safe for Kids?
With proper safety precautions like ear protection and life jackets, airboat rides can be safe for kids.
Sawgrass Recreation Park provides ear plugs for every rider. All children six and under must wear a life jacket, which the airboat captain provides. If you want your older child to wear a life jacket, the captain can provide one for them.
Discover the Wonder of Butterfly World – A Florida Hidden Gem Attraction!
The world’s largest butterfly and bird park, Butterfly World is one of the most breathtaking things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids. It’s a Florida hidden gem attraction.
You’ll be in awe as you walk through stunning botanical gardens with beautiful butterflies fluttering all around you.
Designed as a South Florida tropical rainforest, Butterfly World is made up of a series of open-air aviaries featuring 20,000 exotic butterflies and tropical birds from around the world.
Things To Do at Butterfly World With Kids
In addition to admiring the delicate butterflies, our family loved the lorikeet encounter. For $2, you can purchase a small cup of nectar to feed the lorikeets.
Native to Australia, lorikeets are stunning rainbow birds from the parrot family. They are curious, friendly and playful birds that will perch right on your arm to drink their nectar.
Other Butterfly World highlights include a vine maze filled with a variety of gorgeous passionflower plants. You’ll be amazed at how many different varieties exist.
Certain types of butterfly caterpillars consume only passionflower leaves. This makes the study and cultivation of passionflowers a constant focus at Butterfly World.
Curious kids will also enjoy Butterfly World’s butterfly museum and bug zoo featuring tarantulas and other impressive spiders.
You can watch metamorphosis in real time inside Butterfly World’s Research Facility. You can see all stages of the butterfly life cycle in a display that changes daily.
Butterfly World releases up to 3500 pupae each week from its butterfly farm and butterfly farms located in tropical countries around the world. The butterflies you’ll see at Butterfly World are all hand raised for exhibit – none are taken from the wild.
Butterfly World’s Bring Back the Butterflies Campaign
Butterfly World aims to educate and inspire butterfly conservation through butterfly gardening. Habitat destruction in both urban and rural area have led to dwindling butterfly populations.
Researchers at Butterfly World have found that planting the host plants for butterfly caterpillars is the most effective solution to bring back the butterflies.
Families can download a free butterfly garden guide or pick one up at Butterfly World. The facility also features a plant shop where visitors can purchase host plants. You can also purchase a butterfly pupa, ladybugs and plant seeds in Butterfly World’s gift shop.
Where is Butterfly World?
Butterfly World is located Coconut Creek, Florida inside Tradewinds Park, a Broward County park.
A top Greater Fort Lauderdale area park for weekend activities for families, Tradewinds Park also features an educational farm and stable offering weekend horseback riding and interactive farm tours.
Model steam train rides are also offered one weekend per month at Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad located at Tradewinds Park.
Feed Flamingos and Learn About Florida Wildlife at Flamingo Gardens
Want to feed flamingos in South Florida? Flamingo Gardens in Davie is the place to go!
Make sure to purchase a bag of flamingo food for $1 a bag when you enter the gardens. The beautiful and friendly flamingos at the flamingo pond will eat it right out of your hand.
It’s one of the most exciting things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids.
Flamingo Gardens is a Stunning South Florida Wildlife Sanctuary
A fascinating Florida attraction for animal lovers, Flamingo Gardens is also home to free-roaming peacocks, a wide variety of Florida native and exotic birds, as well as Florida wildlife including panthers, alligators, bobcats, a black bear and river otters.
A non-profit Florida wildlife sanctuary, Flamingo Gardens is a haven for permanently injured or non-releasable Florida native wildlife. Don’t miss the wildlife encounter shows to learn more about Florida wildlife and Flamingo Gardens’ work to preserve it.
Flamingo Gardens History
Originally founded as a Florida orange grove in 1927, Flamingo Gardens was one of the first botanical gardens and tourist attractions in South Florida.
Today, the 60-acre South Florida botanical garden contains over 3,000 tropical and sub-tropical species of plants and trees. It even includes 20 of the largest trees of their species.
Make sure to take the narrated tram tour for a look at some of the last remaining acres of native South Florida jungle growth. The tour travels through a native hammock of 200 year-old live oaks, a tropical rainforest, wetlands and tropical fruit groves.
Set Sail Through Fort Lauderdale on a Pirate Adventure Cruise
Often called the Venice of America, Fort Lauderdale offers lots of opportunities to get out on the water for a boat cruise through its Intracoastal Waterway, a winding system of canals lined with yachts and mega mansions.
For a fun, family-friendly Fort Lauderdale boat cruise, check out the Pirate Adventure Cruise. A 1-hour excursion on the high seas of Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway, the Pirate Adventure Cruise is an interactive excursion for all ages. It’s sure to keep kids entertained while parents enjoy the views.
Kids will get pirate lessons, face paint and temporary tattoos from the Bluefoot pirate crew. They’ll even have the chance to join the crew in looking for hidden treasure and fending off attacks from rival pirates with onboard water cannons. Kids even get a pirate certificate and a bag of loot to take home.
Top Indoor Things To Do in Fort Lauderdale With Kids: Museum of Discovery & Science (MODS)
A perfect Fort Lauderdale family activity for a hot summer afternoon or a rainy day, the Museum of Discovery & Science (MODS) in downtown Fort Lauderdale is one the coolest science centers in Florida. Our family’s experience is proof that it can wow even the most hard-to-please preteen.
Things To Do at MODS Fort Lauderdale With Kids
MODS features more than 150,000 square feet of exciting hands-on exhibits and STEM-inspired activities. You could spend all day exploring and discovering inspiring science with boredom-busting activities for all ages.
Our family was excited to walk in and immediately enter an indoor nature hike through Florida native wildlife habitats. Once through the Florida EcoScapes exhibit, we were even more excited to see North American river otters at play in their own two-story indoor/outdoor habitat.
My kids also loved exploring immersive exhibits on storm science, space and aviation. My preteen son got hooked on construction with KEVA planks in the MODS KEVA exhibit exploring architecture, engineering and design.
IMAX 3D Theater at MODS
Admission to MODS even includes tickets to a showing in its IMAX 3D Theater. You can choose from a number of thrilling documentary films to see on the largest screen in South Florida – a screen large enough to show a whale life-size.
We watched a fascinating Cities of the Future documentary about innovations engineers are planning to design sustainable smart cities. It was a really inspiring look at what a sustainable world could look like in 50 years.
Science Center Reciprocal Admission at MODS
Are you a member of a science center or museum in your city? MODS participates in the ASTC Passport Program, which offers free reciprocal admission to other science centers and museums participating in the program. As members of MOSI in Tampa, our family received free reciprocal admission to MODS.
South Florida Adventure Pass: Summer Savings on 4 Top Things To Do in Fort Lauderdale With Kids
If you live in or are visiting the Fort Lauderdale area during the summertime from mid-May – September, check out the South Florida Adventure Pass. It offers a great deal on unlimited admission to four of the amazing South Florida attractions featured in this family adventure guide.
The South Florida Adventure Pass attractions include Sawgrass Recreation Park, Butterfly World, Flamingo Gardens and Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery & Science. They’re all considered top things to do in Fort Lauderdale with kids.
The 2024 South Florida Adventure Pass is $60 plus tax for adults and $50 plus tax for kids. Passes are available to purchase at any of the participating attractions. The 2024 South Florida Adventure Pass is valid May 15 – Sept. 30, 2024.
More Things To Do in South Florida With Kids
Located about an hour north of Fort Lauderdale in Palm Beach County, Lion Country Safari is one of Florida’s wildest attractions. Check out Treasure Coast Mom’s Lion Country Safari review for all the wild details on this drive-through safari and adventure park.
More Florida Family Adventures
Looking for more adventurous things to do in Florida with kids? Check out our Florida family adventure guides.
Want more recommendations for the most exciting activities, tours and adventures to experience in Florida? Check out Adventure-Seeking Mom approved Florida travel experiences on Viator.
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