Places we recommend.
National Aquarium in Baltimore
Shananigans Specialty Toy Shop
Citypaper.com coverage
Stuff you do with kids tends to sort itself into one of two basic categories: stuff you do inside and stuff you do outside. Despite its urban character, Baltimore boasts lots of stuff to do outside, much of it close to the heart of the city. But since the heart of the city is a harbor ringed by three marquee indoor kid-friendly attractions, let's start there.
Above: The fountains at Harborplace; Left: The Maryland Zoo in Druid Hill Park
First of all, the National Aquarium (501 E. Pratt St., [410] 576-3800, aqua.org, $19.95-$29.95) is kind of a must at some point, filled as it is with turtles, rays, sharks, an electric eel, frogs, and many of the other wet critters kids love. It's also filled with visitors pretty much every weekend, especially during warm-weather months, so buy timed-entry tickets online ahead of time. If you're running late for the dolphin show (free with admission), you can circle back for or even skip the cavernous but lackluster Australia exhibit.
Just across the harbor sits perhaps the top kid attraction in town, the Maryland Science Center (601 Light St., [410] 685-2370, mdsci.org, $10.95-$20.95). The best fun is hands-on, and there are few things in the MSC's three floors of exhibits that you can't handle and experiment with. From the bed of nails to the life-size dinosaur models, it's hard to beat for sneakily brainy fun.
Port Discovery (35 Market Place, [410] 727-8120, portdiscovery.org, $12.95) also has a hands-on/educational focus, with several clever exhibits in various stages of repair, but its primary attraction is plenty of all-weather room to run, jump, and climb, the latter thanks to a labyrinthine three-story indoor climbing structure.
The city's two big art museums, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum (see The Arts Scene), have tons of programs for kids, but there are a couple of smaller museums in town that seems particularly well-suited to train-crazy toddlers. The B&O Railroad Museum and the Baltimore Streetcar Museum (see Tourist Attractions) offer glimpses back into the heyday of rail travel for Thomas the Tank Engine fans (and their dads), with trains, models, and short rides on vintage rolling stock.
If it's a nice day, though, a romp in historic Federal Hill Park (Key Highway) can be good addition to/substitute for plowing through a pricey attraction. The grassy ziggurat offers amazing views of the Inner Harbor and downtown, and who doesn't love rolling down a big hill? Speaking of historical outdoorness, South Baltimore's Fort McHenry (see Historic Sites) offers several acres of wide-open grasslands, plus the ramparts of "Star-Spangled Banner" fame for exploring, though admission to the fort itself isn't free for adults.
Perhaps the best greenspace in town is further uptown, and it features the added bonus of giraffes. The 745 acres of Druid Hill Park (see Sports and Recreation) span not only multiple playgrounds, playing fields, and grassy expanses, but also the Maryland Zoo (1876 Mansion House Drive, [410] 396-7102, marylandzoo.org, $10-$15). Fully a third of the zoo's current exhibit area is given over to a kid-focused Maryland-centric mini-zoo that's short on actual animals but long on winding shady trails and fun surprises (a shaking suspension bridge, a giant slide inside a faux hollow tree, a petting zoo). The rest of the zoo centers on charismatic African animals, including giraffes that you can now feed by hand for an additional fee. Animals aside, the zoo's paths themselves are one of the nicest walks in town on a pleasant day, though the zoo is closed January and February.
Just looking for a plain old playground/place to play? Stadium Place Playground (900 E. 33rd St., stadiumplayground.org) is the best in town. Newly rebuilt after a 2008 fire, it sprawls behind a YMCA on the site of the old Memorial Stadium. There are seemingly endless play-structure catwalks and crannies to explore, though no trees nearby, which can be a bummer on hot days. Of course, Maryland turns bucolic pretty quickly once you're outside the I-695 beltway, and the Scrap Tire Playground (Patapsco State Park, Ellicott City, [410] 461-5005, dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/patapscovalley.html), Meadowood Regional Park (10650 Falls Road, Brooklandville, [410] 887-6747, baltimorecountymd.gov) and Oregon Ridge Park (13401 Beaver Dam Road, Cockeysville, [410] 887-3678, baltimorecountymd.gov) offer much more expansive playground/park experiences.
That said, if there's one thing kids love more than playing, it's playing with a new toy, and a handful of boutique shops around Baltimore can help them, and you, out. Tourist hub Fells Point is home to tiny Amuse Toys (1623 Thames St., [410) 342-5000, amusetoys.com), where the focus is less on Transformers and more on exquisite wooden toys. North Baltimore is home to both Shananigans Specialty Toy Shop (Wyndhurst Village, 5004-B Lawndale Ave., [410] 532-8384, shananiganstoyshop.com), a better bet for quirkier playthings and unusual finds, and Barston's Child's Play (Village of Cross Keys, 86 Village Square, [410] 435-0804), an absolutely crammed store that somehow manages to cover all ages and most bases.
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