Okayama with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Okayama gets fewer rainy days than almost anywhere in Japan, which makes plans easier to keep. Kurashiki's canal runs between white-walled warehouses and you can take a flat-bottomed boat down it, and the Peach Boy story started here.
A zoo built into an Okayama hillside, with a steam locomotive parked among the animals.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
A zoo inside a national park, with four kilometers of dirt paths and no dangerous animals.
Stroller OK · checked Aug ’26
Kasaoka City Horseshoe Crab Museum
The world's only museum devoted to horseshoe crabs, with a full-size dinosaur park attached.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
On Saturdays from August through March, Close to the Giraffe lets children watch Santaro the reticulated giraffe from a deck at his own eye level. In the summer holidays there is a quiz rally around the zoo, solving animal quizzes for stickers, open to elementary school age and under; in 2026 it runs 18 July to 30 August. Feeding time is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the red pandas, and Saturday and Sunday for the spotted hyena and the white tiger.Hand-feeding the red pandas has been suspended since 2 August 2026 for the time being, though you can still watch their feeding time. Tickets for the feeding experiences are sold at the Ashiato Shop, and the feed vending machines take cash only. Children's bicycles and skateboards may be brought in, but the zoo asks you not to ride them on the slopes and will hold them for you at the entrance. Admission is 400 yen for a child aged 3 or over and 800 yen for elementary and junior high pupils.
The Otani suspension bridge, built single-handed by the zoo's director, lets you see straight down through it. There is also a Long Long Balance Beam about 160 meters end to end. On the dog walk you are handed a Dog Handler card for each dog, with the walking rules written on the back. In autumn, gathering 50 acorns or more gets you a 100-yen feed ticket in exchange.The dog walk is 1,700 yen per dog from 9:00 to 17:00, and 1,200 yen from 14:00. The rules are four: do not go near other dogs, an adult holds the lead short when passing another dog, never let the lead out of your hand, and give the dog no food. To spare the horses, the led rides are for now only three, three laps of the small ring at 500 yen, the Yushun Hill course of about 15 minutes at 1,500 yen, and the course back to reception, also about 15 minutes, at 2,500 yen; riding with the reins in your own hands, and lessons, are suspended while the horses rest. Anyone under 18 must come with a guardian.
With a brush, children sweep away sand to dig out a hidden fossil. The touch-panel horseshoe crab quiz has plenty of hard questions, and the Horseshoe Crab Theater, which holds up to 80, shows film and quizzes on a large screen. On the first floor a Baryonyx moves and roars, and one corner of the Dinosaur Park is an athletic playground with play equipment large and small.The dinosaurs in the park are not playground equipment: all eight, of seven kinds, were built under academic supervision, down to the wrinkles of the skin and the set of the muscles. For climbing, use the athletic playground in the corner of the same park. The museum is open 9:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30. Admission is 500 yen general, 300 yen for high school students and 200 yen for elementary and junior high pupils from outside the city; pupils living in Kasaoka or attending a school there enter free on showing the Kasaoka Kids free passport at reception.