The Children's Carnival is catered to children ages 2 -12 but can be enjoyed by children of all ages. Throughout the day, there will be a variety of activities, shows and events. And of course there will be plenty for the children to eat and drink, including hamburgers, hotdogs, soft drinks, popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones and ice cream. Best of all, there are no additional tickets or charges, everything in the Children's Carnival is included with the park admission.

Brand new for 1996 are the Space Games. Eighteen space related games will present different levels of challenge and were designed and built by KSC employees. Small children will be able to hunt for rocks on the moon, spend a few moments with the Banana River Lagoon, go fishing and launch/land the Space Shuttle for a variety of prizes. Older children will enjoy sending spacecrafts to other planets, hurling comets at distant planets, and chasing woodpeckers off of the Space Shuttle external tank. Other games will provide challenges for assembling Space Shuttle and Space Station elements, landing spacecraft on the moon and counting down through launch. The games are open all day and there will be prizes for all.

When not playing the games, children will have the opportunity to ride a variety of kiddy style rides including a train, moonwalk, swing ride, elephant ride and ponies. After that, they can head on over to the petting zoo where an assortment of animals will be available for petting and feeding(arrive early). For those who need a break in the shade, a brand new modern style playground is located adjacent to the Childrens Carnival.

At different times throughout the day, a wide variety of acts will visit the carnival area including the Spaceman, magic acts and balloon sculptors. Face painting will be available at select times. Also, when not playing in their band on stage, look for members of the all-astronaut band "Max Q" or their fellow astronauts to talk with the children and answer space questions.

Throughout the day, we are encouraging all children to submit a drawing for the rocket launches. Over 20 children will be selected to construct, decorate and launch a model rocket which they will get to keep. The KSC Rocketry club will be putting on demonstrations such as a static display of their Epcot Rocket/Launch pad and live firings of specialty rockets including an underwater launch.

KSC Picnic