Highland Park

This park is home to the Pittsburgh Zoo and the PPG Aquarium, but other popular features include a hilltop walking trail that overlooks a large reservoir and the city’s only long-course swimming pool.

Contact number: (412) 682-7275

Location: N Highland Ave & Reservoir Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Learn more here.

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts is a gathering place for modern artists. There’s also a program to give underfunded independent filmmakers access to equipment and production facilities. But first, visit with your children to see the remarkable work of the Center’s participants and alumni. It could be the beginning of a beautiful — and challenging — relationship.

Contact number: (412) 361-0873

Location: 6300 5th Avenue, Mellon Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Learn more here.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The Museum is one of the country’s largest repositories of dinosaur fossils, and you and your children can be the beneficiaries of this prehistoric abundance. Visit the family-friendly installation that includes exhibits, special events, and educational workshops. It’s all about natural history and cultural anthropology reaching back millions of years. And stop by the Natural History Store and the museum cafe with the best name in town: Fossil Fuels!

Contact number: (412) 622-3131

Location: 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Learn more here.

Carnegie Science Center

The aspiring scientists among your children will have a truly wonderful day at the Carnegie Science Center. The planetarium, aquarium, and OMNIMAX theater are the core of this five-floor educational, interactive center that accommodates the very young and the fully grown — a great destination for all generations.

Contact number: (412) 237-3400

Location: 1 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Learn more here.

Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum Memorial

The Soldiers and Scholars Military Museum and Memorial is one of the country’s largest museums dedicated exclusively to U.S. veterans. The exhibits, from the Civil War to current conflicts, tell stories of ordinary citizens who have done extraordinary things to preserve our way of life.

Contact number: (412) 621-4253

Location: 4141 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,

Learn more here.

Wood Street Galleries

Ready to take your children on an adventure in fine art? Start at the Wood Street Galleries, operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. This is way more than just painting on the walls. These galleries include performance art, interactive installations, contemporary music events, and even regular appearances and demonstrations by artists as they work.

Contact number: (412) 471-5605

Location: 601 Wood Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Learn more here.

Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum

Sports is at the center of the Pittsburgh Experience, whether you’re talking baseball, football, hockey, or even golf. The WPSM, housed in the Smithsonian wing of the Heinz History Center, is a “museum within a museum” that is all about sports.

Contact number: (412) 454-6000

Location: 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

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USS Requin

The exhibit includes interactive technologies and touch-screens that take you through the torpedo room, control room, mess deck, and engine rooms. And at each station, the interactive technologies will give you and your family a sense of what it was like in that extraordinary environment. You’ll get to hear the cross-talk and instrument sounds of the sub in operation, all in surround-sound. It is amazing — and worth a trip by itself.

Contact number: (412) 237-3400

Location: 1 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

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The Mattress Factory

Artists in residence create room-size environments that emphasize the connection between art and the everyday. And every exhibit is linked with educational programs that encourage creativity in viewers.

Contact number: (412) 231-3169

Location: 500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Learn more here.

Society for Contemporary Craft

For more than 35 years, the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) has nurtured artists and shown their works in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and found materials. Today, it’s a showcase for multicultural and non-mainstream art.

Contact number: (412) 261-7003

Location: 2100 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Learn more here.