Spring break is coming! While many families choose to take family vacations during spring break, many other families opt to stay closer to home. Our family almost always chooses to stay home and embark on daily staycation adventures. However, this year will be a little different for us because my daughter is getting her tonsils out during spring break, which means we’ll be staying home for the most part. But I still hope to take my son to do a few of the ideas listed below. Have fun with these ideas for daily spring break events in and around the Frisco area!

But first!! The best and most economical way to explore a big portion of Frisco for spring break is with a Frisco Museum Pass, available through Visit Frisco. The passes are $25 each (a 25% savings over paying each admission individually) and cover admission to five incredible venues in Frisco, all of which are on this staycation list. If you’re not able to visit all the venues within the spring break week, no worries! The passes are good for a full year after purchase date. We LOVE our Frisco Museum Passes!

Frisco Discovery Center

Have you been to the Frisco Discovery Center lately? It had been a minute since I’d been there, but we recently went as a family and it was INCREDIBLE! Several new attractions have been added and many updates have been made, making it a premiere spot for local family fun. All of the venues within the Frisco Discovery Center listed below are included with the Frisco Museum Pass. While it’s technically possible to explore all the Discovery Center venues in one day, I recommend splitting the venues between at least two days to get the best experience. And I know we don’t want to mess with any exhausted kid meltdowns, amiright? Within the Frisco Discovery Center, you will find:

Sci-Tech Discovery Center- Sci-Tech is a hands-on, tactile kid’s dream! From creating 3D printed objects in the Maker Studio to blowing giant bubbles, learning how sneezes work, and flying airplanes on a simulator, kids of all ages will have a blast at Sci-Tech. My kids love it and could spend all day there! Be sure to check their events calendar to plan your spring break visit.

National Videogame Museum- While this kids will definitely have a ton of fun here, it’s an actual walk down memory lane for us parents. The National Videogame Museum will transport you back to your childhood through playing all of the systems and games you grew up with- Pong, Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, even Duck Hunt! And the back room is packed with playable, old-school arcade games (some tokens are included with admission and additional tokens can be purchased). My kids couldn’t get over what “the olden days” looked like for me and their dad. It’s just delightful. Continue the videogame-themed fun by having lunch right around the corner at Nerdvana!

TrainTopia at Museum of the American Railroad- To be honest, I was surprised by how much my kids, ages 7 and 5, LOVED the miniature train museum, TrainTopia, especially my 5-year-old, who sometimes still has trouble with “look but don’t touch.” But we had a marvelous time at TrainTopia! The intricacy of the miniature trains and detail of the tiny settings is mind-blowing, and the scavenger hunts available for both kids and adults was the icing on the cake. TrainTopia has such a special history and is so fun to experience. In addition to the indoor miniature museum, you can also schedule an outdoor walking tour of real trains. Several types of train cars are available to tour at this time, but please note that the outdoor walking museum is still under construction so tours are limited to certain days and times, and accessibility can be limited.

*Please note that all Frisco museums, including those listed above, are closed on Mondays.

Frisco Heritage Center

While my family has long participated in Frisco Heritage Center’s Third Sunday Open House events and Shawnee Trail Cowboy Days, we only recently discovered how FUN the interior of the museum is. You’ll learn all about Frisco History in a fun environment, complete with a beloved scavenger hunt, and also get to role-play being early Frisco residents in a replica homestead on the second floor. There are also many historic homes and buildings on the grounds of the Heritage Center. The interiors may not be accessible unless there is a special event, but it’s still fun to run around the grounds and look at them. Then grab lunch at Babe’s Chicken Dinner House next door! Frisco Heritage Center admission is also included with the Frisco Museum Pass.

*Please note that the Frisco Heritage Center is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Stonebriar Centre

You guys, it’s weird how much my kids enjoy going to the mall, but I’m not complaining. The mall is a natural day-off destination for us, but I don’t usually do a lot (or any) shopping when my kids are with me. Instead, we focus on the fun aspects of the mall. These include: getting free helium balloons from the kids’ shoe section in Nordstrom, looking around the Disney Store (bonus: they almost always have kids’ pajamas on sale!), playing in the LEGO store, exploring Amazon 4-star, and, of course, the food court for lunch and cookies. Other fun Stonebriar Centre attractions include: shuffleboard and giant Connect 4 in the downstairs courtyard, Dave & Busters game play, and the carousel. My kids have aged out of the indoor soft play area, but there’s one of those, too!

One of our favorite (and frugal) mall events is a mall scavenger hunt! There are plenty of mall scavenger hunt lists over on Pinterest, or you can make up your own to compliment whatever tasks you need to accomplish while at the mall. Need to try on a particular pair of shoes at Dillard’s? Add it to the scavenger hunt list! Kids with a clipboard and crayon are willing to do most anything without complaining. ;)

KidZania

Hopefully you’ve heard of KidZania by now. If not, or for more information, go read my KidZania review from our visit in November. Located in Stonebriar Center, the Frisco location is the first KidZania to open in the United States. And it’s FANTASTIC. KidZania is basically an 80,000 square foot city run by kids. Your kids will get to “work” in many different professions, for which they earn KidZos that they can use to purchase items or fun experiences, like a ropes course. Some of my kids’ favorite KidZania jobs include veterinarian, NICU nurse, fireman, and parcel delivery workers, with dozens of other jobs to explore. I just love how independent kids get to be within the KidZania “city limits.” A visit to KidZania is definitely a full-day event- plan to spend at least 4 hours there, and possibly longer since it will likely be busier than usual with longer lines during spring break. And considering admission prices are pretty high, you’ll want to stay long enough to get your money’s worth.

These are just a few of the awesome spring break opportunities Frisco has to offer; we’ve barely scratched the surface! And we didn’t even venture out of the Frisco bubble. So if you need a few more ideas to round out your spring break week, try these: