While rain during your free time can be a bummer, there are a nice variety of indoor experiences to explore in Southern PA, whether you’re looking for education, movement, or just plain fun.

Visit the Turkey Hill Experience

This is a great experience for a rainy day.  There are three different ticket types to choose from – the museum alone, the museum plus the ice cream taste lab and the museum plus the taste lab and the ice tea experience.  We went for the museum and ice cream, and did the lab first. They give you a LOT of ice cream!  It took about 45 minutes – everyone washes their hands (it really is like a lab) and takes a seat, and you hear a bit of info about Turkey Hill.  Then you can go ahead and start adding your flavors!  They guide you with how many drops of concentrated flavoring to put in, and of course, you can taste test spoonfuls of your ice cream with the different flavors, which was my personal favorite part.  There are toppings all around the walls to add in as the next step.  The final step is adding in syrups – they show you how you can create a ripple effect with the way you stir them in, and again there are numerous flavors to choose from or combine.

So after eating more ice cream than was good for us, we set off to explore the museum.  We spent about an hour or so, and probably could have stayed even longer had we not had a sleepy three-year-old with us.  There are lots of interactive things to do, including slides, touchscreen activities, short videos, mechanical cow milking and you can even record your own turkey hill commercial for your own invented flavor.  Plus, free samples galore! Definitely a fun place and a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Visit a Historic Furnace

There are several historic furnaces in PA, but we visited the Cornwall Furnace, built in 1742 by Peter Grubb, and operated continuously until 1883.  It is very well preserved and we were able to take a tour with a wonderful guide who was excellent with our kids, letting them touch and feel pieces of iron ore, slag and limestone, which they were then able to identify throughout the rest of the tour.  It was definitely interesting to consider how much work went into an operation like that, and also how many raw materials had to be used in production.

The cost was around $30 for the six of us, and we stayed for about an hour and half. If you like educational historic experiences, this is definitely a good one.

Go Shopping at a Mall, Cabela’s, or Bass Pro

Going to a mall can be another way to spend time on a rainy day, but we mention these hunting/fishing stores specifically because they tend to have really impressive displays that are interesting to kids. The Bass Pro Shop of Harrisburg, PA is the one pictured here – it is HUGE and filled with an array of taxidermy fit for a first-class nature center.  Plus, a gigantic indoor fish tank and water fall.  Impressive!  We wandered around there for a good hour.

Visit a Philadelphia Museum

this post explores some of our favorite things to do in Philadelphia, including several museums. The Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell Museum are all great choices on a rainy day.

Tour the Capitol Building in Harrisburg

West of Philadelphia, you’ll find the capital city of Harrisburg. The PA Capital is one of the most impressive capital buildings in the country, both on the inside and outside. The architecture is stunning and even young children will enjoy it. You can walk around on your own, but if you join a tour it’s only about 30 minutes, so not too long for little ones.