35 Free and Cheap Things to Do With Kids in Seattle

Check out these 35 free and cheap family-friendly activities in Seattle:

1. Ride a bike on the Burke-Gilman Trail.

2. Run through the 9,000-gallon International Fountain.

3. Watch fish and boats navigate through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.

4. Cower under giant traffic cones and play hide-and-seek among the art at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

5. Ride the West Seattle Water Taxi to West Seattle.

6. Sample fruit and meet the Doughnut Robot at the Pike Place Market.

7. Pick the Fremont Troll’s nose and take a picture with Lenin in the Fremont neighborhood.

8. Check out the cheese-making process at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.

9. Visit a kid-friendly museum art on a free day.

10. Ride the Seattle Monorail between Seattle Center and downtown Seattle.

11. Buy a cheap cup of Ivar’s Clam Chowder and stroll along the waterfront piers.

12. Listen to buskers at a neighborhood farmer’s market.

13. Eat fish and chips, then people-watch along the seawall at West Seattle’s Alki Beach Park.

14. Ride the Seattle-Bainbridge route of Washington State Ferries for awesome views.

15. Sit in the $7 Center Field Bleachers at a Mariners game.

16. Go beachcombing for crabs and shells at the 534-acre Discovery Park.

17. Enjoy a storytime, pick out a comic book and consider the intestinally (!) colored Red Room at Seattle Public Library’s Central Library.

18. Fly that cool kite at Gas Works Park.

19. Chew a pack of gum and add your Hubba Bubba to the nasty-but-cool gum wall.

20. Wave at passing Amtrak trains and ride down a salmon slide at Carkeek Park.

21. Play on the giant tree and go camping at REI Flagship Store.

22. Check out vintage boats at the Center for Wooden Boats.

23. Pick up one piece of free fruit for kids (ages 12 and under) at a neighborhood PCC.

24. Take your toddlers to one of the Environmental Learning Centers.

25. Take your teen to a retro flick in at Fremont Outdoor Movies.

26. Go for a kid-friendly urban hike.

27. Skip along to ska and boogie to Brazilian jazz at the free Out to Lunch Concerts.

28. Travel ’round the world via a Festal! Event in the Center House.

29. Splash in a community wading pool and meet the locals.

30. Get a scoop of premium ice cream at Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream.

31. Rent a rowboat from the University of Washington’s Waterfront Actvities Center.

32. Check out a $2 movie at Seattle’s Crest Cinema Centre.

33. Grey day got you down? Visit the cacti in the Volunteer Park Conservatory.

34. Watch (and perhaps catch) a salmon at Pike Place Fish.

35. Buy Japanese strawberry-cream milk candy at Uwajimaya.

Find more great things to do with kids in Seattle in my book, Northwest Kid Trips: Portland, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver (and if you decide to order it, please use my link! Thanks!).

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