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Things to Do in Asheville with Kids: 22 Family-Friendly Ideas

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Things to Do in Asheville with Kids: 22 Family-Friendly Ideas

Things to do in Asheville with kids: 22 family-friendly ideas sorted by age, indoors and out, with venue phone numbers, maps and this weekend's family events.

By Ashe · Updated October 28, 2026 · 6 min read · Sponsor this guide

Asheville with kids works best in short blocks: a museum, then a playground, then a brewery lawn where the grown-ups sit and the kids run. Here are 22 things to do in Asheville with kids, tagged by age, starting with the family-friendly events on this weekend's calendar.

Family-friendly this weekend

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See everything: “family events this weekend”

Ashe tags listings "all ages" and "family" when the venue says so. Baseball games, college sports, matinees and most theatre count; if a concert listing doesn't say all ages, assume it isn't. The weekly version of this list lives at Asheville family events this weekend.

Age tags below: toddlers (0–5), big kids (6–11), teens.

Museums and indoor play

1. Asheville Museum of Science — toddlers, big kids

AMOS is downtown on Patton Avenue, in the ground floor of a bank tower, which means you park in a deck and walk straight in. Dinosaur bones, a mineral hall, weather and space exhibits built to be touched. An hour for most families, two for a kid who loves rocks. Closed Tuesdays.

2. Asheville Pinball Museum — big kids, teens

One flat fee gets unlimited play on dozens of pinball machines and classic arcade games for the day. It fills up, and when it does they take your number and text you when there's room, so put your name down and walk the Grove Arcade in the meantime. Closed Tuesdays.

3. Well Played board game café — big kids, teens

A library of hundreds of games on Coxe Avenue in the South Slope, staff who will teach you one, and a small cover that lasts all day. Coffee and snacks for the kids, beer for the adults. The best rainy-afternoon move for a 10-year-old.

4. Pack Memorial Library — toddlers, big kids

The downtown library on Haywood Street has a whole children's floor with a puppet stage and weekday story times, all free. Closed weekends, so it's a weekday stop. Get directions.

5. Asheville Art Museum — big kids, teens

The museum on Pack Square has a makerspace for kids, the Art PLAYce, alongside its galleries of American and Appalachian art. Bank of America cardholders get in free on the first full weekend of the month; there's no other regular free day.

Balloons and a kite over green mountains
Short blocks: a museum, a playground, a lawn

Animals and outdoors

6. WNC Nature Center — toddlers, big kids

Asheville's zoo, but for Southern Appalachian animals: red wolves, black bears, otters, cougars and a barnyard, on a wooded hillside ten minutes east of downtown. Two hours, a lot of walking, and the otter feeding is the highlight. Buncombe County residents get a discount.

7. The North Carolina Arboretum — toddlers, big kids

Four hundred acres south of town with paved trails, a bonsai garden and a kids' discovery area. Admission is free; parking is charged per car (and discounted on the first Tuesday of the month). The gift shop and café are good for the inevitable snack stop.

8. Botanical Gardens at Asheville — toddlers

A free, flat, ten-acre loop of native plants beside the UNC Asheville campus, with a creek to throw sticks into. Forty-five minutes, strollers fine on most paths, no dogs.

9. Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary — toddlers

A short boardwalk loop on Merrimon Avenue with turtles, herons and ducks. Free, flat, twenty minutes, perfect for the age that needs to see a bird and then go home. Get directions.

10. Carrier Park — toddlers, big kids

Playgrounds, a big lawn, the old velodrome (bring bikes or scooters) and the river greenway, all on Amboy Road in West Asheville. Free, with plenty of parking.

11. Lake Julian Park — big kids

A county park in Arden with a lake, pedal boats and kayaks in season, picnic shelters and a playground. The December holiday lights drive-through is a local tradition; check the county's site for dates.

12. Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain — toddlers, big kids

A half-mile paved loop around a small lake with mountains behind it, ducks in front, and a playground and pool nearby. Fifteen miles east; combine it with ice cream on Black Mountain's Main Street. Get directions.

13. The Blue Ridge Parkway — big kids, teens

Craggy Gardens, thirty minutes up the Parkway at milepost 364, is the easiest big view near town, with a short trail to a bald. The Parkway Visitor Center has a short film and exhibits, and the Folk Art Center has craft demonstrations kids can stand and watch. The road closes in ice.

14. Asheville Treetops Adventure Park — big kids, teens

Zip lines, rope bridges and climbing courses at the Adventure Center of Asheville, a few minutes west of downtown on Expo Drive. Courses are sorted by height and age, so check the limits before you promise a six-year-old anything, and book ahead in summer.

15. Splasheville — toddlers, big kids

The free splash pad in Pack Square Park, downtown, from late spring through summer. Towels, dry clothes, and a plan for ice cream afterward. Pack Square Park.

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Baseball diamond and a sunny mountain ridge
A Tourists game is the cheapest big outing in town

Games and shows

16. Asheville Tourists baseball — everyone

From April through September the Tourists play at HomeTrust Park, the old McCormick Field, a 1920s ballpark on a hill above Biltmore Avenue. Cheap tickets, between-innings games, fireworks nights and a mascot named Ted E. Tourist. Weeknight games are over by 9:30.

17. UNC Asheville Bulldogs — big kids, teens

Basketball at Kimmel Arena through the winter, plus soccer, volleyball and baseball on campus the rest of the year. Inexpensive, easy parking, and the arena is small enough that a kid can see everything. The sports page has the home schedule.

Games this weekend

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See everything: “sports this weekend”

18. Family theatre — big kids, teens

Asheville Community Theatre on Walnut Street has been producing since 1946 and leans toward musicals and family titles, with a youth program of its own. The Wortham Center on Biltmore Avenue books touring dance, puppetry and a family series. Not every show on either stage is for kids, so read the listing. The theatre page shows what's on this month.

19. A matinee at Asheville Pizza & Brewing — big kids

The Merrimon Avenue location is a dine-in movie theater: new releases, cheap tickets, and pizza delivered to your seat. The downtown Coxe Avenue location is a brewpub without the screen, so make sure you've got the right one.

Treats and easy wins

20. French Broad Chocolate Lounge — everyone

Drinking chocolate, brownies and housemade ice cream on Pack Square, open late. There's a line on weekend evenings; go midafternoon. Get directions.

21. The Grove Arcade — everyone

The 1929 indoor marketplace on Page Avenue has gargoyles to count outside, shops and an artist market inside, and restaurants with awnings along the block. A good rainy-day wander, and free. Get directions.

22. A brewery with a lawn — everyone, honestly

Asheville breweries are family spaces by default: Highland Brewing has a meadow, a rooftop and free all-ages shows most weeks; Sierra Nevada in Mills River has a big lawn and a kids' menu; Hi-Wire's Biltmore Village taproom (the old Big Top) and New Belgium on the river have games and patios. Kids run, parents sit, everyone eats from the food truck.

Asheville with kids in winter

The indoor list above (AMOS, pinball, Well Played, the library, the Art Museum, a matinee) covers the cold months, and the rainy-day guide sorts them by mood. Add the National Gingerbread House Competition display at the Omni Grove Park Inn, on view from mid-November into early January, with non-guest viewing limited to certain days, and Biltmore at Christmas, which books up weeks ahead. Lake Julian's holiday lights are the cheap version.

If you only do one thing: a Tourists game in season, or AMOS plus the Pinball Museum in winter. Both are downtown, both end with chocolate on Pack Square, and both have free things to do in Asheville with kids within a block. The free guide lists the rest.

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Frequently asked questions

What is there to do in Asheville with kids?

Downtown has the Asheville Museum of Science, the Pinball Museum and Well Played board game café within a few blocks; outside town there's the WNC Nature Center, the Arboretum, the Botanical Gardens and Carrier Park. In season, a Tourists baseball game is the best cheap evening out.

What can you do in Asheville with kids indoors?

AMOS, the Pinball Museum, Well Played, Pack Memorial Library's children's floor, the Asheville Art Museum's makerspace and a matinee at Asheville Pizza & Brewing on Merrimon Avenue. All but the theater are downtown.

Is Asheville good for toddlers?

Yes, with short outings: the Botanical Gardens, Beaver Lake, Carrier Park's playgrounds, Splasheville in summer, library story times and the Nature Center's barnyard. Downtown sidewalks are stroller-friendly but hilly.

What free things are there to do in Asheville with kids?

The Botanical Gardens, Beaver Lake, Carrier Park, Splasheville, library story times, the Folk Art Center on the Parkway and the free all-ages shows at Highland Brewing. See the free guide.

Are Asheville breweries kid-friendly?

Most of the big ones are: Highland, Sierra Nevada, Hi-Wire in Biltmore Village and New Belgium have lawns, games and food. Smaller downtown taprooms are more adult; check before you go, and keep kids with you.

Is Biltmore worth it with kids?

For kids over about eight who can handle a two-hour house walk, yes, especially at Christmas. Younger kids do better at Antler Hill Village's farmyard than in the house. It's expensive, so make it the whole day.