Tips for Families

The park's Junior Ranger program can help engage your kids during your stay. Register for the program at Canyon View Information Plaza or at the Tusayan Museum on the South Rim or the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim. You can also pick up a guide outlining steps to complete the Junior Ranger program at the visitor center, Yavapai Observation Station, or the Tusayan Museum information desk. These steps include attending a walk or talk by a ranger, completing educational games and puzzles, and picking up litter or recyclables inside the park (or simply listing reasons for protecting the area). The activities are tailored to three age groups, together spanning ages 4 to 14. After completing the steps, your youngster will receive a certificate and be eligible to purchase (for $1.50) a Junior Ranger patch. The park also has a Junior Ranger program in which participants use a field guide and binoculars to identify species, and another with a special focus on geology.

During summer, the park offers additional programs aimed at children, including daily nature walks. Parents must accompany their children on these activities. For a complete listing of kids' activities, consult the park's free newspaper, The Guide.

In addition, kids may also enjoy the following activities:

Look for deer. At sunset, take a quiet walk in the grass along the train tracks by Grand Canyon Village, or watch a meadow along the entrance road on the North Rim. See how many deer you can count. But please don't feed or approach them.

Hike a rim trail. If your kids are too small to make the steep descent into the canyon, take them walking on the canyon rim. This gets them away from the car and into less crowded areas. On the South Rim, the greenway from Grand Canyon Village to Mather Point is a nice option. On the North Rim, the Transept or Cliff Springs trails are both fun for kids.

Go birding. During the daytime, sit on the rim and watch raptors and ravens ride the thermals. See if you can identify eagles, hawks, or vultures -- and perhaps even California condors. Watch swifts and swallows dart around the rim.

Watch the wranglers prepare the mules for the trip into the canyon. At 8am daily (9am in winter), the wranglers bring the mules to the corral on the South Rim just west of Bright Angel Lodge. While the mules entertain the kids, the wranglers will entertain the adults with their humorous lecture on mule-ride protocol. One word of caution: Certain tourist-weary mules have copped an attitude and will bite when petted.

See the canyon on the big, big screen. When the canyon fails to entertain your young ones in person, show it to them on the 82-foot-high screen at the IMAX Theater outside the park in Tusayan.