Aspen is a popular summer vacation destination with many opportunities for hiking, climbing, mountain biking, rafting and other outdoor activities. Since the Aspen Center for Physics (ACP) was founded in 1962, families have been integral to the participants’ experience. The ACP encourages physicists to bring their families to Aspen to enjoy together the many amenities that this small mountain town offers. Children are welcome on campus on weekends and in the evenings, especially during family picnics every Tuesday. A private lactation room is available in Stranahan Library and a Day Care Fund helps to offset child care expenses for participants with young children.

Tuesday evenings at 5 p.m. at the Center, rain or shine! Bring your food and your family. We provide the grills, watermelon, chips, plates and utensils, along with ditch toys and volleyball.

A supply of baby and child needs from bath tubs to bikes is available for your use at no charge. Please ask a staff member for directions and return all items to the Center before leaving. Donations are welcome!

Please see our Childcare Brochure for information on day care, nannies, babysitters, equipment, and more.

Please see our Camps and Activities Brochure for a list of camps.

Most local child-care facilities are well trained in communicating with non-English speaking children. Since day-care facilities change often, we recommend that you search online for current facilities if you encounter an issue with a link on our brochure.

When bringing an infant and/or a young toddler, participants often bring nannies, a family member, or the babysitter you might use at home. If you hope to find day care for an infant or a toddler, arrange it in advance, as this is the most difficult age for which to arrange care.

When you register, we ask you to indicate whether anyone in your family is interested in babysitting. You may contact the staff for this list. We email a weekly participant list that includes accompanying family members so families can contact one another to arrange babysitting and play dates.

Wednesday evenings, we sponsor the free Heinz R. Pagels Lecture Series on exciting research topics in physics. These talks are addressed to non-scientists and are very popular. They are most appropriate for high school kids and above.