Boston Children's Museum

"The Boston Children’s Museum knows a thing or two about keeping kids amused and entertained—it's been doing it for more than a century. An unmissable landmark on Fort Point Channel (look for the giant Hood milk bottle), the museum has an eclectic collection of exhibits and interactive areas, including an authentic Japanese silk merchant’s home that was donated by Boston ’s sister city, Kyoto . Parents and kids alike can clamber through a three-story vertical maze; there’s an entire room devoted to playing with bubbles; and the third floor is largely given over to a kid-size construction zone where aspiring builders can work on projects, scurry through pipes and cargo-net bridges, and take the wheel of a Bobcat payloader. A performing-arts program introduces children to dance, music, and theater—don’t be surprised if you find your formerly shy son or daughter up onstage by day’s end."