Recommendations for child friendly things please

mrsadamswife

Hello All-

I'm a MN nestie. DH's family is from IA and we go down yearly to visit them but normally are so busy with family stuff we don't get to explore the city much. We are coming down memorial weekend. We will be staying in Des Moines on Saturday and Iowa City on Sunday. Any recommendations for child friendly things to do in either city? We will have all day Saturday and most of Monday to explore.

Victoria6F

Where in DSM are you staying? That'll make a difference.

mrsadamswife

Urbandale and DH's family is in Adel. We will be coming down 35 though so are fine going the the "other" side to do something before checking into hotel.

Victoria6F

There is Monkey Joes, Um, if you go to Jordan Creek Mall, you could go to the play place there. There are tons of parks in that area. That's all I can think of from my sinus headache brain

grbnik

There is the zoo (not as good as Omaha or MN zoo, but nice for a toddler's attention) and the Science Center (downtown).  We will also have the farmer's market on Sat- but that is probably more for the parents than the kids. 

J.Johnson-Smith

Coralville, which is right next to Iowa City has a pretty cute children's museum in the mall (Coral Ridge).

sydlc88

I'm not much help on the Iowa City front but I would highly recommend the Science Center in Downtown Des Moines.  It has lots of different levels of activity for babies up to adults.  I would skip the zoo this trip.  It is much smaller than Omaha and MN zoos and they are in the process of redoing half the zoo so many of the exhibits are closed right now anyway.  Another fun thing to do would be the Botanical Center, huge inside dome with tons of plants/waterfalls/fish, etc.  Those would be my big recommendations, you could spend a few hours at each place or more at the Science Center depending on what you guys are most interested in. 

tbrp2005

Hi! How are you?! Also with Jordan Creek mall, we take oyster crackers maybe every other weekend and feed the ducks at the pond there. Olivia loves it and it's free (except for the crackers). If you stand on the bridge, the fear of a toddler plopping in the pond subsides a litte.. There are big orange fish too to feed.