Seattle Fun Activities for Toddlers

Seattle is hip, even for Tiny Travelers

Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks is a vibrant city surrounded by water. One of the West Coast's jewels, it's a great place that you will want to return to again and again. For more information on Seattle, visit the Convention and Visitor's Bureau website, www.seeseattle.org.

Children's Museum
305 Harrison Street (at Seattle Center)
Seattle, WA 98109
206/441-1768
Bring the little ones here for hands-on adventure. Kids can shop in the child-size Neighborhood, much like their own, or discover other cultures in the Global Village and Time Trek. The Artists' Studio is a wonderful drop-in workshop staffed with a professional artist. In the Technology Studio your kids can record a song, or, through virtual reality, become part of a video game. Discovery Bay is the area specially designed for toddlers. As veteran of many children's museums around the country, I choose this as my favorite!

Gas Works Park
2101 North Northlake Way
Seattle, WA 98103
206/684-4075
Located across Lake Union from downtown, this green area was built around the gas-processing plant which once supplied Seattle's power. The park provides picnic areas, kite flying and great views, and some of the machinery in the plant has been cleaned up and painted, providing great climbing adventures for the little ones.

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks
3015 NW 54th Street
Seattle, WA 98107
206/783-7059
Located in the neighborhood of Ballard (and commonly referred to as the Ballard Locks), this is a kid-friendly place for interesting lessons in engineering and biology. Watch the movement of small boats and large barges as they make their way from Lake Washington, Lake Union, Salmon Bay and Portage Bay to Puget Sound through a series of locks in which water levels are adjusted to allow passage of the vessels. On busy days, there's an impressive parade of sailboats, motorboats, tugs, barges and yachts waiting to go through.

This complex is also home to the region's largest fish ladder, built to allow salmon to pass between the fresh and salt water. Visitors can view the fish through glass panels and watch as they adjust to the varying salt level at each step, and learn about the various stages in the reproduction of this important feature of Seattle's ecosystem. After growing in the waters of Lake Washington and rivers and streams near Seattle, the salmon seek salty waters in which to mature before returning to the rivers to spawn. You may even see fish jumping out of the water as they struggle upstream! Ballard Locks offers an entertaining and unique Pacific Northwest experience, is open daily from 7am to 9pm, and is free to visitors.

Seattle Aquarium
1483 Alaskan Way
Pier 59, Waterfront Park
Seattle, WA 98101
206/386-4300
Learn about the world beneath Puget Sound and meet sea otters, harbor seals and 400 other species of marine life. You'll feel as if you are underwater as you walk through "The Dome" and you can touch sea creatures in the Discovery Lab. The only aquarium-based salmon ladder demonstrates the life cycle of Pacific salmon, the region's most famous fish.

Seattle Center & Monorail
Terminals located at the 3rd Floor of Westlake Center, and across from the Space Needle
Seattle, WA 98109
206/905-2620, call 206/684-7200 for recorded events
Hop aboard for a short but exciting ride on this unique mode of transportation to the wonderful Seattle Center. Linking the downtown area (shops and hotels) to the site of the 1962 World's Fair in 90 seconds, the monorail runs on a schedule, every 15 minutes in each direction. The Seattle Center is a 74-acre cultural center that is home to many of the city's best-known landmarks and attractions. The Space Needle, Seattle's most recognizable structure is here, along with the Children's Museum, the Pacific Science Center, the Experience Music Project, the Opera House and the International Fountain amongst other cultural institutions and sports arenas. Fun Forest Amusement Park has a variety of rides for the whole family including a very charming kiddy ride area with mini bumper cars and motorcycles.

Woodland Park Zoo
601 North 59th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
206/684-4800
Come face-to-face with Komodo Dragons and over 300 other animal species at this award-winning zoo. Located in a 92-acre botanical garden, you can explore The Northern Trail, the Tropical Rain Forest, the Elephant Forest, the African Savanna and the Trail of Vines to discover indigenous animals and plants throughout the world.