Intermedia Arts

The colorful Intermedia Arts is easy to spot since its outside walls are painted with remarkably attractive graffiti-style murals that change at least once a year. This edgy, urban exterior hints at Intermedia’s grassroots style, welcoming burgeoning artists from many cultural backgrounds and including modern media styles and art forms, with an emphasis on activism. A variety of causes animate their themed meetings and readings, and they also host occasional multicultural events for families, and instigated the very playful and popular annual Art Car parade in South Minneapolis. Outside of their family-specific activities, this is also good place to introduce teens with countercultural style to a place that will welcome and inspire.

Contact no:(612) 871-4444

Location:2822 Lyndale Avenue, South, Minneapolis, MN 55408

Learn more here.

Como Planetarium

One Thursday per month, the Como Planetarium holds a public evening show (the rest of the week is for school groups). The features’ target age varies, so check the schedule online to learn about the night sky, travel to the moon with a cartoon cat, or view some other presentation to acquaint your grandchild with the heavens above.

Contact no:(651) 293-5398

Location:780 West Wheelock Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55117

Learn more here.

Bakken Museum

This gorgeous mansion off Lake Calhoun hosts an extensive library and exhibit on all things electricity, including some cool hands-on electrics. Watch video footage of virtuosos as you try to play the theremin or put your hand on a ball and get charged with static, making all your hairs stand on end. Each Saturday is Family Science Day, with presentations and hands-on workshops, and they also host Girls Only science day camps, and other events. If you notice a common “heart” theme in their special events, it’s no coincidence because the founder, Earl Bakken invented the first pacemaker. The grounds are beautiful, the library for scholars only, and the museum is modest but fun, interactive and educational. Afterwards you can hop across the street for a run around Lake Calhoun to put all that new heart knowledge to work.

Contact no:(612) 926-3878

Location:3537 Zenith Avenue, South Minneapolis, MN 55416-4623

Learn more here.

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Always free, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is one of the country’s largest urban sculpture parks, featuring more than 40 works of art and the Cowles Conservatory. At the center is a beloved Twin Cities landmark – the playful fountain “Spoonbridge and Cherry.” The Garden is a collaboration between the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Walker Art Center.

Contact no: (612) 375-7600

Location:1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403

Learn more here.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

If your grandchild can’t find a souvenir of his Seattle visit at this kitschy combination local institution/waterfront gift shop/ersatz museum of the absurd, he or she won’t be able to find it anywhere. But grandchildren still enjoy one of the oddest collections of stuff this side of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, including a petrified mummy named Sylvester, shrunken heads, a three-tusked walrus, and a two-headed bull. What’s not to love?

Contact no: (206) 682-5844

Location: 1001 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98104

Learn more here.

Washington State Ferries

Sure, there are narrated tours of Puget Sound, but one of the best rides on the water is also one of the cheapest. A half-hour ride to Bainbridge Island not only allows you to show your grandchildren what the waterfront looks like from the water, it enables you to take them on a big trip without really going far at all. Routes range from half an hour to several hours depending on departure point and destination.

Contact no: (206) 464-6400

Location: 801 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98104

Learn more here.

The Fremont Troll

Normally we wouldn’t recommend you take hard-to-impress grandchildren just to check out a lowly statue. This, however, is a different kind of public art. Located under the Aurora Bridge it features a Volkswagen-eating troll with hubcaps for eyes and a Volkswagen in its hands. It’s a great photo opportunity and grandchildren of all ages love climbing around on its head and shoulders.

Contact no:
Location: Troll Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

Learn more here.

Space Needle

If you and your grandchild can see only one thing during your visit or afternoon out, see everything by going 520 feet above it all. Even the ride up is an adventure because the elevator is on the outside of the building, bringing consternation to some adults and great glee to children. After a few seconds of worry over the ascent, most grandchildren love looking out the windows and watching everything on the ground getting smaller. Up top, you can get an unobstructed panoramic view of the city and a chance to play with the telescopes.

Contact no: (206) 905-2100

Location: 400 Broad Street, Seattle, WA 98109

Learn more here.

Nordic Heritage Museum

Minnesota may have the Prairie Home Companion and Norwegian bachelor farmers, but Seattle has the country’s only museum dedicated to the story of Nordic immigrants. The subject matter is of special interest to non-Nordic families as well, especially newcomers to the neighborhood of Ballard, where most of them settled. The Dream of America Exhibition traces the wave of immigration that took Scandinavian immigrants from Ellis Island and New York through the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. Additional rooms in the museum focus on the experience of immigrants from specific countries in the region including Iceland, Finland, and Norway. Where else can you and your grandchildren find out what a psalmodikon is?

Contact no: (206) 789-5707

Location: 3014 Northwest 67th Street, Seattle, WA 98117

Learn more here.

Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour

Treat your granchildren to a unique activity, exploring a veritable buried city underneath downtown Seattle. Intrigue, silly stories and a touch of Seattle’s colorful history are the attractions at this 90-minute tour of the rugged underground passages that were once the heart of the city until the Great Seattle Fire burned everything to the ground and raised streets and buildings were erected on its ashes.

Contact no: (206) 682-4646

Location: 608 First Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104

Learn more here.