10 Most Kid-Friendly Airports in the US

To help keep children occupied at Nashville International Airport, the facility features four stages where performers play music from various genres (which makes sense since Nasheville is dubbed as America’s Music City). The airport keeps a daily schedule of acts. Kids can also avail themselves of play areas in each terminal. The airport provides a feature on its website titled Arts at the Airport, which receives funding from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, to schedule talent to showcase Nashville’s visual and performing arts communities.

Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport is located in Silicon Valley. The airport recently completed an overhaul of its international arrivals terminal that made the waiting area more comfortable and provided more power outlets and USB ports in armrests, and free high-speed Internet. The airport boasts an airport play area designed for children that teaches them about aviation. And kids can listen to live communications between the control tower and pilots on a phone. The airport is also known for its Art + Technology Program offers an audio tour in which the artists discuss their art on display at the airport’s public art program.

Philadelphia International Airport keep kids engaged while they await to travel with an educational play area, Ready For Takeoff, in Terminal A-East. It features a replica of a jumbo jet, along with a control tower where children can pretend to be pilots, passengers, drivers or air traffic controllers. Just Plane Fun is the airport’s entertainment program that runs through the summer where travelers can see live performances of acts such as Philadelphia’s iconic Mummers string band; beauty care and artist demonstrations; and caricaturists.

A kids area with a space theme was developed by NASA for Dulles International Airport. It features interactive games, slides and other aviation-themed activities. Dulles also has a program titled “Wings for All” intended for those with special needs and their families to inform them about air travel and relieve the stress of flying. Also, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority brings in musicians, singers, dancers and other artists to the airport to provide entertainment for passengers.

At Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, parents can find children’s play areas at the McNamara and North terminals. The airport also has complimentary Wi-Fi, and the middle of the concourses is a 700-foot tunnel illuminated by 9,000 feet of LED lighting that children will find spellbinding. Also at Concourse A there is circular water feature with sprays of water that gambol across a fountain

The nation’s busiest airport is also one of the most kid-friendly in the country. Children can use two play areas that have slides. There is also an art program that features a Zimbabwean stone sculpture. Not to be missed is a fully assembled 33-foot skeleton of Yangchuanosaurus, a dinosaur that lived in China during the Jurassic period. The skeleton is on loan from the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and can be seen in the atrium in airport’s main terminal. The airport does not have a specific play area for children, but it plans on building one.

A big attraction for kids at O’Hare International Airport is the 72-foot-long Brachiosaurus skeleton model on loan from Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. You can find him on the upper level of Terminal 1 in Concourse B. There is also an aeroponic garden (growing plants without soil and sustained by mist) between Terminals 2 and 3 that contains about 1,000 plants. Kids will be enthralled by a 744-foot-long kinetic neon sculpture of light and sound created by Michael Hayden, located in the underground walkway between Concourses B and C in Terminal 1. Another cool diversion is a replica of the World War II fighter plane flown by airport namesake and U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Comdr. Edward O’Hare.

San Francisco International Airport has created so-called Kids’ Spots exploration areas throughout the airport to help make waiting time more tolerable. An area at Terminal 3 Boarding Area F provides interactive displays of weather patterns. Another Kids’ Spot at Terminal 3 Boarding Area E features a series of six-foot diameter spirals that are activated by motion sensors. Kids’ Spots at Terminal 2 focus on artwork that functions as interactive learning and play stations. And The Kids’ Spot in Terminal 1 depicts a forest with carpeting for the woodland floor.

Portland International Airport, one of the older airports on the kid-friendly list, grades out well for entertainment, food choices, and accessibility. A key kid-friendly feature is the Hollywood Theatre, a movie theater located in Concourse C, that shows family-oriented fare by local film makers. There are play areas in Concourses D and E where kids can watch planes take off or taxi down the tarmac, and in Terminals C and D there are Lego tables and a wooden activity set for the little ones.

Boston Logan International Airport is the oldest airport on the list and considered the most kid-friendly. The airport provides “Kidsport” play areas in three terminals that were designed by the Children’s Museum of Boston. The areas are aviation-themed with a facsimile of the airport’s control tower at Terminal A and climbing structures made to look like vintage airplanes and a carpet designed to look like an airfield, at Terminal C. The airport’s “Wings for Autism” program helps families with autistic children manage the stress of flying.