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Dallas ISD opened on August 11, with Fort Worth ISD starting a day earlier, and most of the Metroplex went back to class somewhere in that same stretch of mid-August. Your kids have been at it for a month now. In plenty of DFW houses, mornings involve a kid hitting snooze four times, and Sunday nights come with a question about why school can't run more like camp.
This guide covers weekday habits that help kids adjust to a school routine, along with four places around Dallas-Fort Worth where weekends can bring back some of what they loved about summer. A GetOut membership for Texas DFW covers all four.
Why the Switch From Camp to Class Is Hard on Kids
Sleep goes first. Texas summer evenings stay light until close to 9 p.m., and at camp a lot of kids slid into 10:30 bedtimes that nobody fought. That math breaks down once the bus shows up at 7:15. Kids ages 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep a night according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and teens need 8 to 10, with the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsing both ranges.
Kids also move less once school starts. Most of camp happens on foot or in a pool. After six-plus hours in a classroom chair, the leftover energy shows up at home around 4 p.m. as a meltdown over a snack or a spelling list.
Friend groups shuffle, too. Camp buddies head back to their own schools, and your kid walks into a new classroom where they have to work out who to sit with at lunch.
By Friday you're worn down from a full work week yourself, and planning an outing feels like one more chore, so a lot of weekends end up on the couch with a tablet.
Weekday Habits That Help Kids Settle Into a School Routine
A big jump in bedtime is hard on kids. Move it earlier by 15 minutes every few nights until your child reaches the sleep range for their age.
Keep wake-up time the same on weekends, too. HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, suggests one waking time for weekdays and weekends, since a 10 a.m. sleep-in on Saturday makes Monday's alarm that much harder. The AAP also recommends turning off screens at least an hour before bed and keeping them out of kids' bedrooms at night.
When your kids get home from school, hand them a snack and give them some free time before anyone mentions homework, since twenty minutes of doing nothing in particular heads off a lot of kitchen-table arguments. For weekday outings that fit around a school schedule, see our post on budget-friendly after-school routines for DFW parents.
On Sunday evening, sit down together for ten minutes and look at the week ahead. Talk through tests, late practices, early-release days and picture day so nobody gets surprised on a Wednesday.
4 Weekend Activities for Kids in DFW That Bring Back the Best Parts of Camp
Ask your kids what they miss about camp and you'll hear specifics, like the zipline or the kid from the next cabin over. We picked these four DFW spots to match those memories, and each one is included with GetOut. None of them showed up in our summer break guide to Dallas, so families who worked through that list will find something new here.
1. Go Ape at River Legacy Park (Arlington): Treetops and Ziplines
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Go Ape is the spot for the kid who came home from camp still talking about the ropes course, and after five days at a desk, a morning in the trees lets them use their whole body and push through a little fear on a high bridge. The course winds through a wooded part of River Legacy Park East in Arlington, and some of its ziplines run out over the Trinity River.
Go Ape splits its Aerial Adventure Course into two levels, so siblings of different ages can both climb. On Level 1, the easier one, kids work through 30 obstacles and a 130-foot zipline on platforms up to 20 feet high. The harder Level 2 goes up to 40 feet. It packs in 65 obstacles, and its longest zipline stretches 600 feet. Plan on up to three hours if you do the whole thing. Go Ape runs a second Texas course in Sugar Land outside Houston, so if you have cousins down there, send them a link to GetOut's Houston membership for their own weekends.
Before you go: Go Ape is at 1601 NE Green Oaks Blvd. in Arlington. The height minimum is 3 feet 3 inches for Level 1 and 4 feet 7 inches for Level 2. Anyone 15 and under needs an adult watching from the course or the ground, and kids 5 and under need one participating adult for every two children. If you're taking kids 9 and younger on Level 2, Go Ape recommends that the adult climb with them. Everybody has to wear closed-toe shoes and gloves, which you can bring from home or buy on site. Weekend slots fill up, so book a morning time ahead. Go Ape says spring and fall have the most comfortable weather on the course, and that puts late September and October right in the window.
2. The Blok Climbing Co. (Fort Worth): Practice at Getting Unstuck
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Climbers call each route on a bouldering wall a "problem." You study it, try it, fall onto the mat, change your grip and go again. Kids run through that same loop when a math worksheet gets hard, and it makes for an easy conversation on the drive home.
The Blok is a family-owned bouldering gym on West Vickery Boulevard in Fort Worth, run by the Brooks family, and the staff change the routes every week. It has 3,750 square feet of wall set at angles from gentle slabs to steep overhangs, so a first-timer and a kid who climbed all summer can share the gym.
Bouldering walls stay short enough that nobody needs a rope, and thick pads cover the floor underneath. Between climbs, kids can grab a paddle at the ping pong table or sit down to a game of chess in the lounge.
Before you go: You'll find The Blok at 5252 W. Vickery Blvd. in Fort Worth, and walk-ins can come any day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sign the waiver online before you leave the house so you're not filling out forms at the front desk. If nobody in your family has climbed before, look at the one-hour Bouldering 101 class, which covers basic technique and how to fall safely. On the ride home, ask your kids how many tries their hardest climb took.
3. Texas Tabletop Society (Frisco): A Friday Night at the Game Table
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Texas Tabletop Society in Frisco keeps more than 1,000 board games on its shelves, from quick card games a six-year-old can pick up to long strategy games for teens. Staff will pick out a game for your group and teach you the rules, which means nobody has to read a rulebook out loud after a long week.
A board game asks for a lot of what teachers are working on in class right now: waiting your turn, reading directions closely, doing math in your head and losing a round without a meltdown. Kids fresh out of camp will recognize the setup, since Texas Tabletop Society runs its own youth programs, including a summer camp and sessions for homeschoolers.
Before you go: It's at 8050 Preston Road, Suite 204, on the second floor above the Sandwich Spot, and you take the elevator up from the main lobby. Walk-ins are welcome Monday through Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m., Friday from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Saturday from 3 p.m. to midnight, with Sundays saved for members. The last session starts two hours before closing. With little kids, showing up right at 3 on Saturday works best. The venue lets kids under 13 play free with a parent or guardian, so check the GetOut app to see how redeeming works for your group. Reserve a table ahead on busy weekend nights.
4. Sharkarosa Zoo (Pilot Point): Animals Up Close on a Sunday Morning
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Sharkarosa Zoo sits on a 126-acre ranch in Pilot Point, an hour's drive north of Dallas. It's a nonprofit licensed and regulated by the USDA, and on a typical day more than 180 animals live there.
You walk the grounds on your own, with signs and staff along the way. Every 30 minutes someone from the staff gives a talk somewhere on the property, and kids can feed and pet the animals in the walk-through petting zoo. There are playgrounds and covered picnic tables for when everybody needs a break.
If your child's science class is covering habitats or food chains this fall, bring it up in the car on the way there. Let them point out what they recognize once you arrive. Our guide to educational attractions for kids in DFW has more places that tie into what they're learning at school.
Before you go: The address is 11670 Massey Road in Pilot Point. Sharkarosa opens to the public Fridays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. all year, as long as the weather cooperates, and you don't need a reservation on those days. The zoo suggests getting there by 2 p.m. if you want to see everything. Pack sunscreen and bug spray, and wear closed-toe shoes. Kids under 13 have to stay with an adult the whole time. Parking costs $5, and the ranch doesn't allow bubble gum or balloons. When weather forces an early closure, Sharkarosa posts it on its Facebook page.
A Five-Weekend Plan for September and October
Weekend
Where to Go
Why It Fits That Weekend
Sept. 12-13
Go Ape at River Legacy Park
Kids have pent-up energy after a full week of sitting
Sept. 19-20
Texas Tabletop Society, Saturday at 3 p.m.
A quiet afternoon after the first round of quizzes
Sept. 26-27
The Blok Climbing Co.
Homework is picking up, and climbing gives kids practice with hard things
Oct. 2-4
Sharkarosa Zoo, Friday or Sunday morning
North Texas weather starts to cool off
Oct. 8-9 (fall break)
A new pick from the GetOut app
Dallas ISD and Fort Worth ISD both have days off, which leaves time for a longer drive
For fall break, open the app or scroll through our list of 25 kid-friendly things to do in Dallas-Fort Worth, and choose a venue your family hasn't been to yet. One farther from home makes sense since you'll have the extra days. If the long weekend takes you up I-35 to see family in Oklahoma, GetOut has an Oklahoma membership with its own list of venues.
How a GetOut Membership Helps During the School Year
Friday night is when weekend plans fall apart for a lot of families, because nobody wants to look up ticket prices and drive times after a long week. A GetOut membership for Texas DFW costs $74.95 per person for the year and includes 66+ venues around the Metroplex, with zoos, climbing gyms, water parks and pro sports games all on the list. You pick a place in the GetOut app and redeem your visit before you leave the house. For comparison, Go Ape charges $49.95 for a youth ticket to its Aerial Adventure Course on its own website, and a kid's ticket at Sharkarosa costs $12, which adds up to $61.95 for two outings next to GetOut's $74.95 for the year.
Every person in the family needs their own membership. The app lists how often you can visit each venue, and all four places in this guide come with one visit a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take kids to adjust to a school schedule after summer? That changes from kid to kid. You can help them settle faster by moving bedtime back in small steps and keeping wake-up time the same on weekends.
What are good weekend activities for kids in Dallas-Fort Worth during the school year? For kids with energy to burn, try Go Ape in Arlington or The Blok Climbing Co. in Fort Worth. Texas Tabletop Society in Frisco and Sharkarosa Zoo in Pilot Point work well on slower weekends, and a GetOut membership for Texas DFW includes all four.
Is Go Ape in Arlington OK for younger kids? Yes. Level 1 of the Aerial Adventure Course starts at a height of 3 feet 3 inches. Kids 5 and under need one participating adult for every two children, and everyone 15 and under needs an adult watching.
Where can we do screen-free activities with kids in Frisco? Try Texas Tabletop Society on Preston Road. It has over 1,000 board games, and the staff will teach your family how to play any of them.
Is Sharkarosa Zoo open during the school year? It's open Fridays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. all year, weather permitting.
Does GetOut have memberships in other Texas cities? Yes. Families in Central Texas can look at GetOut's Austin membership, and San Antonio has its own GetOut membership with venues around that city.
Is a GetOut membership worth it after summer is over? For families who like getting out on weekends, yes. With 66+ DFW venues on one membership, your family can try somewhere new most weekends between now and spring break.
Get Your GetOut Membership for Texas DFW
Pick one weekend from the plan above and put it on the family calendar tonight. You can sign up for GetOut's Texas DFW membership here and choose your first stop in the app.