Dubai is a certified playground for adults with trendy restaurants, fun nightlife, epic music festivals and fabulous shopping. Are you finding it hard to look for things to do in Dubai with kids? We decided to compile a list of 27 kid-friendly activities ranging from museums to theme parks and immersive worlds.
Whether you are a local trying to find something for your kids to do on weekends or a tourist wondering what your kids would like to do best, here are 27 things you must do. Get ready to bond with the brood!
Dopamine Land is a colourful adventure that kids can dive straight into. With nine interactive rooms filled with neon lights, balloons, cushioned zones and creative spaces, children are encouraged to run, draw, dance and explore. Each room is designed to give your family a boost of happiness, along with plenty of joyful photo opportunities along the way! Get tickets here.
Get quizzical with the family at the UAE’s first game show trivia. Instead of boring old pop quizzes in school, this one packs general knowledge with the excitement of a TV-style game show, complete with a buzzer round, stage lights to create drama while the right answer is revealed and a smoke machine too. A special Kids Quiz is designed for younger quizzers aged 8 to 15 years to prove their smarts. Get tickets here.
Willy Wonka would approve of this colourful new edutainment venue that blends fun, facts and food. Walk through 15 vibrant rooms themed after different types of confectioneries and combine installations and trivia. Dive into a gummy bear pool while learning about how the first gummy was made in Germany in the 1920s. Then, float through a fairy floss land taking dreamy pictures of your little munchkins, while they munch on macarons and frolic on ice cream-shaped see-saws. Get tickets here.
Imagine an escape room, but one where you cannot use your five senses – sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. Fascinating, right? This entertaining new game experience is perfect for little kids who love a good mystery, and is the ideal platform to instill a sense of teamwork. You’ll find yourself fumbling around dark rooms eating mysterious foods; crawling on all fours ninjs-style through a laser-activated room without setting off the alarms, and sniffing boxes of perfumes and soap to correctly recognise the aroma (or stench). The best part? The points you earn are donated to a local charity for people with special needs who navigate life without the use of one of more senses. Get tickets here.
This Dubai Mall attraction is a scaled-down indoor city built for all the big little people who can’t wait to grow up and go to work. This real-world replica takes pretend-play to a whole new level with functioning hospitals, fire stations, a TV studio, and more where kids can roleplay different careers, learn about how the economy works, and manage money all while developing their creativity and problem-solving skills. Edutainment at its best. Get tickets here
What little kid doesn’t like splashing around in water? Situated conveniently next to the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel, this themed outdoor waterpark is inspired by Arabic folklore character Juha and his adventures. Thrillingly steep 32-metre-long slides, winding lazy rivers and the Middle East’s largest wave pool are just a handful of the attractions here. What really gives this destination a family-friendly stamp of approval is the fact that even babies and toddlers can get into the temperature-controlled waters here. Snap up tickets here
Illusion City turns a simple family outing into a playful, perception-bending adventure. Children can actively explore rooms packed with optical illusions, perspective tricks and hands-on installations that spark curiosity and laughter. Get tickets here.
‘Babe in the Woods’ gets literal at this feat of engineering in City Walk – four layers of tropical rainforests recreated inside a biodome, in a desert city. Populated by 3,000 plants, birds and animal species – including sloths and anacondas – exotic macaws will fly over your heads as you walk through tree canopies on rope bridges and a verdant forest floor where waterfalls gush and critters roam freely. Overnight camping, feeding sessions and guided tours let kids (and you) learn about nature, climate change and sustainability in an interactive hands-on manner that no encyclopedias can match. Infants and kids under two enter for free.
This digital entertainment park inside Wafi Mall is a visually spectacular, immersive experience that’s perfect for kids, and grown-ups who are a kid at heart. Or love a good photo-op. Themed around the story of an undiscovered ‘beautiful new universe’ in outer space, 12 rooms are designed with LED lights, infinite lights motion-detecting sensors, and other cutting-edge tech that create gravity-defying waterfalls, bioluminescent gardens and responds to the presence of people. Find more details here.
Al Quoz’s industrial warehouses are deceptive delights of hidden bakeries, cute galleries, indoor scuba diving, courtyard spaces and more. Hidden amidst them is this innovative award-winning children’s play museum. Interactive exhibits created by artists and developmental psychologists to boost the imagination and curiosity of kids aged 2-11 years line eight themed galleries. Highlights include Toshi Nets – a colourful woven trampoline, a Water Gallery to explode cannon balls, building hovercrafts in the Air Gallery to understand the physics of flight and more.
Neon Galaxy
After giving us the world’s largest bouncy castle in 2023, Riverland has hit out of the park again with this space-themed play world full of flashing lights and fluorescent colours. The multilevel play area features ninja courses, rope climbing, LED strip-lit slides that feel like you’re zooming through hyperspace, and a wipe-out challenge to help both kids and young teens burn off excess energy. While the kids zoom around like rockets, parents can drop anchors at the indoor cafe and relax.
Rising from the centre of Mushrif Park’s ghaf tree forest is this outdoor adventure park’s rope courses, spider nets, wobble bridges, zip lines part of 80 obstacles divided into 5 circuit-style courses. Not just the cheeky monkey in the family, but the entire family can unleash their inner Tarzan and tree surf. While thrill-seeking teens and parents skim tree tops, younger tots can stay firmly on the ground at a dedicated kids’ play area with a petting zoo, splash zone and treehouse.
Even a small step turns into a giant leap at Dubai’s largest freestyle trampoline park in Al Quoz. Adults and kids – big and small – can jump, summersault, flip and bounce around the 3,000 sq metres of interconnected trampolines. Padded surfaces, inflatable airbags and floor mats ensure injury-free soft landings. While teens perfect stunts and flips at The Wall and toddlers go wild at MiniBounce, grownups can sign up for Bounce Fit classes. The Slam Dunk and dodgeball courts are great for high-octane family games.
This indoor entertainment and dining hub in Bluewaters promises a tree-mendous good time for the whole family. Designed to resemble an imaginary forest, the nature-themed complex features a trampoline park, and a soft play area with ball pits and mazes for little ones. They also have a jungle-themed neon laser tag area and glow-in-the-dark mini golf. A food hall packs in an array of restaurants and cafes such as Burger8 and Coffeelicious to fuel up after all that excitement turns the brood hungry.
Got a little ballerina at home who loves to prance around in a tutu or try the latest TikTok dance challenge? This ultra-futuristic take on ballet will delight them. Classic ballet compositions like Sleeping Beauty are reimagined with fluorescent lights stitched into dancers’ costumes so they appear to glow on stage during the performance. Get tickets here
