Best age to introduce a child to Yellowstone?
 

What do you think is the youngest age a child needs to be to 'get' Yellowstone? I know it depends a bit on the child, but when do you think they would really enjoy it? We've just returned from a trip to Yosemite with our three year old, she absolutely loved it, made it unaided to the base of Vernal Falls and said it was her favourite bit of a holiday which included Disneyland and Legoland. I'd love to take her to Yellowstone, which I much prefer, but don't want to do it too early. As well as the obvious safety concerns about hot water and a child who loves to swim, the size of Yellowstone bothers me a bit, both in terms of how much driving we'd need to do to see things and in terms of getting a feel for the place. We want her to enjoy Yellowstone and be able to do things that she'll enjoy, not just follow us around, so if anyone has views on the best age to do a first visit to Yellowstone, I'd love to hear them.

PS Daughter says she want to go and see the bison!

If you take your daughter in late June she will see a ton of Bison and baby bison and elk and baby elk running and acting like little ones everywhere. It will be cool enough so the desire to go swimming will be a bit lower. If she loved Yosemite, I would expect her to really love Yellowstone. Do let her get out of the car and do some little hikes, and of course you will have to keep a close eye on her and not let her run off on her own. I give the same caution for any child, even a teen, maybe especially a teen.

Sounds like your daughter love nature, which is cool. Although she would probablly have a good time now, she probably won't remember much about the trip later on. I think six might be a good age, but heck, you're never really too young or old for Yellowstone!

I'd say when she's old enough to remember most or all of it - would usually say around 6 or so. We took our daughter to Hawaii when she was almost 4. She had a great time, but doesn't remember a lot of it (and she now clearly wishes she had and sometimes "reminds" us of that fact).

Last September we took our 19 month old and 4 year old to GTNP and Yellowstone. We did a lot of driving each day but they really liked it. We saw a ton of animals and waterfalls which they loved. We also had a movie player in the car for the part of the park where it is all trees and not much view.

I would stay in Yellowstone, if possible, to cut down on the driving into the park. That is at least an hour from the northern part of GTNP.

An idea we had was to make a scrapbook with cutouts of animals, waterfalls, mountains and we told the kids that we they spotted each of these, we would take a picture and put it in their scrapbook to show at school or to friends. Once they found everythiong, we offered to buy them something special. That kept them interested.

You can alsp rent a self guided GPS that tells you info at a lot of points in the park. it was very interesting. I think it was called GaperGuide.

At three years old I would do what you and your husband would enjoy most. Your child will enjoy Yellowstone I'm sure, but she will likely not remember the trip, and you'll probably want to take her back when she is older- like 6- 8 or older.The junior ranger programs are great- did you do that in Yosemite ?