Right in the heart of the oil field and surrounded by forests of mesquite trees is the West Texas town of Midland, Texas. Other than being home to the Rockhounds baseball team and a huge selection of Mexican restaurants, most people don’t know what to do in this barren town.
Challenge accepted! I grabbed my little band of kiddos and set out to make this boring rep town into a fun kid-friendly adventure! I brought along the ultimate judges of fun, my 3 year old, 2 year old, and 8 month old baby. Each of these activities, restaurants, and playgrounds have been toddler approved!
Things To Do In Midland, Texas With Kids:
What kind of things do you look for in an activity with kids? Education? Hands on activities? Indoors or outdoors? Animals? What qualifies as a top activity in my kid’s minds is if it involves animals they can touch stuff. Not gonna lie almost every activity I have listed has some kind of animal involved in some way and definitely involves some hands on!
ClayDesta Atrium
Drive by this big building and you think oh its just a bank, WRONG! Little do you know that right past those doors is a jungle of exotic animals. Can you spot the hog? The alligator? Pioneer baboons driving a zebra carriage? Wait, what? Yep you read that right, baboons driving a carriage pulled by a zebra.
It is a fun little place to walk around and is very exciting for the little ones. It is an oasis in the middle of the dirty oil field!
Location: 6 Desta Dr, Midland, TX 79705
Midland Downtown Lions Club Fire Museum
I am not gonna lie, this is not the best museum I have ever been to. It is literally one room, so if you think this is some giant museum, its not. It is a room full of firehouse antiques; including old fire trucks, old gear, and old pictures.
If you have a fireman loving toddler than they will love this museum! It is all things fireman! If you are lucky enough, go to the front desk and see if you can get a tour of the current fire department! We had one of the fireman give us a tour of the department and the trucks. My toddlers were in the stars sitting in the giant fire truck.
Location: 1500 W Wall St, Midland, TX 79701
Hours: 9am-9pm everyday
Admission: FREE
Fiddlesticks Farm
If you are visiting in the fall this is the ultimate West Texas Pumpkin Patch! October is the best season to visit, because this is when the majority of the activities are going on a Fiddlesticks, but honestly it is fun in September and November as well! I mean what activity involving animals is not fun!?
The fun part about the farm are all of the activities, from dairy days (with free chocolate milk) to nighttime campfires under a sky of fireworks. This is the everything fun about fall all in one farm! For other fun pumpkin patches in West Texas, click here.
Location: 5610 E County Rd 120, Midland, TX 79706
Explore Midland Murals
Like most towns, Midland, Texas is covered in art work! There are so many buildings that have murals painted on them! It is like a scavenger hunt/interactive art museum to find them. I feel like looking for murals has been a really good way to get to know Midland! I will have a post up soon about where to find the murals around town! Best part about this is its FREE!
Marian Blakemore Planetarium
Just because a place is small, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. I am pretty sure this is the theme of Midland, Texas. This planetarium is really only 1 room and 1 activity room, but what makes this place is its dome theater! We have been to space in a cardboard rocket, jumped in a volcano, and rode dinosaurs in that theater.
This place makes learning fun! Also sometimes they open up the activity room and fill it with all kinds of hands on science projects to interact with!
Location: 1705 W Missouri Ave, Midland, TX 79701
Hours: closed Mon, Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm
Admission: $10 adult, $5 (3-12), $5 seniors and military, under 3 FREE (admission includes planetarium, art museum, and children’s museum)
Sibley Nature Center
Yet another place where education can be exciting. I feel like there is always something going on at the Sibley Nature Center! Whether that is a bee education class, butterfly watching, an art show, or just simply a kids craft. This little museum is filled with taxidermy animals and art, but also the art of nature.
There is a room surrounded by bird feeders for you to view West Texas birds, or you can take the nature trail and enjoy nature first hand. There are a series of different paths to take of these trails, and each is covered with unique cactus and mesquite brush.
Location: 1307 E Wadley Ave, Midland, TX 79705
Hours: closed Sat-Sun, Mon-Fri 9am-6pm
Admission: FREE
Fredda Turner Durhman Children’s Museum
After years of waiting the Children’s Museum is finally open! This is the best thing to do with kids in Midland, Texas! Full of art, imagination, and all kinds of hands on activities, your kids will be in heaven.
There is something here for everyone. There is a tumbling gym area for babies, a play town for the imaginative kiddos, a glass wall to paint and all the art supplies you could ever want for the artistic child, and a dark room full of wonder and bubbles!
They have new exhibits coming and going all the time. Our personal favorite has been the dinosaur exhibit with dig areas and foam dinosaur building. My kids do love the permanent exhibits though like the play town. Grocery store, construction site, restaurant, roads, gas station, and a mechanic shop. It was so fun to watch my kids play life like they were grown ups!
Location: 1705 W Missouri Ave, Midland, TX 79701
Hours: closed Mon, Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm
Admission: $10 adult, $5 (3-12), $5 seniors and military, under 3 FREE (admission includes planetarium, art museum, and children’s museum)
I-20 Wildlife Preserve
Did you know there is an oasis in the middle of Midland, Texas? A land of ducks and herons, living in the swamps and marsh, listening to the constant hum of the bullfrog. I know that does not sound like Midland right? This is the absolute best hike around town.
The trail is a short 1.45 mile hike, but it is through trees and across a boardwalk with multiple bird watching blinds and a really fun overlook. Our favorite activity is to see you can spot the biggest bullfrog.
Location: 2201 S Midland Dr, Midland, TX 79703
Hours: closed Mon, Tues-Sun 8am-8pm
Admission: FREE
Midland Splash Pads
Midland, Texas has 3 splash pads. That is 3 times the fun! Best part is, they are all FREE!! Since becoming a mom, free has become my new favorite word! For more information about these splash pads click here.
Centennial Splash pad is wonderful because it is open all year round! Just press the button and run around in the water spraying from the ground. It is one of the newest parks in Midland, Texas and is right in the middle of downtown Midland.
Location: 200 W Wall St, Midland, TX 79701
HEB Splash pad is located at the Rockhounds baseball stadium. So while you are watchin the game, your kids could be splashing around in the large baseball shooting water from the ground!
Location: 5514 Champions Dr, Midland, TX 79706
I saved best for last. Our favorite splash pad in Midland, Texas is the XTO Splash Pad at the Dennis the Menace park. This splash pad is themed after a giant pirate ship. Not only is there water spraying from the ground, but from the trees, from the boat, and from the guns on the boat! The best part is the waterslides! There are 3 little waterslides! It is almost like a free mini water park.
Location: 2201 W Indiana Ave, Midland, TX 79701
Permian Basin Petroleum Museum
You honestly can’t be in Midland, Texas without seeing something to do with oil. Literally that is what this town is built on. So dive into the real history of Midland, Texas and visit the Petroleum Museum! This museum is a very educational museum on the history and evolution of the oil field industry. The majority of it is just reading, but there are quite a few interactive exhibits.
There is a ride through a space ship that my kids thought was pretty exciting, but their favorite was the kid’s area. There are a series of little activities such as sorting shapes, fixing a car, becoming a superhero, and building a race car; that kids will love. The hit though was sitting in the race car. My kids don’t even know what a race car is and they still thought it was cool.
Location: 1500 I-20, Midland, TX 79701
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm
Admission: $12 adults, children 5 and under FREE, Students & 65+ $8
Places To Eat In Midland, Texas With Kids:
I am pretty sure between Midland and Odessa Texas, they have almost every chain restaurant known to America and Mexico! Eating is definitely a local favorite, but where to eat is the real question….
Luigi’s Italian Restaurant
This is the best pizza in all of Midland, Texas! It is so topped with ingredients, that I am pretty sure my kids get full off of the toppings alone! It is cheesy, delicious and the perfect pizza for a picnic at Centennial Park just down the street from the actual restaurant. Eating at the restaurant is super cute too! Just imagine Lady and the Tramp come to life!
Location: 111 N Big Spring St, Midland, TX 79701
PopBar
What kid doesn’t like popsicles? This is one of my kiddos favorite treats in all of Midland, Texas. This Instagram worthy popsicles, look and taste delicious! I highly recommend the Chocolate Birthday Cake if I were you, but the Banana dipped in chocolate is amazing too. Yes I did say dipped in chocolate.
To make these popsicles even better make sure you dip them in a delicious sweet sauce and then double dip them into a topping. My kiddos favorite topping is the chocolate sprinkles!
Location: 200 Spring Park Dr Suite 300, Midland, TX 79705
Cousins Creamery
This teeny little ice cream shop is heaven in West Texas. On those 100 degree days what is better than cooling off with a delicious ice cream. Not good enough for you eh? Why not an ice cream wrapped in a waffle and covered with gummy worms and cotton candy?? Yep get that camera out and tap their reaction when you hand them that ice cream cover in candy. I guarantee it will be the best reaction of your day!
Location: moved to a food truck, check them out on Instagram to find where they are
Café at The Gardens
This restaurant offers the best wait time entertainment any toddler could ask for, fish! This adorable restaurant is located in the back of a nursery garden. Not only are you surrounded by countless flowers, but your table is literally right next to a coy pond filled with bright orange and white fish. I kiddos were mesmerized by them. I recommend their Beer Battered Chicken Sandwich, it was quite satisfying and very tasty!
Location: 3300 N Fairgrounds Rd, Midland, TX 79705
Bahama Bucks
Were you ever really in Texas if you didn’t have a snow cone? Honestly I thought of all the treats, why would you choose a snow cone, but have you had a Bahama Bucks snow cone!? They are SO good! Since going I have now added a new item to my bucket list, try every flavor they have at Bahama Bucks. 3 down like 50 more to go!
Location: 4521 Loop 250 Frontage Rd, Midland, TX 79707
Best Playgrounds In Midland, Texas:
One of the great things about Midland, Texas is that it has some super cute and creative parks. There are so many parks in this town and there is such a variety to them all. So when you say you are going to the park, it isn’t just a bench and a dumpy playground! No! It could mean a pond with ducks, a splash pad, a long walking trail, or even a fishing pond! Here are some of the parks, but for a complete list of all the Midland, Texas playgrounds click here!
- Beal Park- Playground, dog park, duck pond (fishing), baseball fields)
- Dennis the Menace Park- splash pad, 4 playgrounds
- Dunagan Park- playground
- Opportunity Park- multiple playgrounds, restrooms
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