Knoebels amusement park in elysburg has free admission you just buy ride tickets so that’s a good place for kids.

Hershey chocolate factory tour, handle dough at the pretzel factory in Lititz, Amish Buggy ride, and lots of ice cream.

Amazing park. Wies has discount tickets.

The Crayola Crayon Factory in Easton is a super fun day trip for kids ages 4 to 12

This is THE answer. There’s also a section of the park with rides for little ones.

IIRC, you can also buy a wristband to cover unlimited riding.

Erie is a decent choice has a few jump parks, Presque Isle State Park, Erie Zoo.

Waldameer has free admission, free parking, you pay only if you want to do rides and has a water park attached.

The children's museum downtown is good for young kids.

Food is solid and reasonable too

Lake Tobias is an awesome small zoo if it’s still open

Philadelphia zoo is my favorite zoo I've been to Please touch museum in Philly is so fun, might be better for the younger one Crayola factory I'm Easton is pretty neat

Skip it. There’s way better states.

I 2nd this (it's also cheap), and Little Buffalo pool/state park in Newport. Sesame Place in Langhorne is pricier, but I'd like to take my daughter when she's a little older.

ETA - I'd also Google local parades/picnics/events of the area you're in. You can almost always find a random chicken bbq or festival, that's my favorite part about summer!

Idlewild in W. PA

Can vouch, Knoebels is great and pay-per-ride. Also dog-friendly, if that sways you one way or another. Big pool, pickle-on-a-stick, good times.

Also adding if you did a weekend in Philly, in addition to the awesome Zoo and PTM, you could go across the river to see the aquarium.

I was going to mention the aquarium as well my kids love taking the train to the aquarium that's like two activities in one! We moved to West pa and I can't find a decent aquarium over here. On one of our trips back to Philly we're definitely making a day to take the train and do the aquarium.

Since someone already mentioned Knoebels, there is another family friendly amusement park in the Lancaster area called 'Dutch Wonderland'. As a bonus, you would also be a short drive from Strasburg if you think they would enjoy a train ride featuring a real steam engine.

This!

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What part of Pennsylvania are you planning to visit? The Philadelphia area is a lot different from the north central part of the state, and Pittsburgh is different from those two.

History? Amusement parks? Nature?

PA isn't a big state, geographically, but it does take several hours of driving to get from one area to another.

Def go to Crayola. A good day's adventure.

Stinky and dirty with nothing else much around it. My kids hated it.

>PA isn't a big state, geographically, but it does take several hours of driving to get from one area to another.

Veritable definition of "big state."

Surprised no one mentioned HersheyPark. Right next to Chocolate World. Spend all day but bring your $$. They have a "seaworld" venue within and access to ZooAmerica right next door.

i love little buffalo. had a blast there after a baseball tourney as a kid. awesome water park for a 12 year old

sad. it was amazing when i was younger

clyde peelings reptiland

As mentioned Knoebels. While you are in that area you can get to Pioneer Tunnel for a train ride and to tour the mine. Avoid spending the money at Hershey Park, but you can take them to Chocolate World. Indian Echo Caverns is good for kids as well.

If you want some nice natural settings look for the State Parks. Unlike in most states they are free to use.

Don’t forget splash lagoon

Ever pass through Altoona you can try your luck with horseshoe curve, the train museum and catch a baseball game.

Pittsburg area. Will be coming from Ontario and with kids so didn’t want to drive too far

I was born and raised there. There's a tremendous amount of history to take in, world class art and natural history museums (The Carnegie Museums for example), a cornucopia of places to eat, etc.

Kennywood Park, an old fashioned amusement park with authentic old-time wooden roller coasters, is there.

With kids, I'd spend a day exploring the Carnegie museums and a day at Kennywood. There are lots of places to visit but I think you'll have more fun if you keep it simple.

The University of Pittsburgh is across the street from the Carnegie. Its Cathedral of Learning is worth seeing. The main hall is massive--my kids likened it to a place Harry Potter would study. It also has a number of Nationality Rooms, which are classrooms designed to look like classrooms in a number of different countries from around the world. It's free.

Point State Park is right at....The Point, the confluence of the rivers. It has the Fort Pitt museum, which presents the area's role in the French & Indian War, and is a nice park area to relax in.

Pittsburgh is one big quilt of neighborhoods, each with its own identity.

You'll find Pittsburghers are generally friendly and love more than anything to show off their city to visitors. They (we?) have a tendency to treat everyone like they've known you for years. It's casual. Familiar. It's sort of true that Pittsburgh people talk funny. YouTube videos abound. Pittsburgh Dad is pretty much every adult I knew growing up.

I've lived in Lancaster, PA for over 25 years. If you ever want to visit Lancaster, I've got more than enough recommendations.

Thanks for all suggestions! I heard that ppl from Pittsburg are very friendly. I’m from Newfoundland in Canada. Are there any areas I might want to avoid in Pittsburg?

I think the areas you’d avoid are areas you wouldn’t be in anyway, if that makes sense. There’d be no reason to be there.

Some of the bad areas are revitalizing. Used to be you wouldn’t want to spend too much time in East Liberty, or Homewood, or Rankin, to name a few but I think some have turned around. If I’m not mistaken, Google has a big presence in East Liberty now.

Oakland, the neighborhood around the museums (and Pitt and CMU) is safe these days. Downtown is safe. Point State Park is safe, Mt Washington is safe. Squirrel Hill, The Strip District, Station Square, all good.

You’d have to go out of your way to end up in an unsafe place because the cultural attractions are in pretty decent neighborhoods.

And Pittsburgh has an “h” on the end.

Pocono animal and snake farm is pretty cool, it’s small but if you’re in the area it’s worth the stop

Third for Lake Tobias - strongly do NOT recommend little buffalo for the pool. The park is beautiful, great place for easy-intermediate hikes + dog friendly.. I have lived in Perry for 20 years, Newport itself for over 10 - I have never been to the Little Buffalo pool because I have been on the outside in summer months. The pool has been highly understaffed for years (decade +) and it has become absolutely disgusting from a local but outside perspective. Very few locals go to the pool, mostly busses from Harrisburg + Amish Country for the last 10+ years. From the outside it looks great- big pool and slides plus a wading pool for the littles?! …from local perspective it’s a great “get” but, “we” don’t go to the pool.

But, again, plus sides of LB- great hiking trails, there are plenty of posts showing local historical events; the trails are beautiful, the local places to eat (honestly mostly pizza shops) are good and not horribly priced, there are also options to canoe/paddle boat on the lake. Would never recommend someone from more than like an hour away but, close by it’s a good spot to get away from crowds (again- if you avoid the pool).