Oahu is a 600 sq mile island. It has 112 miles of beautiful coastline filled with Oahu beaches to local waterfalls. Oahu also has a lot of Hawaiian cultures to explore. If you and your kids are planning to go to Hawaii, then this post is for you.
Listed below are the best activities to do in Oahu, Hawaii with your kids:
1. Eat Shaved Ice at Matsumoto’s
Almost all kids love their desserts! If you want to reward your kid for a job well done in school or at home, you could take them here. Shaved Ice at Matsumoto’s is really the best-shaved ice on the island. If you want to relax together with your little munchkin, you could walk to the north shore to watch the incredible surfers while you’re eating your shaved ice.
2. Visit Bishop Museum
This is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It was founded in 1889. It has the world’s largest Polynesian cultural artifacts and natural history specimens. The museum is approximately holding more than million history specimens! Further, the library inside this museum has the most number of collections of books, periodicals, newspapers and special collections which are all related to Hawai’i and the Pacific. For their book collection, this place holds more than 50,000 volumes of books that are all about anthropology, music, botany, and zoology. If your kids love to read then it could be their safe haven! Did I mention that Hawaii’s royalty placed their personal papers at Bishop’s museum? These manuscripts are scientific papers, records, and memorabilia.
Of course, it does not only offers all the books and papers, but this museum also has different events that kids could participate with. One of which is “The stars tonight”. It explores the Hawaiian night sky. Last September 7, the museum staff demonstrated how to find Jupiter, Saturn, Great Square of Pegasus, Andromeda Galaxy using their observatory telescope and observation deck! Awesome stuff, isn’t it? Kids would realize how vast and beautiful the universe is.
3. Experience Manoa Falls
If you and your kids are the adventurous type, then Manoa falls is one for the books! In order to get to Manoa falls, you need to do a little work. The hike is expected to be muddy, slippery and not fit for strollers. This hike is not really for little kids. Also, make sure that you have your extra clothes and old sneakers that you can use for the hike. At the end of the hike, you will see the beauty of 150-foot waterfall that empties into a small pool of water. The falls is within the mountains of Koolau which is a tropical rainforest. After your sight-seeing here, you could also visit Lyon Arboretum which contains over 5000 plant species. This arboretum is just also within Manoa. It offers some programs that teach the kids how to develop tools or innovations in order to restore the endangered plant species.
4. Bond in KA WA’A Luau at Aulani Resort
If you want a different type of vacation with your kids then this is the best resort for you. It offers a lot of bonding activities for the family. If your kids are up for a ranch experience, then this one is a sweet deal. The ranch inside this resort offers trail rides and pony rides. If you want your kids to develop their knowledge about farm animals, this ranch lets the sweetest animals like donkeys to interact with them. Also, they have a kid-sized buffet that your little kids will definitely enjoy!
5. Tour at Sea Life Park Hawaii
Some kids love water animal animals more. If your kids belong to this kind, then you should give Sea Life Park a try. This park is a marine mammal park, bird sanctuary, and aquarium. It has been running for fifty-five years already! It first opened in 1964. This is heaven not only for kids but for all animal lovers as well! The visitors are allowed to interact with the animals. Your kids could try swimming with the dolphins, rays, etc. To add, they could feed the sea lions and sea turtles. You should not worry about these interactions because the trainers’ relationships with these animals are amazing. All of the staff of this park are very knowledgeable. They are also very patient to answer the questions asked by your little ones.
6. Visit the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
If you want your kids to know what it’s like to fly a plane then you should definitely visit this place. It is a very unique destination in Hawaii as it features flight simulators, aircraft, historical footage of the attacks that happened in Pearl Harbor. The first section of the museum is the hangar 37. It opened in December 7, 2006. The hangars of the museum show the damages of Pearl Harbor due to the attacks last World War II.
To add, if you want your gets to get more involved with community events then you could sign them up here. This museum has been involved in a lot of community events. Some examples of such are the preservation of historical landmarks, educational tours, restoration of Ford Island control tower You should not miss this place as it is super kid-friendly so put it now in your travel list!
7. Learn at Honolulu Zoo
The Honolulu Zoo in Oahu is a 42-acre party located in Queen Kapi’olani Park. This zoo is home to 1,230 animals. If you want your kids to learn more about the different animals then this is the best place to bring them with! It is considered as one of the tourist destinations in Oahu as there are over 601,510 people who visit the zoo annually. It has different events and programs that are designated for kids. One of which is the twilight tours. You should first enroll your kids here before participating. Booking in advance is required, as spots fill up quickly. This tour event happens on Friday and Saturday evenings! The kids will learn here what are the happenings inside the zoo after all the guests are gone. At first, they will be guided by educators on a two-hour walking tour to learn about the Zoo’s most intriguing animals. The kids could watch how some of the animals prepare to sleep, and they could also see the nocturnal animals during this tour. The twilight tour will end with biofacts displays and light refreshments that kids would definitely love!