When I was traveling with my babies, all I required from an airport was a washroom stall wide enough for a stroller, and a comfy chair to nurse in (and nod off, hopefully without my infant sliding off my lap into my carry-on).

But once those cute little wiggly things start walking, the stroller toys and cloth books no longer cut it. Kids need to have fun, they need to run, and they will generally wreak havoc on anything in their path, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. With kids, airports can be your Nirvana or Nemesis.

If your flight has just been delayed, or you’re putting in time during a stopover, you’ll be one happy camper if you land in an airport that is set up for wee ones. Play spaces, kids’ museums, and interactive displays rock in “Tiny Tot Land.” All the better if there is a Starbucks within eyeshot.

If you have a choice where you take a pit stop the next time your flying with kids, consider my favourite kid-friendly airports:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax Stanfield International Airport has fantastic play areas plus rocking chairs right by the windows. So you don’t have to stare at the credit card floggers or the backlit posters of the holiday destination you WISH you were headed, when your'e actually on your way to visit your husband's high school buddies. And the Starbucks overlooks one play area, so order up your Venti and let the kids stay for as long as they like.

Calgary, Alberta

The awesome climbing apparatus and play area is geared for slightly older kids, but I have seen toddlers have plenty of fun with Mom or Dad on hand. And Spaceport is such a popular “all things outer space” spot that local school groups come here on field trips. There’s also a dinosaur-themed play and TV area, complete with the requisite video games.

Tampa, Florida

Tampa's airport has a bunch of kids’ play areas, a climbing wall and a display of miniature WWII airplanes, PLUS they offer birthday parties for local children, including scavenger hunts! I came “this close” to sneaking my kid into another kids’ birthday festivities, but how original would it be to show up with the “Someone went to Tampa and all they brought be was this t-shirt” gift?

Orlando, Florida

Isn’t it enough that this is your final stop when visiting Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World? But if you’re the meanest mom in the world (which, apparently, I am) and your family is, in fact, just stopping over for a few hours, this airport has a plethora of kid-themed diversions. I just couldn’t decide whether the play areas, video games, life-size sculptures of sleeping tourists and Disney characters were a source of pure delight, or rubbing salt in pint-sized wounds.

The Final Say

Even if your future airport isn’t one of our fave spots, more and more airports have become awesome destinations for kids. Some play areas may be difficult to locate, so it’s well worth the time to go online and look up your stopover airport before you go, to scope out not only the kids’ stuff, but places for your ever-so-necessary coffee fix.

Do you have a favourite airport in the WestJet universe? Share it in the comments!

Photo #1: kellyv

Photo #2: Colin Bowern