The best free things to do in Sarasota with kids are Siesta Beach, The Bay, the splash pad and the free trolley, with eight more below. Siesta Beach is the one to plan the week around. It has 950 free parking spaces, lifeguards from 10 to 5 every day, a playground behind the dune and quartz sand that stays cool in August. We travel slowly with kids, one thing a day and a long afternoon in the water, and a town whose free things are real outings rather than filler makes that easy. Every item was checked against the park, city or county’s own page on September 16, 2026, and where a small fee sits beside a free thing it says so. By the end you will have a week of days that cost nothing, and not one of the twelve carries a charge.
How We Chose These
Free means the thing itself costs the family nothing to do. We left out anything that is only free for one age group, anything that is really a free walk past a paid attraction, and the tips-based tours. Where a free place charges for one part of itself, or charges for parking, that fee is printed in the item rather than left for you to discover at the gate. All twelve carry no charge at all, and that is rarer than it sounds.
Hours and fees change. Every item links to the page the operator maintains, and the dates and prices here were read from those pages on September 16, 2026. If a line below disagrees with the official page on the day you go, the official page wins.
The 12 Best Free Things to Do in Sarasota with Kids
1. Siesta Beach
The county’s main beach on Siesta Key, with the quartz sand that stays cool underfoot, lifeguard stands, a playground, picnic pavilions, showers, restrooms and the largest free beach lot on this coast. The sand is the reason. It is almost pure quartz, so it does not burn small feet in August, and the water shelves gently. Lifeguards are on the stands from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, the playground is behind the pavilion, and the whole thing is free.
Where: 948 Beach Road, Siesta Key. When: Beach always open. Lifeguards 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The parking lot is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. year round. Cost: Free, including the 950-space parking lot, which fills by mid-morning in season. Check the official page before you go.
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2. The Bay Park
A 53-acre waterfront park on Sarasota Bay with a large playground, a small manmade beach, a kayak and paddleboard launch, walking trails, public art, and a calendar of free events, classes and movie nights. The playground is the biggest downtown, the little beach on the bay is flat and shallow for wading, and the park’s own schedule has free family events most weeks. It is the free morning in the city, and the Bay Runner trolley stops at it.
Where: The downtown bayfront, off Boulevard of the Arts. When: Daily, dawn to dusk. Free events are posted on the park’s calendar. Cost: Free. Every program, event and activity at The Bay is free. Check the official page before you go.
3. The splash pad at Bayfront Park
A city park on the marina with a splash pad, a playground, the Unconditional Surrender statue and a paved loop along the water. The splash pad is the free afternoon downtown. Park once, let them run through the fountains, then walk the marina loop to look at the boats and the giant statue of the sailor and the nurse, which every child asks about.
Where: Bayfront Park, beside Marina Jack on the downtown bayfront. When: Splash pad 9 a.m. to dusk. Park open daily. Cost: Free. Check the official page before you go.
4. The Bay Runner trolley
A free city trolley on route 78 that runs from downtown along the bayfront, over the bridge to St. Armands Circle and out to Lido Beach. It is a free ride to the beach with a view of the bay from the bridge, and it turns a parking problem into an outing. Stay downtown, ride it to Lido for the morning, ride it back for the splash pad.
Where: Downtown Sarasota to St. Armands Circle and Lido Beach. When: Sunday to Thursday 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cost: Free for everyone. Check the official page before you go.
5. The Siesta Islander trolley
The county’s free route 77 trolley, which runs up and down Siesta Key between Siesta Village, Siesta Beach and the south end of the key. When the Siesta Beach lot is full, this is how you get there. Park at the rental or at Turtle Beach, ride the trolley to the main beach, and ride it back for ice cream in the village.
Where: Siesta Key Village to Turtle Beach, with stops at Siesta Beach and South Village. When: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with shorter hours on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. Cost: Free for everyone. Check the official page before you go.
6. Free Mondays at The Ringling
On Mondays the Ringling’s Museum of Art, its Bayfront Gardens and the Glass Pavilion open free. The circus museum and the Ca’ d’Zan mansion stay paid. The free part is the part children like. The Bayfront Gardens run down to the water with the banyan trees, the courtyard of the art museum has the giant bronze David and room to run, and the rose garden is a good place to eat a sandwich. Skip the galleries if the children are small and go straight to the trees.
Where: 5401 Bay Shore Road, on the bayfront north of downtown. When: Mondays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost: Free on Mondays for the Museum of Art, Bayfront Gardens and Glass Pavilion. The circus museum and Ca’ d’Zan are paid every day. Check the official page before you go.
7. The Sarasota Farmers Market
A downtown street market on Saturday mornings, running since 1979, with produce, baked goods, food stalls, plants, crafts and music. Free to walk through, and the right start to a Saturday. Buy breakfast and the week’s fruit, listen to whoever is playing, and walk down to Bayfront Park afterwards for the splash pad.
Where: Downtown, along Lemon Avenue and State Street. When: Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., year round. Cost: Free to enter. Check the official page before you go.
8. The Siesta Key Drum Circle
A weekly drum circle that has formed on the sand every Sunday evening for years, with drummers, dancers and a crowd that stays for the sunset. It costs nothing, nobody is in charge, and children are welcome to dance in the middle of it. Arrive an hour before sunset with a chair and the sand toys, and the sunset over the Gulf is the finale.
Where: Siesta Beach, just south of the main pavilion, between lifeguard stands three and four. When: Every Sunday, all year, starting about an hour before sunset. Cost: Free. Check the official page before you go.
9. Ken Thompson Park
A city park on the bay with a mangrove boardwalk, a nautical-themed playground, a free fishing pier, a boat ramp and free parking. The boardwalk through the mangroves is a crab hunt, the playground is themed like a ship, and the fishing pier is free to walk out on. The Bay Runner trolley passes close by.
Where: City Island, off the causeway to Lido Key. When: Daily, dawn to dusk. Cost: Free, including parking. Check the official page before you go.
10. Turtle Beach Park
The county beach park at the quiet end of the key, with darker shell-and-sand beach, a playground, a volleyball court, picnic shelters, grills, showers, restrooms and a free lot that is easier to get into than the main beach. This is where the shark teeth wash up. The sand is darker and the water is deeper than Siesta Beach, so it is a hunting beach rather than a wading one, and the playground and the grills make it a full afternoon. When the main lot is full, come here.
Where: 8918 Midnight Pass Road, the south end of Siesta Key. When: Daily, dawn to dusk. Cost: Free, including parking. Check the official page before you go.
11. The Celery Fields
A county stormwater park with a big grass hill, boardwalks with observation decks over the wetlands, and the Sarasota Audubon nature center, on the Great Florida Birding Trail. The hill is the thing. It is the tallest ground for miles, children run up it and roll down it, and from the top the whole wetland is laid out with the birds in it. The boardwalks are flat and stroller-friendly and there are alligators to spot from a safe height.
Where: 6800 Palmer Boulevard, east of the interstate. When: Daily, dawn to dusk. Guided bird walks are posted on the county calendar. Cost: Free. Check the official page before you go.
12. South Lido Park and its free grills
A county park at the tip of Lido Key with the Gulf beach on one side and the calm lagoon of Big Pass and the bay on the other, with free public barbecues, picnic tables and shade. Two beaches in one park. The Gulf side has the waves and the sunset, the lagoon side has flat water for small children and the kayaks going by, and the free grills mean dinner on the sand without a restaurant. The tide runs hard through the pass, so keep small children on the lagoon side away from the inlet.
Where: The south tip of Lido Key, at the end of Benjamin Franklin Drive. When: Daily, dawn to dusk. Cost: Free, including the grills. Check the official page before you go.
When You Are Ready to Spend
A free week still needs a bed and usually one paid outing. The paid outing worth the money here is a dolphin cruise on the bay, and it books through GetYourGuide. For lodging, Sarasota splits between Siesta Key, where the free beach and the drum circle are, and downtown on the bayfront, where The Bay Park, the splash pad and the farmers market are, and the free trolleys connect the two to Lido. Our Sarasota activities guide covers the paid side of the town, and the Sarasota beaches guide covers every public beach access.
Sarasota is one of the towns in our ranking of the best beach towns in Florida for families, which covers what a week here costs against the rest of the state.
FAQs About Free Things to Do in Sarasota with Kids
Is Sarasota expensive for a family?
The paid attractions are, because the aquarium, the jungle gardens and the botanical garden are all separate tickets and Siesta Key lodging runs above the state median in August. The town itself is not. The beaches are free with free lots, two trolleys are free, the downtown park and its splash pad are free, and the art museum is free on Mondays. Every one of the twelve things on this list carries no charge at all.
Is parking free at Siesta Beach?
Yes. The main Siesta Beach lot has 950 free spaces, open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and it fills by mid-morning in season, so arrive early or take the free Siesta Islander trolley from the village. Turtle Beach at the south end of the key has a free lot that is easier to find a space in. Lido Beach’s main pavilion lot is free too, with metered street spaces beside it.
Is the Ringling free?
The Museum of Art, the Bayfront Gardens and the Glass Pavilion are free on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The circus museum and Ca’ d’Zan, the Ringling mansion, are paid every day. For a family the free Monday is the gardens and the courtyard, which are the parts small children like anyway.
When is the Siesta Key drum circle?
Every Sunday, all year, starting about an hour before sunset on Siesta Beach, just south of the main pavilion between lifeguard stands three and four. It is free, it is loud, and children are welcome to dance. Bring a chair and stay for the sunset.