Denver Public Schools will shutter its classrooms from March 24 to 28 for spring break, meaning moms and dads across the Mile High City will soon be scrambling for ways to fill five long days. Typically, there are two imperfect options: 1. Hit your favorite kid-friendly attractions in the metro area for the umpteenth time. 2. Shell out airfare for a trip to a fun-filled locale.

Fortunately, the following plans combine the best parts of both choices—three epic experiences just far enough away from Denver to feel like a vacation, if only for a day.

5280 March 2025
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1. Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

A kid pets a snake at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
Photo courtesy of Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

A staple of Old Town Fort Collins since 2012, this 47,000-square-foot shrine to STEM features a roster of interactive exhibits that will keep your little ones’ brains from hibernating during break. Wannabe Partridges jam on a range of instruments, from guitars to turntables; Young MacDonalds hack into plastic sugar beets with a pretend knife; and burgeoning Helen Hunts enter the Tornado Chamber to feel the fury of 75 mph winds.

Even if you’ve visited the Museum of Discovery before, temporary exhibits make the experience new again: Through April 27, Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity offers an opportunity to run your fingers along snake skins and otter fur while also addressing the human history of racial bias.

Extra Credit: With its 38 pinball machines and 18 arcade games, Pinball Jones in Old Town Square gives your kids a lesson on how their parents used to game.

2. Wild Bear Nature Center

Kids on a trail outside Nederland
Photo courtesy of Wild Bear Nature Center

Set in a retail center in downtown Nederland, this free facility (with its maker’s space, animal-education exhibits, and flock of salamanders, turtles, and bugs) is actually a secret portal to the outdoors. That’s especially true during spring break, when the nonprofit organizes daylong camps ($85, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for children five to 12. After drop-off, the staff buses the class to a local alfresco adventure spot for themed exploring and learning. On March 27, for example, students will head to Boulder County Parks & Open Space’s Caribou Ranch to learn the finer points of packing for a hike; trek along one of two trails (both are shorter than two miles); and return to the center for crafts, games, and BYO lunch before afternoon pickup.

Extra Credit: In the same shopping center as Wild Bear, Nederland’s Carousel of Happiness twirls 57 hand-carved animals to the tune of a 1913 Wurlitzer organ.

3. El Pueblo History Museum

A dancer wearing a pink dress at the El Pueblo History Museum
A folkloric dance performance taken at the El Pueblo History Museum. Photo courtesy of History Colorado

Travel back to a time before statehood at this History Colorado community museum in Pueblo, erected adjacent to the nearly two-centuries-old El Pueblo Trading Post. The complex boasts a replica of the original adobe structure, which served as a commercial center for travelers and Native Americans arriving via the Santa Fe Trail, as well as a permanent exhibit on the geography of southern Colorado and a temporary one about the Croatian and Slovenian immigrants who powered Pueblo’s steel mills.

But it also offers a slice of living history in the form of an active archaeological dig that has uncovered tools, pottery, and beads.

Extra Credit: You could opt for the Pueblo Zoo or the Buell Children’s Museum, but why not keep the history theme going at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, where planes from major wars fill two large hangars?