Dallas summer with kids: where to get wet and where to find air conditioning

From June through September Dallas runs 95–105°F every day, and an afternoon outdoors is a recipe for heatstroke. Local parents' summers follow two rules: water before 10am, air conditioning after. This list covers both, and every place on it has been tried with kids on a hot weekend.

The closest water to the northern suburbs is Hawaiian Falls in The Colony, where the toddler zone is ankle deep; Epic Waters in Grand Prairie is indoors with a retractable roof, so thunderstorms don't matter. For something natural, Little Elm Beach has sand and lifeguards, and Burgers Lake west of Fort Worth is a spring-fed swimming lake under big trees. In the weeks too hot to go outside at all, Crayola Experience in Plano, the Perot Museum and SEA LIFE / LEGOLAND at Grapevine Mills are full air-conditioned days; the free options are the city libraries and NorthPark Center.

• 6 places
• 1 free
• 5 stroller-friendly
• closest is 15 min away