The Kids Are Out of School! Nine Family-Fun Summer Activities in Shelby County

Photo Credit: @creationsgaloreandmoorellc on Instagram

Creations Galore and Moore, located in the heart of Calera, is the perfect place for memories as small in scale as an afternoon snack or as large as a birthday party. This Shelby County bakery not only serves fresh-made desserts, but also hosts decorating classes and events and holds an event space that would be perfect for any celebration. In this event space, your event attendants would get to learn how to decorate their own desserts in a fun, welcoming atmosphere that is suited for kids or adult birthdays, bachelorette parties, graduation celebrations, and more. For the adults and kiddos alike, Creations Galore and Moore will prove to be a Shelby County hidden gem that will be worth returning to again and again.

Photo Credit: Movies at the Water Tower - 2026 | Alabaster, AL

This biweekly summer event is organized by the City of Alabaster! Come out to have a bite to eat, run energy off the kids with the provided outdoor activities, and sit down for a night under the stars for a family-friendly movie…doesn’t that sound like the best kind of classic, Southern summer evening? The City of Alabaster is showing four family-friendly films throughout the summer at the Alabaster Parks and Recreation grounds with a selection of food trucks and kid-friendly games to get the fun started early before dusk. The movies begin after the sun goes down, so if you can’t quite fit the evening’s additional activities into your schedule (though we definitely recommend you do), arriving at approximately 8 PM will guarantee that you’ll at least make it to the film showing.

Photo Credit: HawkinsRails - Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum Train Ride

Regardless of your family’s prior interest in railroading, you all will leave the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum (Alabama’s official railroad museum!) with a newfound excitement for this staple of Alabama history. Stroll through the museum before boarding a train ride on the Calera & Shelby Railroad on a restored historic train car! Admission into the museum is free-of-charge, while tickets onto the train vary in price but remain consistent in affordability. Due to the popularity of this attraction, we would suggest you book your tickets beforehand. The museum also organizes events throughout the summer, such as Wild West Day on July 25^th, when the museum grounds will go back in time to the Wild West and visitors can watch cowboys and sheriffs duke it out through live-action, interactive performance. Check out the Heart of Dixie events page to make sure you don’t miss a thing this summer!

Photo Credit: @Chelsea Public Library on Facebook!

Home to fourteen public libraries, Shelby County and its robust library network will be the perfect place for you and your family to take a break from the summer sun. Library programs, such as storytime or summer reading initiatives, will entertain your family, keep them cool, and enrich their imagination and love of reading. Additionally, if you want to take advantage of the summer break, all Shelby County libraries host Homework Alabama, a free online tutoring services for kindergarten through college learners.  Go to our page to find a comprehensive list of all of Shelby County's libraries, so you may know which one is best suited for your area.

Photo Credit: @Let's Play Birmingham on Facebook!

This indoor playground will be a hit for any of your kiddos that need to run off some energy and for parents who need to beat the heat. Buying a ticket will grant you and your kiddos all-day access to the play area, even permitting you to leave and return for no additional charge. Let’s Play provides obstacle courses, a digital ball wall, an interactive dance floor, inflatables and more. Familiar characters like Elmo and Mickey Mouse often join the dance floor! If you have younger kiddos, don’t worry! Facilities exclusively open to children under three feet tall are available, ensuring that your child will always feel safe to play to their heart’s content.

Photo Credit: A Family Day at Oak Mountain State Park

It’s hard to name a fun summer activity that Oak Mountain State Park does not offer. Hiking? The Park contains more than 100 miles of hiking trails at all ranges of difficulty. Watersports? Book a session and sign a waiver for the Aqua Park, a Wipeout-style water playground in the middle of one of the park’s refreshing lakes. Whether you and your family want to take a bike ride around the park grounds, spend a few hours fishing at one of the park’s seven lakes, or shoot some targets at the park’s archery range, Oak Mountain State Park’s reputation holds up, offering summer activities that will keep your family entertained and active. The Alabama Wildlife Center is another site of interest. Conveniently nestled in the middle of the park, the Wildlife Center allows visitors the opportunity to observe Alabama wildlife in rehabilitation. You can even take a hike afterwards on the Treetop Nature Trail and the Treetop Nature Trail Boardwalk, where you can watch six enclosures of some of Alabama’s birds of prey species. If you find that your family particularly enjoys the Wildlife Center, you can sign up to volunteer, gaining exclusive access to the animals and supporting this facility that has assisted and rehabilitated countless of our local animals. Oak Mountain State Park will not be a single-day, one-off excursion; it is a destination that visitors report going back to time and time again, engaging with multiple different activities and programs with each visit.

Photo Credit: News - Putter Up

Fore! Putter Up is not your average mini golf course. Interactive challenges customized with full lights and sound will keep you and your family on your toes until the final put. Located in Campus 124 , a complex off of Pelham Parkway that has been nicknamed Shelby County’s “entertainment district,” Putter Up neighbors restaurants like Half Shell Oyster House and breweries like The Beer Hog, making Putter Up the perfect place to start your afternoon and work up an appetite for the food and drinks that Campus 124 has to offer. You can even bring drinks from other Campus 124 restaurants into the course if they are contained in an approved cup! Go to Putter Up as a family or book a larger party – no matter the size of the group, you are guaranteed to make fun summer memories fit for the whole family.

Photo Credit: Splash Pad | Pelham, AL

Summer is the time to lavish in the sunny weather and the clear, blue skies. However, we also understand that the Alabama heat can sometimes get in the way of you fully enjoying the summer season. Shelby County’s splash pads are a perfect solution! Each fit with their own slides, sprinklers, and fountains, Shelby County’s splash pads in Chelsea and Pelham provide water activities that children of all ages can enjoy. The pad in Chelsea (Melrose Park) requires a small entry fee, while the pad in Pelham is free to the public, making both options affordable for a whole-family outing. Any of the splash pads will be the perfect places to pack a lunch, lay out a blanket, and let your kiddos run off all of their energy.

Picture Credit: @Valhalla Board Game Cafe on Facebook!

There’s nothing quite like Valhalla Board Game Cafe anywhere else in Shelby County. Decorated with Norse-inspired furnishings, this spot located in Campus 124 takes you back in time while you play your favorite tabletop games and enjoy the food, coffee, and brews. Valhalla is also dedicated to deliver multiple regular events from trivia tournaments to scheduled mahjong games. Have any Dungeons and Dragons fans in your family? Every Tuesday at 6, some of the best “Dungeon Masters” in Shelby County are available to host you and your group through an exciting campaign. Regardless of your family’s desired level of difficulty, Valhalla has the games that your family will love while hosting you in a unique atmosphere.