Metro Vancouver’s Best Children’s Events and Attractions

Beyond festivals and special events, the Lower Mainland is home to a wide variety of year-round attractions for families, adventure seekers, and history lovers. From historic landmarks and cultural sites to thrilling outdoor parks and high-tech experiences, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Below are details about some of the best attractions and events for kids in Metro Vancouver. For seasonal events and activities for children, see our articles about Halloween Activities and Christmas Events.

Britannia Mine Museum

Located between Vancouver and Squamish, the Britannia Mine Museum is a National Historic Site that brings Canada’s mining history to life. The preserved site features interactive exhibits, original buildings, and hands-on learning experiences that make history engaging and easy to understand for young visitors.

Families can explore the Mineral Gallery, try gold panning, watch mining films, and visit kid-friendly play and discovery areas. Highlights include the underground train tour, where participants wear hard hats and ride into the mountain like real miners, and the BOOM! exhibit, a multi-sensory experience that explains how mining worked. Overall, the museum offers a fun and educational outing that interests all ages.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

One of the most famous attractions in Metro Vancouver, the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver draws visitors from around the world. Open year-round, it features a suspension bridge stretching over a dramatic canyon, along with treetop walkways and cliffside adventures.

The park also hosts seasonal events, including Canyon Lights during the Christmas season, Love Lights for Valentine’s Day, and Canyon Frights at Halloween. With its mix of nature, thrills and seasonal charm, Capilano Suspension Bridge is one of the region’s most visited attractions.

Carnaval del Sol

Carnaval del Sol is a lively Latin festival in Vancouver filled with music, dancing, food, and colourful cultural fun in the summer. It’s the largest Latin festival in the Pacific Northwest and a fantastic event for kids and families.

Children will love the Chiquitzin Kids’ Plaza, which offers hands-on activities like art workshops, puppet shows, storytelling, and dance lessons. The Family Plaza is another highlight, featuring music, comedy, theatre, photo booths, and engaging performances that keep kids entertained. With upbeat music and plenty of interactive spaces to explore, Carnaval del Sol is an exciting celebration full of energy and discovery.

Cloverdale Rodeo

The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is a popular family-friendly event in Surrey held each May on the Victoria Day long weekend. It features rodeo competitions with cowboys competing for over $300,000 in prizes, along with rides, live entertainment, and thousands of spectators.

Attractions include lumberjack shows, a Cowboy Rib Fest, country music, a large midway, and an Agri Zone with animals such as donkeys, llamas, sheep, and horses. Rodeo events typically include bull and bronco riding, barrel racing, mutton busting, and a clown act.

FAN EXPO Vancouver

FAN EXPO Vancouver is a fun, high-energy celebration of superheroes, anime, comics, sci-fi, and pop culture at the Vancouver Convention Centre in February.

It’s an exciting event for kids and families, with colourful costumes everywhere, familiar characters like superheroes and Star Wars icons, and plenty of hands-on activities to explore. Kids can meet costumed characters, watch cosplay, play games, and explore the Interactive Family Zone filled with activities just for them. There are also comics, toys, action figures and souvenirs to discover, along with chances to see and meet artists and creators from popular movies, shows, and comics.

Festival du Bois

Festival du Bois is Metro Vancouver’s premier Francophone festival. It’s a celebration of French-Canadian culture with a full weekend of music, food, and festivities in Coquitlam.

Held in Mackin Park, this family-friendly event showcases French-Canadian, folk, and world music performances alongside workshops, food vendors, and cultural activities for all ages.

For kids, this event can be a wonderful introduction to the French language. As British Columbia’s largest Francophone festival, it offers a lively and welcoming atmosphere just a short drive from downtown Vancouver.

Flyover at Canada place

Flyover at Canada Place is an immersive flying theatre in downtown Vancouver that combines a movie experience with the thrill of a ride. Using motion seats, special effects, and a massive domed screen, it simulates soaring through the air on stunning aerial journeys.

Visitors can fly over Canada from coast to coast, plus enjoy rotating films featuring other countries. Seasonal shows include HowlOver Canada in October and Soar With Santa during the winter holidays. These special editions normally feature pre-show activities for kids.

Fort Langley

The Fort Langley National Historic Site in the Fraser Valley is an important educational destination that brings early British Columbia history to life.

Once a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, the site features reconstructed and original buildings filled with artifacts that help visitors understand daily life during the fur trade era. Interactive exhibits, including blacksmithing, barrel-making, and fur trade displays, provide hands-on learning opportunities, especially for children. Seasonal demonstrations and special events further enhance the site’s role as a place to explore and learn about the region’s past.

Greendale Acres

Greendale Acres in Chilliwack is a seasonal family-friendly farm offering hands-on fun and several events throughout the year.

Open in spring for the Sweet Spring Flower Festival, Easter, and the Chilliwack Plowing Match, the farm reopens in late summer and fall for its famous corn maze, pumpkin patch, and kid-friendly activities like jumping pillows, tractor rides, and farm animals. During the holiday season, Christmas at Greendale Acres runs from late November to December, featuring Santa, market vendors, and other festive activities.

Ladner May Days

Ladner May Days is a free community fair held in Memorial Park on the last weekend of May. Founded in 1896, the event features live music, a parade, a baseball tournament, amusement rides, and a lively midway.

Families can enjoy activities like face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, gold panning, and children’s entertainment. The festival also includes a Sunday pancake breakfast, food trucks, market vendors, and classic carnival treats. While admission and most activities are free, the rides, games, food, and souvenirs cost extra. Set mostly on grass, the midway offers a pleasant small-town carnival atmosphere in a scenic park setting.

Playland & the PNE Fair

The Pacific National Exhibition hosts one of Vancouver’s biggest annual traditions (the PNE Fair) as well as the region’s biggest and most popular amusement park (Playland).

Playland is an amusement park with lots of rides. It usually operates from mid-May until around the middle of August.

Each summer, beginning in mid-August, Playland transforms into a full fair with amusement rides, midway games, food stalls, concerts and entertainment. The PNE Fair runs from mid-August until the Monday of the Labour Day long weekend.

In addition to the summer fair, the PNE hosts events throughout the year, including Playland’s amusement park season, Fright Nights at Halloween, and the PNE Winter Fair in December.

If you’ve never been or it’s been a while, the PNE and its various seasonal events are a must-visit attraction for all ages.

Railway Museum of British Columbia

The Railway Museum of British Columbia is located in Squamish. It’s home to Western Canada’s largest collection of heritage trains. The museum also offers hands-on experiences and rides for families, train enthusiasts, and history lovers.

Seasonal events are a major highlight. From late November to Christmas, the North Pole Express features festive train rides with holiday-themed activities. In the spring, there’s the Buddy & Friends Festival (previously known as Day Out with Thomas), which offers live shows, learning, and rides on historic railcars. Beyond the events, visitors can explore vintage locomotives, authentic railway buildings, and a miniature 3-km train ride, making the museum a fun and educational experience.

Summer Music & Fireworks Festival

The Summer Music & Fireworks Festival is a very popular, free annual event in New Westminster. It takes place in late August and combines live entertainment with a vibrant community celebration.

Previously known as the Farewell to Summer Fireworks Festival, the event got its new name in 2024. The festival features a local market, beverage garden and a stage with live music leading up to the night’s fireworks show over the river. In addition to everything else that makes this festival so good, admission is free.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is located in Vanier Park. It’s also not far from Kitsilano Beach and both the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and Museum of Vancouver. The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a very good, medium-sized museum with fascinating exhibits, including model ships, artifacts, and nautical displays.

The highlight of the museum is arguably the St. Roch, a historic RCMP vessel and the first ship to sail around North America. The ship is displayed indoors and visitors can walk on board, explore the galley and see the vessel up close.

Most people spend an hour or more visiting the museum, although model ship enthusiasts may wish to stay longer, as might young families if their children get into some of the kid-friendly activities.

WildPlay Maple Ridge

WildPlay Element Park in Maple Ridge offers outdoor fun with ziplines, suspended obstacle courses, nets and platforms high among the trees. It’s designed for people of all ages and abilities, making it a popular spot for both thrill-seekers and families.

Guests who prefer to stay on the ground can watch the action from below, while others can try axe throwing or enjoy the picnic areas and walking trails. Proper footwear is required, but rentals are available on-site.

Zero Latency

Zero Latency is a virtual reality experience centre in Vancouver that specializes in free-roam VR gaming. Unlike traditional VR setups where you stay seated or in one spot, participants here can move freely around a large open room while immersed in a 360-degree environment.

Most games are team-based and designed for groups of two to eight players. While many experiences are geared toward adults, there are also a couple of family-friendly options. Players must be at least 12 years old to participate. With high-tech headsets, microphones and collaborative gameplay, it’s a cutting-edge experience for gamers and tech fans.

More Information

Click any of the following for official attraction and event websites for the above places and activities:

The above are just a few examples of best attractions and events for kids and their families in the Metro Vancouver region. There are so many more, and we’ll be writing about them in the months ahead. In the meantime, others to check out can be found on the VancouversBestPlaces.com website (where you’ll find information about the following, plus so much more):

And the list goes on!