THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. WHEN YOU CLICK ON THESE LINKS WE RECEIVE COMPENSATION, AT NO EXPENSE TO YOU, THAT HELPS THIS BLOG RUN. ALL OPINIONS ARE OUR OWN.

For everyone visiting St. Louis on a rainy or cold day or locals in need of fun activities when your kid’s energy levels remain high even as the weather changes; here is a list of 10 free indoor activities for families with young kids. St. Louis has so many amazing free activities and museums that are family friendly. While this list is geared towards toddlers, most of these are entertaining for kids of all ages and also engaging and interesting for their parents. This list is coming from a mom with 2 daughters a year apart that lived in Saint Louis for my oldest’s first 4 years. These places were great not only as a local in need of a place to go during wake windows but also great places to take out of town guests and where I would recommend tourists to visit.

St. Louis Science Center
Starting off strong with the St. Louis Science Center - one of the only free science museums in the United States. This huge museum offers free general admission for its main exhibits. While a bit more geared for older kids, there is plenty for toddlers to explore here. Our favorite exhibits with toddlers are of course the dinosaurs with a hands-on dig site, Experience Energy, the GROW farm exhibit, the ball machine in the front entrance, the Life Science Lab, the Makerspace, Dream it Build it, the highway 40 skybridge and Mission: Mars. Some of these are geared towards older kids and toddlers won’t get every out of them, but there is enough hands-on activities in these areas that will entertain your toddler.
Since it is free, you don’t feel the pressure to see and do it all to get your money’s worth. If you are local, it is a great place to come back again and again. Toddler especially, might latch onto one area and not want to leave and that’s okay. You can spend all day at the Science Center or just an hour or two. They have a cafe on the first floor where you can lots of kid friendly foods. I often see families bringing their own foods as well and eating it in this area. Parking does cost money and is $15 a car. For free parking, you could also possibly park in Forest Park and walk into the science center through the McDonnell Planetarium entrance.
If you are willing to spend a bit of money, the one extra charge area of the museum that I would highly recommend is the Discovery room. This room is meant for kids 6 months to 6 years and the themes change frequently. There are art areas, sensory play tables, a giant rocket ship, a pretend play area, fish tanks, books and countless STEAM toys. The tickets cost $6 a person aged 1+, including adults. If you have multiple kids or people in your family, it can get a bit pricey. It also can book out, so get tickets online beforehand or ask to buy tickets first thing when you enter the museum. They typically have between 3 and 4 time slots a day. You can definitely still have a great day without adding on the Discovery Room.

2. Missouri History Museum

My favorite on this list, despite myself not being very into history. The Museum History Museum is always free and has free parking in their own lots or in the neighboring Forest Park. The main draw for parents of toddlers is the History Clubhouse. This exhibit is open Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 4pm. You just need to ask for a free hand stamp at the information desk so they can monitor capacity. The clubhouse is a fairly large area with building blocks, several pretend play areas where kids can work at a world’s fair’s restaurant, sail on a river boat, or fish in a river. There are puppets, trains, books, puzzles, and games. We’ve spent hours here just playing, but if you can make it on a Tuesday, there is a really great story time and craft at 10:30am

The rest of the museum is also worth exploring, especially the temporary exhibits on the first floor. They’ve had soccer themed exhibits and exhibits where you can draw with dry erase markers on the wall of famous St. Louis architecture.

One weekend a month, the museum hosts History Exploration Days which includes lots of free activities for kids aged 3+. Each month is based around a different theme. Many of the activities are meant for older kids but littler kids can do them or explore with a bit extra help. They have presentations, story times, crafts, games, and extra artifacts to view.

If you happen to be in or near the Delmar Loop, you can take the free trolley to the museum from the loop. It is free to ride but it is a little infrequent, so be sure to check the schedule and the time to make sure you catch the trolley on time. It is a really fun way for toddlers to travel between these parts of the city. The Delmar Loop is also a great place to get lunch or do some shopping.

3. Gateway Arch

What is a visit to St. Louis without a visit to the iconic Gateway Arch. As of 2018, this monument became a National Park and the grounds and museum are operated by the National Park Service. The Gateway Arch grounds are gorgeous if the weather is nice enough, but there is plenty to do just inside. You can buy tickets to go up the arch, which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend with toddlers but also wouldn’t persuade against. Going up the arch involves getting in a tight pod with either just your family if big enough or with strangers. Once at the top, you can look out the short windows down at St. Louis. It involves waiting in line even with timed tickets and might not be the most exciting for little kids. However, it is a unique experience that really isn’t possible elsewhere.

What I do recommend doing with toddlers is the recently renovated museum. Before getting into the museum, you will have to go through airport style security. Which might be a fun experience for toddlers or just a hassle. After you are through the security, the underground area of the arch is huge and includes the museum, a theatre, and where you can get the pods up.

The museum under the arch is completely free, newly renovated and interactive. There is a screen with an Oregon-trail style game. Both natural and historical artifacts you can see under magnifying glasses. A historical home, canoe, and other things kids can go in. A great place for adults to learn while kids can entertain themselves.

4. Saint Louis Art Museum

General admission to the Saint Louis Art Museum is free everyday. There is both free and paid parking options. If the two free parking lots are full, you can also park along the street in Forest Park. On Fridays, ticketed exhibits are also free along with live music and performances.

For a long time I avoided the Saint Louis Art Museum because I worried about my kids in a space where you are meant to stay quiet, use walking feet and not touch everything. The art museum as an outing with toddlers is definitely a know your own kid kind of recommendation. If it is going to cause you more stress managing your kids in this space, skip it till they are older or you can visit without kids. However, it is definitely a doable destination with toddlers with a bit of extra prep or when visiting on special days. The Saint Louis Art Museum itself definitely isn’t trying to discourage young kids from visiting. They host several young-kid centered activities throughout the year. Once a month, they have a free toddler Music and Me class during their free Fridays. Every other month, they also host “Wee Weekend” for young kids. Wee Weekend is completely free but does book out. You can register the first of the month. During this event, they have toys out, the docents walk the kids through the art galleries in small groups to notice different things, and they do an art project with some of the cool art tools they have at the museum.

If you are unable to visit during one of those fun events, it is still worth visiting if you are looking for an indoor place to spend some time. If your kid is having trouble staying quiet or gets bored, you can always leave without guilt since you didn’t pay anything. One big tip though is to bring a drawing pad and some crayons and have your kids draw what they see. It is amazing how inspired you can get surrounded by other art.

5. Saint Louis Public Library

I cannot say enough good things about the library system. Saint Louis has some really great libraries that can easily entertain your family for hours, while enjoying the dry and the warmth of indoors. Even if you don’t have a library card, you can visit the library for a story time, read the books inside of the library, and play with the toys and structures in the children’s section of the library.

Our favorite library in the Saint Louis Public Library system is the main Central Library. They have a large children’s section that is separated from the rest of the library, so you don’t have to worry too much about your kids bothering the other patrons. They have shelves of toys you can play with at the tables nearby. A large area for story time and some unique structures your kids can lounge on to read or be read to. There are free to use computers with early literacy games. Feel free to pick a few books off the shelves to read to your kids while you are there. For adults, the Central library itself is a gorgeous building. It is massive, taking up the entire city block. Be sure to check the schedule to see when story time or the other free events are across the 17 branches. Buder Library is also favorite and has an entire floor for kids.

6. Saint Louis County Library

Saint Louis City neighbors Saint Louis county, and both have their own separate library systems. Despite living in the city, we often find ourselves heading over to the county libraries too. I find that the Saint Louis City libraries have more loose toys for kids to play with and several of the Saint Louis county libraries have larger play structures for kids to play with. As with the city libraries, you do not need to be a resident or have a library card to enjoy the items while in the library. However, if you are a resident of either St. Louis city or county, I would highly recommend getting card for both. If you have a city library card, you can check out books at the county and vice versa.

Our favorite library in Saint Louis County is the Clark Family branch, which was recently renovated and has an amazing kid space with little pretend shops and lots of hands-on STEM toys. Other great ones include Meramec Valley, Kirkwood, Daniel Boone, along with many others. The Kirkwood library has a children’s area that is train themed, a puppet show area, a large interactive screen to play games, and plenty of toys.

7. Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center

Only about 25 minutes from downtown St. Louis, Power Valley Conservation Nature Center not only offers great access to trails. It also houses an amazing interactive kids center to learn about nature, especially that in the midwest. There is lots of live animals to view like bees, turtles, fish, and frogs. There is an amazing treehouse that young kids can pretend to be explorers in. There are many interactive exhibits, a puppet show area, a library full of books, taxidermied animals, and volunteers who love to talk about nature with kids. You can spend an hour or two here even without leaving the inside center.

If you do want to venture outside, the Tanglevine Loop is an easy 0.4 mile trail that is paved and is a great beginner hike for little kids. It is through the forest, so even if it is raining, you might be able to avoid getting too wet. If you walk a little bit on the Hickory Ridge Trail, you can cross over a cool bridge. You have a pretty good chance of seeing deer on your hike as well.

8. Chocolate Factory Tours

St. Louis’s own Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate & Bissinger's Chocolate have factory tours completely for free and even include chocolates to taste at the end. You need to reserve a time, but there is typically availability if you are booking at least a day before. The tour takes about 20 minutes, which is the perfect length so your young kids don’t get too bored. They have a few options of chocolate to sample at the end, usually reflecting what they are currently making at the factory that day. It is fun to not only see the factory and all the big machines they use to make the chocolates, but also get to see all the workers pouring, tempering, and molding all of the chocolate. The smell alone in there is amazing.

There is no obligation to buy chocolate at the end, but if you are wanting to – i’d recommend getting the oops bags for heavily discounted chocolates. The chocolates in these bags still taste amazing but there might have just been a problem with cutting the chocolate or them being in the wrong molds. Often just $4 a bag. It was a pretty affordable yes for a few days worth of chocolates.

9. IKEA

A bit of an odd pick, but you can have hours of fun at Ikea without actually buying anything. The St. Louis Ikea is very centrally located in between SLU and Wash U. Toddlers can walk through all of the display rooms, explore drawers, fabrics and lights. If you are visiting around meal time, Ikea has a very affordable cafeteria with tables meant for kids to play a bit while parents can eat in peace.

If your child is by chance potty trained and between 95 and 135cm, you can drop them off at Småland where they can play and color on their own while you have an entire hour to yourself. I am always a bit wary of dropping off my kids with people we don’t know, but they had a great time and all the staff working there were very kind.

Ikea also happened to be the first outing we took with our oldest when she was a newborn. During the weekdays, it is rarely busy and as such a large space you don’t have to worry as much about how your kids are behaving. If stores are hard because your kids are in the “I want that” phase and feel like they need to get something at every place they go, one tip I’ve gotten that I use frequently is to take a picture of it. Just taking a picture of them with the object they like satisfies the need to express their interest in it and validates their feelings. I have a collection of dozens of photos of them at random stores, some with items that I might get them as future gifts and others of random items like a glass cup or a stool that randomly fascinated them momentarily.

Honorable Mentions:

The places on this list are still great for toddlers on rainy or extra cold days, but might only be free on specific days of the week or have both indoor and outdoor sections.

Missouri Botanical Garden – Residents of Saint Louis can get free admission Wednesday and Saturday mornings between 7 and 9am. While most of the gardens are outside, you could spend at least a hour or more in the Climatron. After walking through the main part of the climatron, enjoying all the plants, the waterfall, trees you can go inside of, and a bridge - you enter into a great kids play area. There are craft projects that change frequently that kids can do, lots of books and reading areas, some toys for young kids, and a dress up area.
Saint Louis Zoo – An amazing free attraction that is worth braving the cold and wet for. There are several indoors spots to check out to warm up including the bird house, Herpetarium, and the primate house up on Historic Hill. The butterfly house is great for toddlers and has cool insect exhibits as well. You can get free parking on the surrounding streets around Forest Park near the zoo.
The Magic House – this huge and well-designed Children’s museum hosts free family nights every 3rd Friday of the month from 5-8pm. That time might not be ideal for all families of toddlers, but it is worth it if your family has a bit later bedtime. If you are a resident of St. Louis county or the surrounding counties, you can get in for $3 after 3 p.m. everyday. Parking is always free.