By Kiran Ross and Kate McKinney of KCKidsFun.com

August is already here. Soon, families all around the Kansas City metro will be getting the kids ready to head back to school. Visitors from out-of-town might be lucky enough to have a reprieve until just after Labor Day. In any event, summer is all-too-quickly fading.

Just to get everyone in the back-to-school mood, we thought we'd share some of Kansas City's most fun AND educational attractions for families. After a summer full of Royals baseball, Worlds of Fun and other traditional summer fare, you just might want to put your thinking caps on and experience some of KC's past with the kids.

If you find yourself in Kansas City, Mo., you won't want to miss the Arabia Steamboat Museum in the City Market. A 19th century paddlewheel steamboat, the Arabia sunk in the Missouri River in 1856 and was excavated over a hundred years later with most of its cargo intact. It's a truly incredible story. Incredible in a much more sobering way is the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. A world-class museum honoring a war that changed the world sits unassumingly in the middle of a beautiful park in Kansas City. It shouldn't be missed.

Other historic destinations in Kansas City, Mo.,include the John Wornall House Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the KC Rail Experience at Union Station. You may also want to visit the National Archives at Kansas City, one of only 14 facilities nationwide featuring historical records from the 1820s through the 1990s.

History north of the river takes on a decidedly rural flavor. The Jesse James Farm and Museum in Kearney, Mo., was the home of the infamous Jesse and Frank James.

The museum displays many James family artifacts such as guns, legal documents, Jesse James's coffin lid and the boots he wore when he was killed. The farm itself has been restored and contains many original furnishings.

Down the road a bit south from Kearney is the Shoal Creek Living History Museum. Located in Kansas City North's Hodge Park, the museum contains a village of more the 20 authentic 19th century buildings.

Further south yet, in suburban Johnson County, Kan., more 19th and early 20th century historic sites await. The Lanesfield School in Gardner and the Oxford Schoolhouse in Leawood will give children a taste of one-room schoolhouses from more than 100 years ago.

The Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway, Shawnee Town in Shawnee and the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm in Olathe all treat visitors to a peek at life in a simpler time. For more recent history, check out the Johnson County Museum of History and its 1950's All-Electric House in Shawnee – a remarkable blast from the past!

If you head east, you shouldn't miss the Harry S Truman Library & Museum (as well as the Truman Home) in Independence, Mo., Nearby, also in Independence, is the National Frontier Trails Museum where your family can learn what it was like for the families who headed west before us with all of their children and belongings in wagons on dirt trails.

Visitors can also walk along the ruts still carved into the Earth by the thousands of wagon wheels that passed over it in the westward movement and enjoy a covered wagon ride.

So, get your kids back into school-mode by checking out one of the many historic sites around Kansas City.

Pick a spot that fits your family – for example, smaller kids might really enjoy the old schoolhouses; older kids might get a kick out of the Steamboat Arabia and the KC Rail Experience; teens will probably appreciate the World War I Museum and the Jesse James Farm. Mom and Dad? You'll enjoy it all!

Map It! Kids Guide Historical Attractions

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 About the Authors

Kiran Ross and Kate McKinney are two Kansas City metro-based businesswomen and mothers. Kate and Kiran operate KCKidsFun.com, an online resource that assists readers in finding activities and classes for children as well as family-friendly events in the Kansas City area.