Visit the Stamford Museum and Nature Center (stamfordmuseum.org) where your family can enjoy a picnic, walk through more than 80 acres along nature trails, see different farm and exotic animals, and view changing exhibits in the museum galleries. Kids can play in the outdoor attraction, "Nature's Playground," and kids and adults can view the night sky through a telescope in the observatory. The Stamford Museum and Nature Center is open daily and the observatory is open on Fridays.
Take your family to watch documentaries and educational movies that help support the Maritime Aquarium's (maritimeaquarium.org) mission to protect Long Island Sound in its IMAX 2-D theater. Your family can also view special exhibits including a family of meerkats, an aquarium with aquatic animals from Africa and a 30,000-gallon tank with local aquatic animals. Attend some of the aquarium's special events, including story time, daily seal feedings and a safe boating course. The Maritime Aquarium is open daily.
The whole family can learn about horticulture and the environment in the 91-acre Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens (bartlettarboretum.org). Visit the museum and see a variety of living plants in distinct natural habitats and in formal gardens. As of May 2011, the arboretum hosts "Pond Ecology," a one-hour family program where you scoop in the pond for duckweed, tadpoles and different insects. The Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens is open daily, and admission is free every Wednesday.
The SoundWaters Coastal Education Center (soundwaters.org) is a place where adults and children learn and work on a variety of hands-on programs that are important to the community located on the Long Island Sound. You can also take your family to SoundWaters to see an aquarium with animals from Long Island Sound and its watershed, or to take a two-and-a-half-hour afternoon sail, which is offered from June to October. The SoundWaters Center is open from Tuesday to Saturday.
Spend the day with your family in some of the major parks and beaches in Stamford. Your family can swim at the beach; play tennis, softball and horseshoes; have a picnic; or go ice skating in Cove Island Park (cityofstamford.org). The park has concessions, a playground and a marina. Enjoy the outdoors with your family in Cummings Park (cityofstamford.org), where you can swim in the beach; fish from the pier; and play tennis, handball, basketball or softball. The park has pavilions, a snack bar, a boardwalk, a playground and a marina. Scalzi Park (cityofstamford.org) is a place where you can take your family to play baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, tennis or bocce ball. This park also has a playground, fitness course and roller hockey rinks.
Different kinds of annual events that are suitable for the entire family take place in Stamford from June through December. "Art in Public Places" takes place from June to August and is an event where you can take your family to see outdoor sculpture exhibits that line downtown Stamford's sidewalks and parks and the Stamford Town Center (shopstamfordtowncenter.com). Bring your family to Mill River Park (millriverpark.com) for the "Big Apple Circus," which is open every Friday from June to July and features circus acts such as lasso twirlers, contortionists, monocyclists and jugglers. Listen to live music during "Alive @ Five," a family concert series that takes place in Columbus Park on Thursdays from June to August or watch the "UBS Parade Spectacular," a helium balloon parade in November that travels from Summer to Broad to Atlantic streets. Attend "Heights & Lights" with your family in December and watch as Santa descents from the top of Landmark Square, the city's tallest building, and see the annual holiday lighting ceremony in John Latham Park (cityofstamford.org).
