Regardless of if you land in Charlottesville while passing through or if Central Virginia is your home, Charlottesville offers a lot for the young and the young at heart. In this post, we take a look at some fun stuff to do with kids of various ages.
Virginia Discovery Museum
Age range: 1-10
This one is definitely meant for the young ones, but it’s a fun and informative way to spend an afternoon. Since 1986, the Virginia Discovery Museum has been a fixture…from its beginnings in a two-story home near UVa to its current home on the pedestrian walking mall. It’s a non-profit children’s museum with creative programs and exhibits that cover ground in the arts, humanities, sciences, and the outdoors. It’s one floor with two galleries of exhibits connected by a hallway. There are a multitude of attractions:
- Keva planks (similar to Jenga) that let kids act out architectural fantasies
- A nautical-themed toddler room with a “sunken” pirate ship and puzzles
- The kiddie carousel, located on the mall outside of the museum…our personal favorite
- VA heritage area; an authentic replica of a central Virginia farm from the 18th century, complete w/ toy stables
- Open art studio
- Play post office and firehouse
And a rotating cast of other exhibits. Depending on the day you choose to go, you may be privy to such offerings as pay-what-you-will day (every 1st Wednesday), poetry club (every Tuesday), and various December dates featuring some guy called Santa Claus. If Old St. Nick likes the place, it must be pretty great!
Fridays After Five
Age Range: All ages
A few paces from the Virginia Discovery Museum, the nTelos Wireless Pavilion is a haven for local, regional, and nationally-touring bands. In the summer, you can expect a free show every Friday afternoon complete with food, beer, and wine trucks (not free). The concert series boasts an eclectic mix of genres, usually regional bands from the Greater Charlottesville area or bands with some local following. It’s an awesome way for parents and kids to spend quality time together after a long week. It even works for those moody, eye-rolling teenagers; the Downtown Mall is big enough for them to slink away with their friends while you enjoy a glass of wine from one of the vendors. There is no real typical age for this one; some of the people you’ll see are local adults overjoyed at the prospect of a few days off. Some are music nerds, bearing cameras around their necks, notepads in hands, and probably wearing glasses. You can get something called a “Fro-dough” from the Carpe Donut truck…it’s a heaping scoop of frozen yogurt between a donut sliced horizontally. Yes, it is delicious. The music usually goes for a couple of hours and after that, you will find yourselves on a bustling downtown strip with arts and crafts merchants, ice cream, movies, record stores, pawn shops…a pretty solid way to start the weekend.
Main Street Arena
Age Range: 3+
Lumbering on a corner of Water Street in downtown Charlottesville, the Main Street Arena is nearly 40,000 sq ft., centered around a huge ice rink, surely the biggest in the city, probably the biggest in the Greater Charlottesville area. It’s a versatile space, and you can even rent it out for private events when available. The ice skating school will take participants as old as three years of age…it could be the place your toddlers embark on a lifelong journey of grace, athleticism, and icy fulfillment. Of course, they could also fall on their diapers a bunch of times and give up skates forever. But hey, at least they’ll have known it wasn’t meant to be, right? The ice skating instructor is Susan Tuck, a 38-year veteran on the ice. That’s 38 years teaching, mind you. She’s a passionate, dedicated instructor who works with people of all ages, from young children up to adults. It’s probably also worth mentioning that the school is United States Figure Skating Certified, which means it meets national standards for instruction. The arena will indulge practically any sport requiring large amounts of flat ice…we’re talking hockey and curling here; there are options to take lessons in both (and the age range is pretty wide). There are also seasonal camps and clinics and a sports TV room for you to wait for your little ones to finish up. If you’re feeling brave, you can even lace up the skates yourself.
Walnut Creek
Age Range: 7+
A full day at Walnut Creek promises enough adventure to satisfy kids of any age. We encourage you take your chances on this sprawling, 525 acre outdoor paradise…any time from mid-spring to early fall will do. The park is located on land in Albemarle County, just outside Charlottesville. The 45 acre lake is perfect for swimming, canoeing, or fishing (the lakes are stocked with channel catfish, sunfish, and largemouth bass). There are also 15 miles of bike trails which range from beginner to advanced and are a good workout for any young athlete. We hear that kids like frisbees…Walnut Creek offers an 18-hole disc golf course. The park is also rife with amenities like picnic tables and shelters and has some really pretty hiking trails…perfect for tiring out even the most energetic young ones. By the way, we strongly suggest keeping an extra-close eye on the kids when you’re on the trails or near the lakes.
Jump Cville
Age Range: 3+
Trampolines are inherently fun. We don’t think you have to be a kid in order to enjoy the admittedly repetitive activity…if it were feasible, we would have been more than happy to write this entire piece on a trampoline. Alas, physics. Seriously though, this place is great. It has 8,000 square feet with 50 trampolines, angled wall trampolines, foam blocks, basketball hoops, and a dodgeball court. There are designated “open jump” times during the weekends and special periods like “college night” on Wednesday (for the bigger kids). They have a family “power hour” Tuesday and Wednesday from 5-8. We’ve often heard it said that any serious discussions you need to have with your kids go over better when both parties are mid-air half the time. But don’t just take our word for it. By the way, if your kids are under 13, you’ll need to accompany them, and regardless of age, everyone who wants to jump needs to sign a waiver. If you’re a little skeptical about the idea of throwing your younger ones in with a bunch of teens, never fear; the Jumping Beans timeslot is dedicated to kids ages six and under.
Music Resource Center
Age Range: 7th-12th Grade
The MRC has been around since 1995, providing angsty young teenagers with cathartic byways to self-expression that are crucial to that age. It’s a recording studio and practice space with more equipment than you could shake a stick at and a team of industry professionals who know how to use it. More importantly, it’s a place for teens to play music that is objectively bad. Everyone needs a place to sound terrible on his or her instrument, and not all of us are lucky enough to have sound-proof garages or family members who are hard of hearing. The MRC is completely free to all students in the area…all you have to do is drop them off. They can have their band practices there in the studio or work on electronic music using a variety of samplers, sequencers, mixers, etc. Give your kids a few weeks and they’ll be producing music that is objectively not bad, or at least less bad.
IX Art Park
Age Range: All ages
The IX Art Park is like something out of a dream, a kaleidoscopic melange of two and three-dimensional structures. This open air sensory oasis is rife with sculptures, murals, gardens, exhibitions, and eye-catching crafts. Some are solo exhibitions, some group efforts, and some works were spontaneously created in fleeting moments of inspiration. While you may not have much luck explaining the “underlying aesthetic” to your kids, it is a testament to the spirit of community that Charlottesville has cultivated. This one is hard to describe with words…you’ve just got to go into downtown Belmont and see for yourself. It’s free to walk around, open all hours and all days, and is a great place to bring kids. There are also a few shops that surround the park, including a well-known taco shop called Brazos, a bike shop and an awesome auction house.
The University of Virginia
Age Range: All ages
We’ll try to be quick with this one…we almost left it off this list altogether, because it seems almost unnecessary. It goes without saying that a huge, publicly-funded university is going to have something to offer the young ones, so we’ll keep this brief. There’s the McIntire Music Department which puts on a variety of musical performances throughout the year; from jazz to klezmer music, string quartets, electronica and everything in between. There are all the sporting events, giving kids early exposure to NCAA-level athleticism and marrying the idea of community to sports culture. Culbreth Theater and the drama department provide access to some great live theatre, and the 3D/studio art programs are able to bring innovative, interesting exhibits to the Fralin Art Museum and a few other great venues. There’s Morven, a central Virginia farm owned by UVa that features plenty of open-air activities. Trick-or-treating on the Lawn is always a ton of fun; doe-eyed toddlers dressed as Batman standing in awe of the Jeffersonian architecture (and/or the college students). Lighting of the Lawn is another special event at UVa…22,000 lightbulbs are hung up around the university and lit amidst a cappella Christmas carols, poetry recitation, and general holiday cheer. Bring em around here often enough and maybe they’ll want to enroll.
Charlottesville has lots to offer, regardless of whether you are a kid or a kid at heart.