We lived in Massachusetts for seven years before moving to California this past fall, and it was a wonderful place to live with kids! Today I want to share some of my favorite kid friendly activities in Massachusetts!
Enjoy Nature
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Massachusetts has incredible natural beauty! My kids always enjoyed wandering through Massachusetts woods, often while geocaching, even if we seldom found caches! We enjoyed being back in tree-filled Massachusetts on our trip!
Go to the Beach
This is something I did not do much while we lived in Massachusetts, but on our recent trip my sister joined the kids and I on an outing to Wingaersheek Beach, and it was a lot of fun! This particular beach is fantastic for little kids, because the water stays shallow for ages, and there are no waves. There are several nice tide pools to explore and rock formations to climb. The water is very cold. Several of the local lakes have small beaches on them with warmer water, and the kids and we did visit those while we lived in the area.
Immerse Yourself in History
Massachusetts is full of history! We had a family pass to Old Sturbridge Village when we lived in Massachusetts, and visited often. It was one place the kids and I were super excited to visit again – and one of very few places where I can take the four kids all on my own (Mike was working our entire trip), stay there a full day, and leave with all of us having had a wonderful time and no meltdowns. Old Sturbridge Village is a living history site set in the 1830s with plenty of space for the kids to run around, interesting things to see, and an air-conditioned KidStory area where kids can play and cool down/calm down. Plimoth Plantation is an actual historical site that is also quite child-friendly, as is Walden Pond.
Visit a Farm
Old Sturbridge Village includes farm animals, including the one in the photo above, but we also enjoyed visiting several modern-day working farms. There are usually fruit and berries to pick, fresh produce to purchase, and goats and chickens for the kids to feed. We really enjoyed a visit to Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary on our trip this year, all the more because we met up with my blog friends Cassie from 3 Dinosaurs and Giselle from Kids Yoga Stories there!
City Fun for Kids
Boston has a lot of fun things for kids to do! Splash pads like the one above are spread throughout the local towns! Kids can even splash in the Frog Pond on the Boston Common, as well as visit the Make Way for Ducklings statue! Farmers Markets are often very kid-friendly places to visit in the city as well, with fun activities and samples.
Have you been to Boston? What are your favorite kid-friendly activities where you live?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
There’s so much to do across the whole state of MA! June through October is fruit picking season in the state, with different fruits available at different times. It’s a great experience for kids to pick their own fruit and see where the fruit comes from.
I’m so glad you added this comment! We loved picking fruit while we lived in Massachusetts, and used to go to your farm frequently! Such a wonderful, kid-friendly experience!
This photos are great MaryAnne! I especially love the one with the goat and bonnets and the rainbow splash one. I would love to go to Sturbridge again!
I’ve been to Boston but when the kids were little. Love that you got to go visit!
We really enjoyed our trip!
I have to add – please to come visit family-friendly Dedham Square in Dedham, MA and hop into my book & toy shop THE BLUE BUNNY. I am children’s book author and illustrator, Peter H. Reynolds. You may bump into me – I am never far from the shop. My studio is nearby!
We will definitely visit your shop if we make it back out to Massachusetts!
Wingaersheek Beach is one of our favorites too! My kids like the Swan Boat rides at the Boston Public Garden too.
We haven’t done the Swan Boat rides, but would like to someday. This trip was our first visit to Wingaersheek Beach, and we loved it!
I haven’t been to Boston, but it’s on my list! These all look like wonderful activities, and I especially love the colourful splash pad picture. :)
We really enjoyed that splash pad! I love that they had them spread throughout towns so that they didn’t get too crowded, even on hot days.
Those all look like great places. Have you found favorites in California, too?
We are working on that :)
I went to Boston as a teen and really enjoyed walking Independence Trail (I think that’s what it was), and seeing all the history there.
That covered bridge picture is amazing, I just love the way they look.
I love covered bridges, too! The Freedom Trail is amazing.