Kansas City is home to many wonderful museums, arts, and educational attractions that help make our community a great place to raise kids. This year, as you're considering your holiday giving and donations, consider a donation or membership to one of these organizations. This is a great way to support our community this season. We want to ensure that these organizations have a strong 2021.
We encourage you to consider a donation or membership to support one of our local attractions.
Members enjoy many perks including free admission, discounts, and other membership benefits. Memberships to a favorite attraction make wonderful holiday gifts for family and friends and serve as a tool to support your favorite organization at the same time.
We, at KC Parent, believe it's cool to be kind! This year, we've rounded up a guide to over 50 local non-profit attractions that need your support now more than ever.
And, we encourage you to share this guide with your friends and use #GiveBackKC.
If you have a suggestion to add for consideration to this list, please email kristina@kcparent.com.
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Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium
Explore the Kansas City Zoo, with more than 1,700 animals on 202 acres, it's the most affordable family fun for kids of all ages. Travel all over the world without ever leaving the Kansas City Zoo. Take a spin on our Endangered Species Carousel, ride the train, then continue your journey on the tram to our award-winning Africa exhibit. Fly overhead to get a birds’eye view of giraffes, hippos, zebras and more on our Sky Safari, landing at “one of America’s best chimpanzee exhibits” as proclaimed by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. Visit Polar Bear Passage, Helzberg Penguin Plaza, the Discovery Barn, and Stingray Bay. Stroll down Tiger Trail and get nose to nose with primates, orangutans, tigers and more. Take a walkabout through a mob of kangaroos. Let your cubs run loose in the Tropics then catch the Sea Lion Splash and Wings of Wonder shows.
- Friends of the Zoo Membership: Enjoy a full year of fun at the Kansas City Zoo, where every visit is a new adventure! Memberships include unlimited admission to the Zoo, discounts on concessions and retail, a subscription to Expeditions quarterly newsletter, discounts on select Zoo events, and more. Your membership helps support the Zoo's Conservation Fund, preserving wildlife at home and around the globe. Become a Friends of the Zoo Member today.
- Donate to the KC Zoo: The Kansas City Zoo needs you so that we can continue to make a real difference for the natural world. You have the opportunity to permanently change the future of the world for you, your children, and grandchildren. Donate today.
- Adopt a Wild Child: Animal adoptions are a unique, fun way to help us feed and care for our more than 1,700 animals. For less than a dollar a day, you can help add to our naturalistic habitats, purchase toys for animal enrichment, and provide hundreds of pounds of food each day. Adopt a Wild Child today.
- Planned Giving: Be to ensure that future generations are able to experience the adventure and wonder of the Kansas City Zoo. By including a charitable gift within your overall estate and financial plans, you can provide your support far into the future. Plan your gift today.
- Giving Plaques: Purchasing a Kansas City Zoo animal plaque supports the feeding and care of our more than 1,700 animals. These plaques, which are placed permanently at the Zoo, are a great way to honor the memory of a loved one, commemorate a special occasion, or proclaim your family’s love of the Zoo. Order your plaque today.
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Science City at Union Station
Let curiosity be your guide as you explore this dynamic, hands-on science center! Kids of all ages will experience the amazing world of science first-hand through fun and engaging exhibits and programs. Start your lifelong love of science, learning, and discovery at Kansas City’s Science Center, Science City!
Kansas City’s Science Center, Science City at Union Station Kansas City, is a dynamic, hands-on science center featuring nearly 200 individual interactive exhibits and daily programming. Kids of all ages experience the amazing world of science first-hand through fun and engaging exhibits and programs. In addition to changing monthly themes and daily programs/activities open to all guests, the science center offers onsite curriculum-based programs to school groups (K-12), outreach programs, and an onsite 8-week science summer camp. STEM education is at the core of everything in the science center, be it exhibits, demonstrations, classes, shows, presentations, or special events and programs. Annually, 200,000+ guests visit Science City.
- Membership: Kansas City’s Science Center is THE place for inquisitive minds of all ages to experience the amazing world of science with 92,000 sqft of indoor and outdoor hands-on learning and non-stop fun. Members receive free admission to Science City year-round. Members receive instant savings on tickets to our exhibits. Union Station members receive FREE General or Discounted Admission to 300+ Science Museums Worldwide (including museums in Kansas and Missouri) through the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Travel Program. Members receive their first visit to the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium for free and additional tickets for only $4. Become a member.
- Donate today.
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National WWI Museum and Memorial
he National World War I Museum and Memorial is America’s leading institution dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Interactive displays, thought-provoking films, and eyewitness testimonies help guide visitors through one of the largest collections of WWI artifacts in the world. Named one of the top 25 museums in the United States and the No. 1 attraction in Kansas City by TripAdvisor, the Museum takes visitors of all ages on an epic journey through a transformative period and shares deeply personal stories of courage, honor, patriotism, and sacrifice.
- Membership: As a Member of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, you are part of an important community dedicated to our mission. Members form a vital source of support to honor the history of WWI and one of Kansas City’s greatest landmarks. Become a member.
- Donate: Please help the National WWI Museum and Memorial advance its goal of remembering and educating the world about the Great War and its enduring impact. Donate today.
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National Museum of Toys and Miniatures
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures preserves and exhibits the world's largest collection of fine-scale miniatures and one of the nation's largest collections of antique toys.
- Membership: Members enjoy unlimited free admission to the museum for a full year, plus access to exhibit previews, members-only events, discounts in the Museum Store, and much more! Become a Member today.
- Donate: Your gift today directly supports one-of-a-kind experiences for all ages, including T/m 2 Go and Little Adventures education programs, free admission days, Meet the Experts lectures, Visiting Miniature Artist workshops, and much more. Donations to The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures are 100% tax-deductible. Donate today.
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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 programs for children, stagecoach rides and living history days. The stone farmhouse built by James B. and Lucinda Mahaffie in 1865 is one of the few stagecoach stops left on the Santa Fe Trail, and the only one preserved as a public historic site. Along with the farmhouse, the stone ice house (also built in 1865) and the original timber-frame barn (probably the oldest building on the site and built around 1860) are all listed on the National and Kansas Registers of Historic Places. The site is also designated as an official component of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail by the National Park Service.
- Become a Friend of Mahaffie. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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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 space. There are many ways you can contribute to the Johnson County Museum Campaign. The Museum Foundation will accept pledges over a multi-year period or outright gifts. Donate to the Museum.
KidScape is a whimsical hands-on child-sized city. Children time travel to different periods and communities from the region's past. They enjoy pretend play as they work on the farm, perform at the theater or the puppet show, teach in the school, deliver the mail, care for patients at the hospital, or fry up some burgers at the diner. This exhibit is a favorite for early education. Your financial support will assist the Johnson County Museum Foundation reach its goal of raising $2 million dollars for a new KidScape Experience and our other Museum exhibitions. Every gift - large or small - helps support what is done at the Johnson County Museum now and into tomorrow. Donate to KidScape.
- Join the museum. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate to the museum.
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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is Kansas City’s favorite free attraction, as voted by readers of KC Parent Magazine! Discover masterpieces in the galleries, spend quality time together at a festival or drop in for a weekend art activity. Classes, workshops, and tours also are offered.
- Become a member. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The NLBM features a multi-media museum experience set on a timeline of black history and baseball history. Through films, computer displays, photographs, and artifacts, one will learn great lessons about race, sports, and culture.
Established in a one-room office in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America. In 2006, the United States Congress designated the NLBM as “America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.”
- Become a member. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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Midwest Trust Center
The Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College connects and enriches the community by: Serving as a national and community leader for the performing arts, Presenting professional performing arts programming, Providing a comprehensive arts education program, Commissioning and presenting new artistic work, and Advancing and assisting in the development of new artistic work and the careers of young and gifted artists. Audiences enjoy shows at Midwest Trust Center (formerly the Carlsen Center). Donate today.
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J Robert Schraeder
Coterie Theatre
The Coterie Theatre, named "One of the Five Best Theaters for Young Audiences" in the U.S. by TIME magazine, provides unique theatre experiences for families and young audiences. The company is nationally recognized for its one-of-a-kind programming that features a year-round season of live plays and musicals on the company's mainstage, for which individual, group, and season tickets are available. The company also hosts community outreach programs that include in-school curriculum-based workshops, theatre productions that tour to schools and community venues. Donate today.
The Snowy Day
And other stories by Ezra Jack Keats
Adapted by Jerome Hairston
Based on the Caldecott Award-winning book by Ezra Jack Keats
The Coterie presents Mesner Puppets production of The Snowy Day and other stories by Ezra Jack Keats, which celebrates the magic and boundless possibilities of the first snowfall! Follow Peter and his friends as they romp and play, starting snow ball fights and making snow angels in this uplifting musical play about childhood joys and living life to the fullest each day. Using inventive puppetry, Keats’ little boy in the red coat comes to life in this charming story collection of Whistle for Willie, Goggles!, A Letter to Amy, and The Snowy Day.
Purchasing Tickets to Stream: Will be available to watch on demand beginning Dec. 1 as scheduled. On Demand admission will be $25 for small households, $45 for large households (4 or more viewers), and $65 for virtual field trips for classrooms.
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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 and around the farm town of Shawnee in 1929.
- Join Friends of Shawnee Town. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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Culture House and Störling Dance Theater
Are you looking for classes in our Academy of the Arts that has over 50 teaching artists in Dance, Theatre, Music and Art? Are you looking for a place for your child to find friends and gain confidence? Are you here to find out more about an amazing performance or want to volunteer? Are you looking for Störling Dance Theater? Whatever the reason, you are welcome at The Culture House! Donate today.
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KC Ballet
KC Ballet is the professional ballet company serving Kansas City and the surrounding area. KCB performs "The Nutcracker" as well as an eclectic repertory from the traditional classics to exciting contemporary ballets at the Kauffman Center. Donate today.
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KCYA
The mission of Kansas City Young Audiences is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education. Together we have the opportunity to do something extraordinary! We can inspire children to discover news ways of seeing things and expressing themselves. Donate today.
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Alexander Majors Home
The Majors House, built in 1856, was the headquarters for Alexander Majors' freighting firm, Russell, Majors & Waddell. Majors would go on to co-found the Pony Express.
- Become a member. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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American Jazz Museum
Located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, MO, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits and films, the Changing Gallery exhibit space, Horace M. Peterson III Visitors Center, Blue Room jazz club, and Gem Theater.
- Become a member. Members enjoy free admission and other perks.
- Donate today.
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Belton Grandview and KC Railroad
Belton Grandview and KC Railroad is a local excursion train running on a route originally laid down in 1872. The BG&KC works to educate people about rail travel and the arts and sciences of railroading. Offering a 45 minute round trip train ride, on a 1920's open window coach powered by a 1956 GP 9 Diesel/Electric locomotive. Experience what train travel was like on a small city line. Donate today.
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Joe Bastelli-A Moment In Time P
Bingham-Waggoner Estate
The Bingham-Waggoner Historical Society is organized for the preservation and interpretation of the Bingham-Waggoner Estate in Independence. Its focus is to increase the understanding of the history of the Queen City of the Trails, as well as, to be an economic asset to tourism industry, generating interest and dollars while at the same time preserving its special identity. Donate today.
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Cedar Cove Feline Sanctuary and Educational Center
Cedar Cove is a non-profit sanctuary and educational center committed to the care and preservation of endangered predator species while educating the public on the importance of preserving their natural ecosystems and the impending dangers of their extinction. 100% of all donations go directly to Cedar Cove and the animals we care for. We are an all-volunteer staff, investing our own time and money to preserve these majestic creatures. Every dollar helps us to provide for their food, shelter, veterinary care, and habitat improvements. Thank you for your support! Donate today.
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College Basketball Experience
A Hall of Fame, together with two floors of interactive stations. Play like a college pro and learn all about the players, coaches, and contributors. Donate today.
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