Stuck at the airport? 10 best diversions for kids

Courtesy Orlando International Airport

At Orlando International Airport, passengers can get their photos taken with Snow White, Mickey Mouse and other celebrities.

Like the nearby theme parks, Orlando International Airport was designed with kids in mind. The first clue: There’s both adult and pint-sized seating in the main terminal. Then there’s the brand-new game arcade, the Kennedy Space Center shop with its video wall showing films of NASA launches and the statues offering photo-ops with celebrities such as Mickey Mouse and Snow White. Even the food court is entertaining: Inside the 3,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, kids will spot fish made famous by the Disney film "Finding Nemo."

Courtesy McCarran International Airport

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas offers kids an aviation-themed play area.

While adults are playing on some of the airport’s 1,300 slot machines, kids at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas can play in the aviation-themed play area that includes a miniature control tower and a mock jet engine. There’s also a 24-hour museum (on the walkway over the baggage claim, with display cases around the airport) that tells the colorful history of aviation in Southern Nevada.

Courtesy O'Hare International Airport

The Kids on the Fly play area is one of two play areas at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

There are two official play areas at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The airport-themed “Kids on the Fly” play area (Terminal 2) offers kids the opportunity to tag and weigh baggage, load cargo, fly planes and direct air traffic. The "Play It Safe" area (Terminal 5) offers lessons about fire and home safety. In Terminal 1, it’s hard to miss the four-story model of a brachiosaurus in front of the Field Museum store or, in Terminal 2, the restored WWII F3F-4 fighter plane that’s just like the one flown by the airport's namesake, Butch O’Hare. And kids of all ages will find themselves mesmerized by the 744-foot-long light sculpture racing along the ceiling of the tunnel connecting Concourses B and C.

Courtesy Denver International Airport

The Conestoga-themed playhouse at Denver International Airport is on display through March 2011.

At Denver International Airport, kids will enjoy riding on the automated transit system and looking for the floating steel “paper” airlines, the gargoyles and some of the other light-hearted pieces in the airport’s extensive permanent art collection. Through March 2011, kids are also invited to play with the miniature saloon, the Conestoga wagon and the other Colorado-themed playhouses that are part of a temporary art exhibition in the main terminal.

Harriet Baskas

Pittsburgh International Airport is home to a shrine to the world's most famous neighbor: Mister Rogers.

A nearly life-size plaster cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur greets kids getting on or off the people mover at Pittsburgh International Airport, while on Concourse C there’s a well-padded play area located next to a memorabilia-filled shrine to Fred Rogers and the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV show, which was filmed in town. Look for Mister Rogers’ signature sweater, his sneakers, a miniature Neighborhood of Make Believe and clay models of the show’s characters, including King Friday and Henrietta Pussycat.

Courtesy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Craig Nutt's flying ear of corn, the "Corncorde," is one of the fun art pieces at the Atlanta airport.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, there’s a 33-foot-long cast of a yangchuanosaurus dinosaur (on loan from Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History) in the Main Terminal Atrium. Giant ants — not real; they’re part of an art sculpture — march over the ductwork in the north and south terminal baggage claim areas. Elsewhere in the airport, kids will spot a flying ear of corn (the “Corncorde”) and other entertaining installations that are part of the airport’s permanent and temporary art collection.

Courtesy Singapore's Changi Airport

The slide at Singapore's Changi Airport.

There are plenty of airports outside the United States that are kid-friendly as well. Top among them: Changi Airport in Singapore , which has a butterfly garden, seven children’s play areas, free movie theaters, an arcade, interactive art stations, a jam studio and loads of other entertaining activities. Since September, 2010, there’s also been a twisty four-story tall slide at Changi, with a milder, one-and-a-half-story tall “preview” slide beside it.