Las Vegas with Kids

Vegas megaresorts may be putting severe restrictions on children, but there are still a number of ways to keep kids occupied here.

Ethel M Chocolate Factory. Watching gourmet chocolates being made will make your mouth water; fortunately the tour is brief and there are free samples at the end. You can buy more of your favorites in the store. This is a self-guided tour, so if your youngsters start to get impatient, pick up the pace (or not). 2 Cactus Garden Dr., Henderson, NV, 89014. 702/435-2655. www.ethelschocolate.com. Free. Daily 8:30-4:30.

Las Vegas Natural History Museum. If your kids are into animals (or taxidermy), they'll love this museum, where every continent and geological age is represented. You're greeted by a 35-foot-tall roaring T-Rex in the dinosaur gallery that features Shonisaurus, Nevada's state fossil. From there, you can enjoy rooms full of sharks (including live ones, swimming in a 3,000-gallon reef tank), birds, cavemen, and scenes from the African savannah. Kids especially enjoy the various hands-on exhibits; the Young Scientist Center offers youngsters the opportunity to investigate fossils and animal tracks up close. After that, tour the Wild Nevada Gallery, where kids can see, smell, and even touch Nevada wildlife. 900 Las Vegas Blvd. N, Downtown, Las Vegas, NV, 89101. 702/384-3466. www.lvnhm.org. $10, $5 children 3-11. Daily 9-4.

Lied Discovery Children's Museum. The Lied (pronounced leed) has more than 100 hands-on exhibits covering the sciences, arts, and humanities. It hosts several excellent traveling exhibits each year that have ranged from cartoonish ("Growing Up with the Berenstein Bears") to fun ("Grossology: The Impolite Science of the Human Body") to sobering ("My Life as a Refugee"). Children can play a laser harp, experience a hurricane, perform on a stage, and more. 833 Las Vegas Blvd. N, Downtown, Las Vegas, NV, 89101. 702/382-5437. www.ldcm.org. $9.50 adults, $8.50 children 1-17. Tues.-Fri. 9-4 (summer 10-5), Sat. 10-5, Sun. noon-5.

Old Nevada/Bonnie Springs Ranch. This 115-acre park has a zoo, riding stables, and a revivified Old West town. It's a scene straight from late-19th-century frontier life, complete with rustic buildings, blacksmiths, livery stables, saloons, and the like. The obligatory bank robbery leads to a staged shootout between the outlaws and a sheriff's posse, and three times a day there's an all-ages melodrama (hissing at the villain is encouraged). There's also a narrow-gauge railroad that chugs around parts of the property. 24 mi west of Las Vegas on Charleston Blvd., 16935 Bonnie Springs Rd., Blue Diamond, NV, 89004. 702/875-4191. www.bonniesprings.com. $20 per car. Wed.-Sun. 10:30-6 (11-5 winter).

Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park. About a five-minute drive northwest of Downtown, you'll find a diverse collection of animals, including a chimpanzee, eagles, ostriches, emus, parrots, wallabies, flamingos, endangered cats (including lions and tigers), and every species of venomous reptile native to southern Nevada—150 species in all. An underwater exhibit stars an alligator named "Sweetness." 1775 N. Rancho Dr., West Side, Las Vegas, NV, 89106. 702/647-4685. www.lasvegaszoo.org. $9, $7 children 2-12. Daily 9-5.