Do you love a museum or do you tend to get bored? Whichever you are, Austin has something that will hold your interest, from traditional art museums to a toy museum and arcade to the Museum of Ice Cream (fine, it’s not REALLY a museum, but it has museum in the name!).
Whether you’re visiting Austin or just looking for something interesting or educational to do, there are lots of museums to check out around town. Most of them are indoors, so they make a great rainy or summer day activity.
If you’re in Austin in September, don’t miss Austin Museum Day, when many of the museums and cultural institutions around town have free admission and special hands-on activities! The 2024 date is September 22.
In This Post
5 Best Museums for Kids in Austin
If you’re looking for a museum in Austin for a family outing, these are my top picks for kid-friendly museums (as well as the more experience-type museums at the bottom of this post).
- Thinkery
- Austin Nature and Science Center
- Laguna Gloria
- Texas Science and Natural History Museum
- Bullock Museum
Children’s Museums in Austin
1. Thinkery
1830 Simond Ave, Austin, TX 78723
Pricing: $18 (ages 2+); free during Community Hours on Tuesdays at 3-7 pm
For families, there’s no better museum than Thinkery, Austin’s children’s museum. It has all kinds of areas to explore — a water room, a light room, a room for imaginative play with a market and kitchen, a baby and toddler area, an outdoor playground, plus lots of rooms to learn about engineering and physics.
It’s in the walkable Mueller area, just across the street from Mueller Lake Park and near lots of restaurants, so you can make a day of it!
2. Austin Nature and Science Center
2389 Stratford Dr, Austin, TX 78746
Pricing: Free
Austin Nature and Science Center is a place I always recommend for people with kids. It’s centrally located, has a big dino dig area, offers a nature trading post during select hours, houses rescued animals, and the best part: it’s free!
It is such a cool little spot near Zilker and the lake hike and bike trail; it makes for a great addition to an outing downtown.
Art Museums in Austin
3. Blanton Museum of Art
200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78712
Pricing: Adults $15; Youth $8; free for ages 5 and under
Free every Tuesday
Not only does this art museum house impressive works of art, but the building and grounds themselves are pieces of art. The Blanton Museum grounds are so lovely, with giant flower-like columns on the patio (framing a view of the Capitol) and the famous Ellsworth Kelly “Austin” building (worth a visit, even if just for a photo).
The museum is home to tens of thousands of artworks, from ancient to modern art forms. Art lovers can spend hours exploring. If you bring kids, don’t forget to ask for a Family Activity Box at check-in so your children can make art when they’re inspired inside the museum!
4. The Contemporary Austin
Laguna Gloria:
3809 W 35th St, Austin, TX 78703
Jones Center:
700 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
Pricing: Adults $10; under 18 free
Free every Thursday
The Contemporary Austin has two locations — a sprawling outdoor garden by the lake and an indoor location downtown. Laguna Gloria is an outdoor sculpture park with large art pieces to find as you wander around the grounds. It’s lovely and a great way to expose kids to art (without worrying about them harming anything in a small museum space!).
The Jones Center downtown has two floors of exhibitions and a rooftop deck.
5. Elisabet Ney Museum
304 E 44th St, Austin, TX 78751
Pricing: Free
A little bit of art, a little bit of history. This museum is housed in the historic home and studio of renowned sculptor Elisabet Ney. It holds the world’s largest collection of her work.
6. Umlauf Sculpture Garden
605 Azie Morton Rd, Austin, TX 78704
Pricing: Adults $7; youth (ages 13-17) $1; 12 and under are free
If you’re near Zilker and have never been to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, you are missing out. It’s a lovely little garden with almost 60 sculptures on permanent view, and many other exhibitions and pieces visiting or on rotation.
I love an outdoor art museum for kids — so much less stressful! In fact, the bronze sculptures in the garden have been waxed so people are allowed to touch them (without worry of harming the materials)!
And the Umlauf hosts regular family days to make sure big and little art lovers have a great time.
History Museums in Austin
7. LBJ Presidential Library
2313 Red River St, Austin, TX 78705
Pricing: Adults $16; youth (13-18) $6; children 12 and under are free
Free admission on many holidays throughout the year, including LBJ’s birthday on August 27
If you’re an American history lover or you just want a little taste of what the Oval Office looks like, the LBJ Presidential Library on the UT campus is an interesting visit. You can listen to recorded conversations from LBJ’s time in the White House, read up on important issues he faced during his presidency, learn more about Lady Bird Johnson and see memorabilia from her life, and see a 7/8-size replica of the Oval Office.
8. Texas Science and Natural History Museum
2400 Trinity St, Austin, TX 78712
Pricing: Adults $10; youth (5-17) $6; 4 and under are free
Free Fourth Sundays
Austin may not have a giant science/natural history museum like Dallas or Houston, but we’ve got a small one on the UT campus! The recently renovated Texas Science and Natural History Museum has a T Rex and quetzalcoatlus skeleton in the atrium, the Onion Creek mosasaur (which was found in Austin) and lots of other fossils on the paleontology floor, and Texas animals in the wildlife gallery.
9. Bullock Museum
1800 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
Pricing: Adult $15; youth (4-17) $9; ages 3 and under are free
Free First Sundays
This Texas state history museum has lots to see, and even has an IMAX theater! There are permanent exhibits like the Texas History Galleries and oil and gas exhibit. Some of the highlights are the old ship La Belle (and augmented reality to see the ship in its former glory), the original Goddess of Liberty that used to sit on top of the State Capitol, and the Austin City Limits theater where you can watch the great performances of ACLs past.
They also have awesome visiting exhibits; in the past they’ve had some great history exhibits and even a sharks exhibit. In 2025, they’ll have a T Rex exhibit.
This museum is most recognizable by its giant star statue just outside it. It’s the perfect spot for a photo op (and it’s right on the Capitol Mall, so you’ve got a great State Capitol view from here).
10. George Washington Carver Museum
1165 Angelina St, Austin, TX 78702
Pricing: Free
This museum in East Austin focuses on the contributions of African Americans and the Black community, especially in Texas. (It’s named after George Washington Carver but isn’t a museum focused on him.) Its core exhibit is The African American Presence in 19th Century Texas, and it also has an artists gallery, a permanent exhibit on African Americans in Austin, and a children’s gallery that highlights African-American inventors and scientists.
The George Washington Carver Museum also houses a genealogy center (housed in Austin’s first library building) where the Black community in Austin and Central Texas can research their family history.
11. Texas Military Forces Museum
3038 W 35th St, Austin, TX 78703
Pricing: Free
If you’ve ever driven on North Mopac, you’ve probably noticed Camp Mabry, the military base in the middle of Austin. From the highway, you can see some helicopters and airplanes on display near the fence. Camp Mabry is the location of the Texas Military Forces Museum, and the museum is totally FREE.
You can see uniforms, weapons, tanks, aircraft and more! Visiting with kids? Print out a scavenger hunt before you go.
Find more free Austin activities here!
12. Neill Cochran House Museum
2310 San Gabriel St, Austin, TX 78705
Pricing: General admission $10; children under 12 free
Visit a historic Austin home built in 1856, including the city’s only intact and publicly accessible quarters for enslaved people. The home and museum tell the story of Austin, for both the wealthy white people and the people who were responsible for much of the labor and building during that time period, both enslaved and free.
Unique Museums in Austin
13. Texas Music Museum
1009 E 11th St, Austin, TX 78702
Pricing: Free
The music scene in Austin is huge, so it makes sense that there would be a museum here dedicated to Texas music. This small museum is dedicated to teaching about Texas music legends across all genres.
14. Texas Toy Museum
312 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
Pricing (includes free play on arcade games): Adults $17; ages 17 and under $11
This is such a cool museum, especially for Gen X and Millennials. It’s full of nostalgic ’80s and ’90s toys and arcade games. And all the arcade games are set to free play, so you can play them all to your heart’s content!
Kids would probably like this one too as long as they can handle not getting to play with all the toys everywhere!
15. O Henry Museum
409 E 5th St., Austin, TX 78701
Pricing: Free
Pay a visit to the former residence of O. Henry, the famous short story writer who wrote stories like The Gift of the Magi. You can learn more about his life, stories and once a year, you can attend the O. Henry Pun-Off.
16. Museum of the Weird
412 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701
Pricing: $12.99; kids (under 8) $8.99
One of the last “dime museums” like those popularized by P.T. Barnum, the Museum of the Weird is nestled inside Lucky Lizard Curios and Gift Shop. It’s filled with oddities, like wax figures of monsters, shrunken heads, mermaids and more. If you’re looking for something unique and unexpected, this is the museum to visit.
Experience Museums in Austin
17. Wonderspaces
1205 Sheldon Cove #2A, Austin, TX 78753
Pricing: GA $25; child (3-12 years) $15
This is sort of like an art gallery, but many of the art pieces are interactive, making it a lot more fun to bring kids (or non-art-lovers). There’s a room full of hanging lights that my kids loved running through and chasing, a spot to add tape to a huge wall of art, VR, and more interesting art installations.
18. Museum of Ice Cream
11506 Century Oaks Terrace #128, Austin, TX 78758
Pricing (dependent on day and time): VIP tickets $45; GA $21-$28
It has museum in the title, but this is an ice cream wonderland. You walk through various fun (and photo-op-filled) rooms and get unlimited ice cream. At the end, you end up in a giant playroom complete with a (giant, plastic) sprinkle swimming pool. It is a special outing that kids will enjoy, but it’s not an educational museum. So go for the ice cream, not to learn how it’s made.
19. Museum of Illusions
11010 Domain Dr #100, Austin, TX 78758
Pricing: GA $24.95; children (ages 5-12) $19.95
If you love optical illusions and some silly photo ops, you’ll like this museum. There’s a twisty tunnel that makes you feel like you’re falling over, a room of mirrors, and lots of tricks of the eye.
This would be a fun one for older kids and teens. There’s a fair amount of reading to understand the illusion you’re looking at, and some of the things to view are too high up for early elementary and younger to see without being lifted up.
If you’re on a budget, take a look at these free things to do around the city!