Heya, kiddies gather ‘round. Let ol’ Rey put hish teesh in sho he can shpeak-eashy. There, that’s better. If you’re a kid you’re probably not looking at this site but I’m sure someone looking for things for kids to do might stumble upon it. A kid should be able to take the list, mark off the place he’s been to and have a nice little photo album to remember the event by.

1. Disney World, FL: pretty important. All kids should go to Disney once and at an age where they can remember it and still be dazzled by it.
2. Great Adventure: it’s in other parts of the country and it’s not necessarily oodles of fun, but there are some cool things there for kids that’ll just open their eyes. You can replace this with whatever other adventure park in your area
3. Sesame Place, PA: it’s more fun for the kids, so parents brace yourselves. They will have huge grins when they see Elmo and company and that is worth it.
4. A Circus: The bigger the better. Go all out. Cotton Candy. The shows. Acrobats, everything. They’ll remember it and cherish it and even nurture a healthy fear of clowns.
5. Renaissance Fair: These also happen all over the place. I have yet to go, but to be part of a large group of people all in costume, pretending to be from another age is fantastic.
6. An Outdoor Fair: Funnel Cake. Sweets. Hot Dogs. Fresh Lemonade. Animals. It just makes an all around great time.
7. The Bronx Zoo, NY: I’ve been to the National Zoo and the Bronx Zoo tops it. I haven’t gone to the west coast to see their zoos so don’t hold me to this; but the Bronx Zoo is huge and great. You won’t finish it in a day, but it’ll be gorgeous throughout.
8. The Empire State Building, NY: Basically insert any super high building on your coast. I say the Empire State because of my home town and the grandeur of the hometown city. And really, from there you can go and have some great pizza, dirty water dogs or take a walk to the next place.
9. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY: It’s a fantastic museum with tons of stuff—definitely better for a kid who is old enough to enjoy it but young enough not to be bored by art. Take them to see armor or jewelry from another era.
10. Phosphorescent Bay, Parguera: Take bacteria, give them the natural ability to give off a hue upon being disturbed and you have one of the most fantastic night shows ever. It’s utterly magical and unfortunately the pictures won’t be all that great—but the memory would be fantastic.
11. Hershey Park Chocolate Tour, PA: Come on…kids plus chocolate tasting. Instant win.
12. Smithsonian, DC: There’s tons of stuff in the Smithsonion that’ll just boggle a kids mind. I would’ve listed the Museum of Natural History but this has that plus American History—it’s a great eye opener.
13. An Air Show: Any air show. Loud planes. Parachuting. Bi-Wings. Everything is just fantastic for kids.
14. A Tent in the Country: This is easy; take a tent and drive an hour away from your city. The kid might stay up most of the night but he’d remember it.
15. A Petting Zoo: These are all over the place. Let the animal eat out of their hand; they might freak out but they’ll think about how cool that was.
16. A Planetarium: Of course, the country gives you the real show, but a planetarium gives you zoom ins and close ups and that awesome feeling of floating in space.
17. An Interactive Science Lab/Museum: A place where they can see things bubbling and smoking and hissing and even drink it and find out that they just made soda.
18. A Touch Me, Feel Me Museum: These come around every now and then but when they do, they’re fantastic. It brings everything home to a kid because of the tactility of it all.
19. Niagara Falls, NY. Lots of water. Huge water falls. Awesome view. It’ll blow their mind.
20. An Aquarium (where they can touch Dolphins): Aquariums can get boring if you’re just walking through dark tunnels (although if it’s a tunnel of glass where sharks and fish are swimming all about it could greatly change things) but if there’s a chance to touch (or swim) with the dolphins the kids will love it.
21. Ice-Skating Rink: All over the place and should never be neglected. Kids will love the ice though get annoyed with the falling—but they’ll remember it.
22. Sledding in the Country: Much better than ice-skating unfortunately whoever is taking them will have lots of up-hill walking to do.
23. Overseas: Anywhere. I don’t mean overseas like Puerto Rico (Phosphorescent Bay). I mean anywhere in the world (Europe, Russia, Greece, Spain) where they can see that there’s more to the picture than the Americas.

Have I taken my kids to all these places? No. Have I gone to all these places? Yeah, most of them. Do I plan to take my kids to all these places? Definitely.