It is 8:52 on a Tuesday in July. I have a toddler, a 9:00 timed ticket to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and a parking spot. She hands a giraffe a lettuce bundle. Three dollars.
I'm Leah Behr, a REALTOR® with the Behr & Behr Team in Colorado Springs, and what you actually do here with kids is this: the zoo, Garden of the Gods, a nature center, a fountain to run through, and the library. Four of those five are free or close to it. The ticketed attractions are the ones I would think hardest about.
I moved here in 2009 and I am raising a small person here. This is what I do on a Saturday, and what I would tell my sister to skip.
The free list I actually use
Garden of the Gods first, because it costs nothing and disappoints nobody. Park hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., the Visitor and Nature Center runs 9 to 5 in winter and to 6 from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and its site says park and center alike "are both free and open to the public." The trail that matters with small kids is the Perkins Central Garden Trail: 1.5 miles round trip, "less than a 30-foot rise," paved, stroller-friendly.
- Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St., Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 5, in the 1903 courthouse. Admission is free, per its visit page. It holds a four-year-old about forty minutes.
- Pikes Peak Library District. PPLD's about page says it runs "15 facilities, mobile library services" across El Paso County. If you have read that it has 14 branches, that count is behind. Summer Adventure ran June 1 to July 31, 2026, free, all ages.
- Uncle Wilber Fountain in Acacia Park, 115 E. Platte Ave. Per the Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs it runs end of May through mid-August, noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, to 7:30 Thursday and to 10 Friday through Sunday. The Julie Penrose Fountain at America the Beautiful Park runs the same season, 11 to 5, and is stroller and wheelchair accessible. Bring a change of clothes.
- County parks. Fountain Creek Regional Park is a 460-acre linear park at 2010 Duckwood Road in Fountain, with a 12-acre play area, a 0.8-mile playground loop and stocked fishing at Willow Springs Ponds.
The two county nature centers are nearly free. Bear Creek Nature Center, 245 Bear Creek Road, and Fountain Creek Nature Center, 320 Pepper Grass Lane, run Tuesday through Saturday, 9 to 4. Their toddler programs are the quiet bargain here. Little Wonders for ages 2 to 3 and Nature Explorers for 4 to 5 run "$3 per person including siblings and adults," and Fountain Creek's Twos & Threes Outdoors is the same $3, prepaid.
What the ticketed attractions cost in 2026
All from the operators' own published 2026 pricing, pulled in early August 2026.
Place | 2026 price, as published | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | Adult 12+ $24.75 to $34.75; child 3-11 $10.75 to $29.75 by day tier and entry time; age 2 and under 75¢ | Timed e-ticket for everyone; parking free; wagon $16 |
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum | Summer adult 13+ $27.95 to $29.95; youth 5-12 $15.95 to $16.95; ages 0-4 free; winter adult $21.95 to $23.95 | Daily 10 to 5, sales end at 4; parking $7.50 |
Cave of the Winds Discovery Tour | $29 adults 13+, $19 children 4-12, free ages 0-3 | 45 to 60 minutes, year-round |
Seven Falls | Online morning adult $25, child 2-12 $19; afternoon adult $21, child $15; walk-up $2 to $3 higher | Park at Norris Penrose, free shuttle |
North Pole, Santa's Workshop | Summer entry free, ride wristband $38 per person age 3+; holiday peak days $35 | Closed Tue and Wed most weeks |
One oddity I will not smooth over. On the museum's own 2026 admission calendar, winter "value" days print higher than winter "peak" days, $23.95 against $21.95 for an adult. Check the price at checkout.
What earns the money, and what does not
The zoo earns it, and timing moves the number more than anything else does. My arithmetic, from the zoo's published 2026 pricing calendar: two adults and two kids aged 3 to 11 on a peak day at 9 a.m. is $129.00. The same four on a value day at 2 p.m. is $51.00. A $78 swing, and the giraffes do not know the difference. The Giraffe Feeding Experience runs daily 9 to 5 in African Rift Valley at $3 a bundle or two for $5, and it is the three dollars I would spend first with any child under six.
What I would not pay for with a toddler is Seven Falls. Two adults and a four-year-old, online morning tickets, is $69, and the payoff is 224 steps a small child will not climb. Wait until seven or eight.
North Pole at $38 a wristband is the one parents argue with me about. A two-year-old rides free and does about three things, because the Boat Ride wants 32 to 54 inches. At 5 to 8, it buys a day they talk about for a month. At 11, they are bored by lunch. Cave of the Winds covers the middle: concrete walkway a four-year-old handles unassisted. The Olympic and Paralympic Museum is worth $29.95 an adult at eight and eleven minutes of interest at three.
Altitude and sun, which visiting families underestimate
FAA data published through AirNav puts the field elevation at Colorado Springs Airport at 6,187 feet. The zoo says it "ranges from 6,714 feet at the entrance to nearly 7,000 feet at its highest points" and recommends hydration and breaks. That hill is why they rent wagons.
MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, describes acute mountain sickness as usually affecting people "above 8000 feet (ft) or 2400 meters (m),", and names gradual ascent as the most important preventive step. The city sits below that threshold. Pikes Peak Highway and the top of the Cog do not. Flew in yesterday? Zoo today, summit later in the week. I am not a physician; ask your pediatrician, especially about infants.
The EPA's UV Radiation fact sheet: "UV intensity increases with altitude because there is less atmosphere to absorb the damaging rays." The American Academy of Pediatrics, through HealthyChildren.org, says to keep babies younger than 6 months out of direct sunlight, reapply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming, use a hat with a three-inch brim, and limit exposure from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Central Garden loop has no shade at 1 p.m. in July.
What closes, and what needs a reservation
Place | Season and access, per the operator |
|---|---|
Seven Falls | 2026 season June 16 to Nov 29: daily 9-7 through Aug 10, Fri-Sun 9-5 from Oct 23. Closed December to mid-June |
Rock Ledge Ranch | Living History Program early June to mid-August. Grounds free dawn to dusk year-round |
North Pole, Santa's Workshop | Holiday season Nov 1 to Dec 24; closed Tue and Wed outside holiday weeks. Online reservations required on holiday peak days |
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | Daily 9-5 year-round, but timed e-tickets are required for everyone, with a 30-minute entry window. Boo at the Zoo in October; Electric Safari Dec 2 to Jan 1 |
Check any of this on the operator's own page rather than a listing site: cmzoo.org for the pricing calendar and timed tickets, gardenofgods.com, sevenfalls.com, northpolecolorado.com, parks.elpasoco.com, cspm.org, ppld.org. Aggregator pages go stale, and the zoo's pricing lives in a PDF that changes.
One gap I could not close. The City of Colorado Springs publishes its own recreation programs, splash grounds and winter sledding information, and I could not pull those pages for this. For rec registration and sledding hills, call Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services rather than a blog, this one included.
How I would build a Saturday around a nap
Garden of the Gods at 8 a.m. while it is cool and the parking works. Visitor center at 9:30 for the bathroom and the Junior Ranger material. Home by 11:30 for a nap. Zoo at 2 p.m. on a value day, giraffes by 2:30, out by 5. Two adults and two kids: $51. What makes it work is going early, paying the afternoon tier, and doing two things well instead of five badly.
From farther away, What it is really like to live in Colorado Springs covers the weather and pace behind all of the above, and the honest 2026 relocation guide covers what nobody warns you about.
Leah Behr is a licensed REALTOR® with the Behr & Behr Team in Colorado Springs. She has lived here since 2009, is raising a toddler in the city, volunteers through the Junior League of Colorado Springs, and works across El Paso County from Fountain and Security-Widefield north to Monument. Want a Saturday plan built around your kids' ages and the forecast? Send us a note.
General information only, and not medical advice. I am not a physician; the altitude and sun material is quoted from the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus, the EPA and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and your pediatrician should be your source for your own children. Hours, prices, season dates and reservation requirements are as published by each operator in early August 2026 and change without notice. This post describes activities and public facilities only, and nothing here is a statement about any neighborhood or its residents. The Behr & Behr Team does not steer buyers by neighborhood, school district or any protected characteristic, and is committed to Equal Housing Opportunity. All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified.
