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The state runs three free museums in Raleigh (the capital city): Art, Natural Science, and History. (Kids tend to prefer the Science one...love the big dinosaur skeletons and bug displays.) The Science and History ones are downtown across from the capital building, the Art one has it's own campus in west Raleigh near the State Fairgrounds.
The county runs a "world cultures" museum in downtown Raleigh called Exploris which is hands-on and kid-friendly. Has a Great IMAX theatre with it.
There's also the Museum of Life & Science in northern Durham, which is considered one of the most kid-friendly around...the Butterfly House is a big hit there.
UNC runs a Planetarium in Chape Hill that's also a big family attraction and worth a visit.
For Parks, there's two great State Parks in the area, Umstead is the big one, between Raleigh and Durham. Eno River State Park is great too, it's in west Durham. The state runs "recreational parks" at both Falls Lake and Jordan Lake, if watersports appeals to you.
There are tons of city and county parks in the area as well...too many to list here. Pullen Park in downtown Raleigh is notable though cuz it has train rides, a carousel, and paddle boats.
There is no zoo in the Triangle. The State Zoological Park is in Asheboro, about an hour west of Raleigh. It's out that way cuz it is HUGE...you can spend an entire day there, and still just barely see everything they got. It's well worth a trip for a great day-long activity and highly recommended.
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