Fukui with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Fukui is quiet coast and hills, and most of Japan's dinosaur bones come out of its ground. The museum at Katsuyama fills a dome with skeletons, and two of the species are named after the prefecture.
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum
One of Japan's largest dinosaur museums: 51 skeletons displayed under a silver dome.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
Ichijodani Asakura Family Historic Ruins
A samurai warlord's castle town, 200 meters of it rebuilt on its excavated stone walls.
Stroller OK · checked Aug ’26
A museum of eyewear from the Edo period on, facing a shop of 3,000 frames.
Nursing room · checked Aug ’26
The 4,500-square-meter hall holds 51 dinosaur skeletons, well over a thousand specimens, large reconstructed dioramas and films. Exhibition staff are stationed around the halls, so a child can ask the moment something catches their eye, and there is a free guide app as well. Outside the building the museum names three photo spots — the museum monument stone near the entrance, the Tyrannosaurus monument on the east side, and the Dinosaur Doctor statue on the roof of the new wing — three things a child can go and find on their own.Tickets are for a set date and time and must be bought in advance; without one you cannot get in. Sales open 60 days before your visit and you can cancel until 16:30 on the day. On busy days such as the Obon holidays in mid-August and three-day weekends, advance sales can sell out and no same-day tickets are sold. The QR code you enter with lets you come back in as many times as you like that day, so you can eat your lunch at the rest area outside and return. Preschool children are free; admission starts at 500 yen from elementary school age. The fossil research program is for elementary school children and up, signed up together with a parent or guardian, so while your child is still preschool age the touchable specimens in the Dino Lab and the bronze models are the hands-on part.
There is a dress-up experience, with armor, a princess's robes or a townswoman's kimono, and you walk the rebuilt street wearing it, 500 yen a person. One visitor's account has an adult and three children in the full armor set, helmet, cuirass, sleeve guards and shin guards, walking the street.The dress-up experience needs a reservation in advance, on 0776-41-2330. Walking from the south gate to the north gate and going inside the houses on the way takes about two hours, all of it outdoors; the rebuilt street lends umbrellas free. Last admission is 16:30 and the gates close at 17:00, so entering from the south gate by 15:00 lets you walk the whole street without turning back.
The Megane Museum lines up old eyewear from the Edo through the Showa era, Taisho-era frame-making tools, and Kon Omura's collection of celebrities' glasses. Reserve in advance and a staff member will walk you through the exhibits. In the Megane Shop they can try on frames from a stock of more than 3,000.The Megane de Collage workshop (2,000 yen, about an hour) is for first-graders and up: the solvent adhesive is hard to handle, so preschool children cannot join and the workshop room itself admits from first grade. A six-year-old already in first grade can take part, and in grades 1-3 a parent must come along and the two of you make one piece together. Sessions run at 10:00, 13:00 and 15:00, four people per hour. Pay and collect the ticket at the Megane Shop on the day before going upstairs; arriving 15 minutes late counts as a cancellation. The adhesive is mostly acetone, the same as nail polish remover, and the notice asks anyone bothered by skin irritation or the smell to sit it out.