Planning a trip to Seattle with kids?

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Call me biased, but Seattle is one of the most family-friendly cities I can imagine.  There are many places for kids to play outdoors, lots of indoor spaces for rainy days and cool cafes and ice cream shops that appeal to families of all ages so if you are planning a trip to Seattle with kids there are so many things you’re really going to love!

glasswing shop in Seattle has bespoke and beautiful things to buy

LOCAL RESOURCES TO HELP PLAN YOUR SEATTLE TRIP

If you are planning a trip to Seattle I have a list of our Seattle favorites that I try to update often and I know about a few local resources too.  Parentmap, Seattle’s Child and Tiny Beans Seattle are great online publications that can tell you all about events and local happenings.  These are awesome for getting to know the pulse of what is going on with families in Seattle and will let you know if there is an awesome can’t-miss family festival or kid-friendly concert happening while you are here.

For free and frugal family events, Thrifty Northwest Mom publishes an events list on Thursdays that can help you find inexpensive family activities for the weekend.

I also appreciate fellow local family travel bloggers like Kate Spiller (from Wild Tales Of),  Kimberly Tate (from Stuffed Suitcase), Lavonne Long (from Long Wait for Isabella) and Marcie (Marcie in Mommyland) among many others who write about getting around the area with their kids.  We have a great blogging community in Seattle and I love how people share the fun places they find. I also source and share a lot of my travel ideas from Instagram and I am such a fan of this social medium.

I love the Visit Seattle instagram for planning a trip to Seattle and it has inspired me to look for similar accounts in other cities when I travel.  I’ve collaborated on a few posts with Visit Seattle over the years.  And I’ve also been asked by Peek and Citypass about some of my Seattle favorites over the years and it’s amazing how even though there’s been so much change in the city many of our favorites are still the same.

big blue boat in park on bainbridge

BOOKS ABOUT SEATTLE

If you like reading about what to do in a real book, I like this new publication from Sasquatch Books about getting out and about with kids in Seattle and it might help you plan your trip.  I love how “Seattle Family Adventures” has sections that break our city and surrounding areas into their neighborhoods.  And because there is a whole section devoted to bakeries, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

I’m also a die-hard fan of Lonely Planet Guides for trip planning and the Lonely Planet guide for Seattle will definitely help you plan your trip to Seattle too.  They’ve been coming out with some great products for kids lately too so it’s been fun watching this brand grow over the years.

Curious Kids Nature Guide about the Pacific Northwest for planning a trip to Seattle

Curious Kids Nature Guide is also great for nature-loving kids and we base a lot of our travels on animals.   I often take the animals in our own backyard for granted and this one showcases animals of the Pacific Northwest in brilliant illustrations.  We love our outdoor adventures in the Pacific Northwest and this publication is a great resource.

Colors of the Pacific Northwest by Amy Mullen

If you have really young kids, then this board book called COLORS may also help figure out animals and plants you can find near Seattle and I like the cute illustrations in the book.

Of course, Larry gets Lost in Seattle is a local classic too.  I can totally relate to Larry as I always get lost, but doesn’t getting lost help you find the best adventures?  There are “Larry gets lost” books for cities all over the United States but the coolest thing is that Larry’s author is from the Pacific Northwest.

Planning a trip to Seattle with kids

STILL NEED HELP PLANNING YOUR SEATTLE TRIP WITH KIDS?

After all this searching through all these resources, if you still need some more info about the area or helping planning your trip to Seattle, feel free to shoot me an email-it’s listed in the “About Me” section of this site.  I always love to hear from people traveling to our city!

(PS. Are you in the Seattle area, or have you been here and found something you LOVE?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments too!  And if you are planning a trip to Seattle please feel free to message me to!)

(PPS. I received copies of Curious Kids Nature Guide, Seattle Family Adventures and Colors for the purpose of review but I was not required to post and the ideas here are always my own.  I also have a list of movies in my Amazon Seattle store that might help you plan your trip to Seattle too.)