A Miami institution since 1950, the annual Dade County Fair lasts for 18 days in March and April. Open 8am-4pm Sat, Sun. Watch thoroughbreds, rodeo horses and quarter horses perform for free in weekend shows at Tropical Park, about five miles from Downtown Miami. Bus C, G, H, K, W. Open 24 hours daily. Playgrounds bookend either end of the park, a cement wall skirts the sand and benches pepper the area.
Older kids can join volleyball games played on the beach.
Check newspapers for music and dance performances or firework displays. The Miami Beach branch of Miami's extensive library system. Although the building is located on a rather rundown stretch of Collins Avenue, the children's room is spacious and features puzzles, boardgames, a menagerie of stuffed animals and videos and books for under-13s. Bus G, K. Open 11am-8pm Sun. During the week this multipurpose facility acts as an after-school centre for local kids but Sunday is family day for tourists as well as natives.