10 Things To Do In Houston With A Group Of Teenagers

Finding fun things to do in Houston with teens can be a simple task if you follow these key tips and visit some of the outstanding places we will be profiling on our blog this summer.

Parents tend to favor visiting places that cities advertise heavily in the media, to attract tourist to spend money. In most cases, these aren't the places where local teens or residents go when they want to have fun.

Have a look at some of the things that we know most kids, including yours, spend a lot of their free time doing.

10 Things Teens Do In Their Free Time

Sports
Video games
Eating
Listening to music
Doodling
Water sports
Hang out with older kids
Skating
Playing with a pet
Outdoor activities

There are plenty of things on that short list to give you some ideas on what kind of activities you should schedule for your group on your next vacation or trip. When you make the extra effort to include fun places in your trip planning, where they can participate in their favorite activities, you'll have a teen who will always look forward to family trips.

10 Fun Places In Houston Teens Go To Hang Out

Houston area teens are much like youth in other parts of the country. They all love to do the same kind of fun stuff in their free time. For instance teenage girls in Houston spend a lot of time on their cell phones. So if you plan to take a 15-year old to a museum, the opera or any place where they have to shut their phone off, it better be a short visit.

You want to chose cell phone friendly activities, places where a teen or tween can text and talk while they are having fun. According to a recent Pew Internet survey, "

"kids 12-13 send and receive an average of 20 texts a day, while high school-age teens typically send and receive 60 text messages a day. Older girls are the most active texters, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending and receiving 100 text messages a day"

That's why our list includes plenty of places in Houston where you can take your kids, that let's them stay connected to their pals.

10 Places Teens In Houston Go To Have Fun

Fonde Recreation Center- place to play top-notch basketball and maybe even see a few current or former Houston Rocket players.

Jamail Skate Park- cool place for kids to work on their kickflips and slides.

Buffalo Bayou Hike and Bike Trail- If you don't care to hike, you can easily find bike rentals in Houston.

Chucky Cheese- Just because they have been there before, don't cross this place off the list without trying the Houston, Texas version of the restaurant.

Art Car Museum- Teens in Houston not only like watching these new art forms, they make their own art cars and art bikes to ride in the annual Art Car Parade.

Herman Park Splash Pad- This water park is designed with tweens and youngest community members in mind, but Houston has lots of other water parks where local teens love go to cool off.

University Of Houston- Stop in and let your teen eat at one of the cool places on campus, stroll around to give them a sense of the awesomeness of a college campus.

Root Park- Your kid can play a game of basketball at home, but taking them to play basketball in front of Toyota Center, home of the Rockets is way cooler.

Rock Gym- If you have an athlete in the family or group, here's a gym where they can safely push their body to and all time high.

ABNC- If your family craves the outdoors? They'll enjoy the canoeing, and boat rides at the Armand Bayou Nature Center.

Houston Library- We all can use a little quiet time between adrenaline rushes, if not let them put up some new high scores, on the Wii available at most Houston public library branches.

Galleria (Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Ave)-Teens flock to malls on weekends, but not many places have a mall like this. There's an ice skating rink at the bottom level, and plenty of stores with designer brands to browse for clothing sales.

Horseback riding- You can find riding stables all over Houston where your kids can learn about horses and see first hand, how much time and effort it takes to care for that pony they have always dreamed of owning.

The Three C's

Y-pulse recently published a survey commissioned by Seventeen magazine on "Teen Spending and the Recession".

It revealed that kids are saving up for the "three Cs: clothes (57%), college (54%) and a car (38%)"

Our list touches some or all of those areas.

If you want to find out if your teens will enjoy what you have planned for them, on your list of fun things to do in Houston, ask your kids a few questions about what they plan to do when school lets out for the summer.

You'll hear them say lots of stuff that you may have not even thought about. Feel free to add some or all of it to the collection of fun things from our "to do list" ASAP.

Related links
Things To Do with a group

Places To Visit