Go Explore Johnson County

Living history museums are a favorite local attraction, with several historical sites telling the area’s history through reenactments and handson education. Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm brings 1850s farming to life with tours and programs all year, including stagecoach rides, family programs and a working blacksmith shop. On Thursday evenings in June and July, enjoy free themed events. Shawnee Town 1929 is a slightly more modern village where families explore living history firsthand. Families also enjoy Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead. The 12-acre park is home to more than 200 farm animals, gardens, a dairy barn, pony rides and much more.

The Johnson County Museum is one of the metro’s best resources for local history. With award-winning long-term exhibits featuring local history, including the beloved 1950s electric house and displays remembering local businesses, as well as changing exhibits, the museum is a great place to spend a day. Little ones love the hands-on play space at KidScape where they can play and imagine they are grown up in a pint-sized village. This is a top pick for visitors who have come to town for an event at the Overland Park Convention Center. Nearby, be sure to spend an evening at Topgolf, an entertainment complex for golf enthusiasts.

Adventure lovers enjoy iFly KC, an indoor skydiving facility. The indoor skydiving is a simulation of true freefall conditions in a vertical wind tunnel. Urban Air Overland Park (additional locations) is a favorite indoor trampoline park, with an indoor playground and fun for all ages with obstacle courses and games. Create family keepsakes at Ceramic Café and other paint-your-own pottery shops. Patrons select and paint their own ceramic masterpieces—anything from piggy banks to plates, mugs to picture frames. They offer glass fusing workshops as well. Explore textile arts at Harper’s Quilts or The Studio.  Or, head to Dream Dinners where you can build freezer meals from scratch to enjoy with the family all month long.

• Ceramic Café

  Pottery painting and glass fusing. Walk-ins welcome. Great for birthdays and group events too.

• Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

  Visitors can see more than 250 animals and birds, learn about growing flowers and vegetables, or experience an Indian encampment, a one-room country schoolhouse and a turn-of-the-century main street.

• Dream Dinners

  We make dinner time easy! We handle the planning, shopping, prepping and clean up. All that is left is time with your family.

• Harper’s Fabrics & Quilt Co.

  Quilting and sewing classes at local shop.

• Johnson County Museum staff, 2020

  Johnson County Museum

  Featuring award-winning long-term and changing exhibitions as well as public and school education programs, the Museum is a great place to spend the day learning about our county’s history and having fun in our hands-on exhibit spaces.

• Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm

  Visit the only working stagecoach stop open to the public on the Santa Fe Trail. Relive the adventures of early stagecoach passengers. Tour the home, blacksmith shop and farm. Mahaffie offers many events throughout the year, including hands-on pro...

• Overland Park Convention Center

  The Overland Park Convention Center is a unique facility located in Overland Park, Kansas. Our staff drives our efforts through first-class service, professional industry knowledge and attention to detail.

• Shawnee Town 1929

  Shawnee Town 1929 is an active living history museum, where visitors of all ages learn what it was like to live in Shawnee, Kansas in 1929. Engaging and thoughtful tours, exhibits and programs will allow visitors to experience a typical day in an...

• The Studio Knitting & Needlepoint

  Stop in to see our wide selection of yarns, patterns, and hand-painted needlepoint canvases! Take a knitting, crochet or needlepoint class.

• Topgolf

  Topgolf is the premier golf entertainment complex where the competition of sport meets your favorite local hangout. You can challenge your friends and family to addictive point-scoring golf games that anyone from the hopeful pro golfer to your nei...

• Urban Air Trampoline Park Lenexa

  If you’re looking for the best year-round indoor amusements in Shawnee, Bonner Springs and Lenexa area, Urban Air Adventure Park is the perfect place!

• Urban Air Trampoline Park Overland Park

  Urban Air Overland Park is an attractive solution to a common problem: needing one place to entertain kids of every age.