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How do you keep your kids entertained during an Outer Banks vacation? That’s easy, right? Hit the beach! Children love to frolic in the waves, build sandcastles on the shore, and search for shells in the shallows. In fact, they’ll happily spend hours in the water – it’s difficult to drag them away!
5 Kid-Friendly Things to Do in the Outer Banks
The Island Farm
Located on Roanoke Island, The Island Farm is a living-history museum that takes visitors back to 1847. A farmhouse built by Adam Etheridge in 1757 anchors the museum, and it’s fun to see youngsters’ eyes get wide when they hear that the house is over 261 years old.
Outside on the grounds you’ll find an outhouse, smokehouse, woodshed, dairy, animal barns, chicken coops, a slave cabin, and a corncrib. You’ll even get to walk through the family graveyard.
Adults and young people love interacting with the free-roaming chickens, sheep, cow, Banker ponies, and the farm’s stately ox. Costumed interpreters are also out and about to help put history in context for everyone.
Introduce yourself to a real blacksmith, farmer, or cook, and then look on as you discover how laundry used to be done without any electricity or washing machine. Kids can ask questions while the interpreters work, and maybe also lend a hand.
Far more than just a fun outing, the Island Farm shows young people what life was like before modern technologies such as motorized vehicles, appliances, phones, and computers. (Imagining those days can be fun for adults, too.)
Check the schedule of hands-on activities including woodworking, 19th-century games, farming, and ox-drawn wagon rides.
H2OBX Waterpark
This innovative park is located in Powells Point, just three miles from the Wright Memorial Bridge. Designed to embrace the culture of the Outer Banks, the grounds are full of pirate, boat, and airplane references and motifs. The park caters to all ages with thrill rides for adults and older kids, and toddler-friendly play structures, soft obstacles, and swim zones.
Fifty private cabanas offer shade, complimentary bottled water, fruit, brownies, and Rice Crispies treats. Depending on size, cabanas accommodate 8 to 12 people; the whole family can take a nap after a day of play.
The park is handicap accessible and is open from the end of May through the first weekend in September.
Don’t forget that when you stay with Outer Banks Blue you can get discounted tickets to the waterpark!
Junior Ranger Program at the Wright Brothers National Memorial
Becoming a Junior Ranger is a tradition and a point of pride for kids visiting the Outer Banks. In fact, children love the program so much that the park now swears in over 6,000 Junior Rangers every year. Open to children ages 5 to 13, the Junior Ranger program helps young people learn about the National Parks and how they can help protect them. To get their badge, candidates must attend two Ranger programs (different programs take place each day), and complete the booklet for their age group.
Building Sandcastles
