Category Archives: Seattle area

Cheap Dates for Toddlers – Christmas “shows”

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December is filled with free entertainment opportunities for toddlers. Lots of shopping centers do shows to pull people in, hoping that you’ll spend money once you get there, but you don’t need to!

We live a block from Bellevue Square, so we’ll start with the show that I hear every night through my windows: Snowflake Lane at the Bellevue Collection happens at 7 pm every night till December 31 (yes, our toddler is memorizing all the songs already). If you arrive around 6:40, there will be music playing, and costumed performers wandering around greeting and interacting with the crowd. From 7 – 7:25 or so, there’s a big show: parade, drummers, lights, stilt walkers, dancers, and snow! (bubbles that look like snow). It’s a lot like a show at Disneyland in terms of the energy and how much is happening. So, if you like that vibe, you’ll like this show. The crowds aren’t bad at all* (they were on the first night, when the parade happened and all the viewers were crammed on the sidewalk… but every other night it’s been fine. This year they are closing Bellevue Way for the show, so the audience is out on the road with plenty of room to move around.) It’s outdoors, so be sure to bundle up!  [FYI: if you want the “snow” experience indoors, Pacific Place in Seattle has a snowfall every night at 6 pm]

At Redmond Town Center, there’s a carousel and a “train ride” and an “ice rink” that each have a small cost. Last year when Ben was 2, he was madly in love with trains, and was thrilled by the train ride through the parking lots there. http://redmondtowncenter.com/custom/winterwonderland.php

Look here for more ideas for Christmas activities on a budget: http://www.parentmap.com/article/holiday-magic-on-a-budget

Cheap Dates for Toddlers: Indoor Playgrounds

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[This series features “toddler date” ideas for something fun and simple to do with your toddler. My general rules are: The big picture ideas apply to any locale, but the specific examples will be for the Eastside of Seattle. Hopefully these programs exist in  your area!]

Indoor playgrounds (also called Open Gym, or Toddler Play Time, or… ) are held at almost all community centers, from September through May. They are open play sessions, where you can drop in anytime during the session, and you can leave whenever your child is tired. They’re a great opportunity for rambunctious, loud, energy-burning large-motor play on cold, wet days.

The community center staff sets out: balls, hula hoops, toy cars and other ride-upons, slides, and more big motor play options in the gym. The equipment ranges a little from site to site, as does the typical number of attendees, and the typical noise level. Our favorite site is Issaquah Community Center because they’re open Wednesdays and Fridays 7 – 11:30 am and I like having somewhere to go early in the day. But, on Jazzercise days, it gets really loud, as the Jazzercise class happens in another part of the gym right next to indoor play.

Attendance varies by site, but also varies a lot day by day, since these are all drop-in groups. I would say typical attendance on the Eastside is 5 – 10 families. Some weeks you’ll find yourself at a very busy playtime with 15 to twenty families running around, I’ve been to one that had only one other family, and one where my son and I were the only ones in attendance, but we had a fabulous time with the basketball, and he ran off lots of energy before we headed off to library story time.

Indoor playgrounds typically cost $2 – 4. If you’re there at the end of the session, the staff generally asks parents to help with clean up.(And sometimes the staff hasn’t set up at the beginning, and they just encourage you to pull out any toys your child wants to play with.)

For more info:

Cheap Dates with Toddlers: Library story times

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[I have a large collection of “toddler date” ideas. The big picture ideas apply to any locale, but the specific examples are from the Eastside of Seattle.]

Story times are fabulous for so many reasons.

I like them so much, I wrote an article about them for a PEPS newsletter, which you can find here: https://www.peps.org/ParentResources/by-topic/early-learning/why-story-time-rocks

If your child has a hard time sitting still for library times, pick one that is at a time of day when they’re calm (i.e. it isn’t close to their naptime), take your child somewhere before story time where she can run off lots of physical energy (The park, an indoor playground, and swimming all work well for my son), and feed her a snack on the way there so she’s as settled as can be. You can also try different libraries. My son loves the Kirkland Wednesday story time, but the librarian there does expect kids to mostly sit and generally be quiet and pay attention, which another parent told me doesn’t work for her child. She said they love the Redmond story time for toddlers where her child can move around more – the one time I went there I found it crowded and too loud. So, shop around to find the right match for you.

For those in King County, learn more about all the great resources our library system offers, including links to the story-time calendar here: Using the King County Library.

Cheap Dates with Toddlers: Rock Shops and Plant Nurseries

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[This series includes lots of “toddler date” ideas for something fun and simple to do with your toddler. The big picture ideas apply to any locale. Specific examples are from the Eastside of Seattle.]

When we were having a house built years ago, I went to look at slate for the patio, and discovered a great toddler activity. Kids LOVE rock yards! You can wander around amongst all the huge boulders, and piles of slate rock, and bins of river rocks, looking at all the colors and forms of rocks. We went many times over the years, and each time I would let them pick just a few bits of broken rock from the ground to take home as a souvenir. I have always had a fondness for Marenako’s in Preston, what my daughters called the “Rock Shop”. You can also check out Rock Mountain outside Redmond. They’re also a plant nursery and aquatic nursery supply.

Plant nurseries are also nice places to go walking and exploring. Many have koi ponds where you can watch the “fishies” swimming. You can pick a packet of seeds to take home as a souvenir of that trip, and then you have a rainy day project and the on-going interest of a growing plant to enjoy. Check out Wells Medina Nursery, just northeast of downtown Bellevue.

Find more fun rock-themed activities for kids.

Cheap Dates with Toddlers: Pumpkins!

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I have a whole collection of “toddler date” ideas for something fun, simple, and cheap to do with your toddler. While the specific examples will be Seattle-centric, big picture ideas apply to any locale.

East King County offers lots of great options for harvest-time fun like hay rides, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches. On a sunny day in fall, it’s a great chance to get your child outdoors to explore fun new environments.

Here’s a list of ideas….  http://www.parentmap.com/article/places-to-get-your-fill-of-harvest-fun

Remlinger Farms is $30+ for admission, so doesn’t fit my rules for a “cheap date” but they do put on a great show.

Once you bring a pumpkin home, here are some great no-carve ideas for how your toddler could decorate their pumpkin.

photo of decorated pumpkins