Riverside State Park

With over 9,000 acres along the Spokane River and 55 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, Riverside State Park is a real gem in the Spokane area. We’ve visited countless times over the past few years and some of our favorite areas with our little kiddos are the Bowl and Pitcher area and the Wilbur Trailhead. The Bowl and Pitcher area has lots of picnic tables, including covered ones, and some nice sandy little beaches later in the summer above and below the swinging bridge. The Wilbur Trailhead is perfect for accessing really easy single track mountain bike trails that the whole family can ride. Our 3-year-old rides there with Justin on his mountain bike with a little attachable hot shot seat and we regularly see kids around age 4-5 riding their to give you a sense of the intensity level of the trails. The single track trails are also perfect for hiking with your kiddos and there are amazing wildflowers throughout the area in the spring. If your kiddos aren’t up for hiking, there’s a long paved section of the Centennial Trail that you access from the parking lot at the Wilbur Trailhead that you can push your kids on in a stroller (or ride road bikes) while taking in nice views of the river. We’ve also found that many of the packed dirt trails throughout the park are doable with our jogging stroller!

Good to know: A $10 day use fee or Washington Discover Pass is required to access Riverside State Park

*Exploring one of the many sandy beaches along the Spokane River*

*This swimming area upstream from the swinging bridge is protected from the current and especially great for little kids*

*There is even some shade and picnic tables right by the water*

*The forest isn’t dense so it’s a great place for little ones to explore without losing sight of them*

*Incredible wildflowers in Riverside State Park in the spring/early summer*

*Many of the trails in Riverside State Park can be done with a jogging stroller*

*Awesome mountain biking for the entire family on the 50+ miles of trails in Riverside State Park*

Little Spokane River

Kayaking or paddle boarding on the Little Spokane River is a super fun summer activity with kids. The best way to do it is to put in at the St. George put-in and get out at the Nine Mile take-out. Both those locations have parking lots to leave your vehicles at and come up on Google maps without needing a specific address. Keep in mind you will need to pay for parking or have a Washington Discover Pass to park. It’s also easy to have someone drop you off and pick you up if you’d like to do this for free! The route from St. George put-in to Nine Mile take-out takes approximately 1hr if you paddle most of the time and up to 3hrs if you just sit there and float as the current isn’t fast. There are no rapids or boulders in the river, making it a great easy option with kids. My husband just did it with our 3-year-old in a kayak and they had a blast and even saw a river otter.

Good to know: Swimming, wading, floaties of any kind, and dogs are not permitted in the Little Spokane River. That said, you’ll see plenty of people hop in the water to cool off - you really just need to have a paddle craft.

*Take-out location at the end of your float*

Mobius Discovery Center

It may not be the cheapest family activity in Spokane ($10 per person, including children), but a visit to the Mobius Adventure Center may be one of the most fun! It’s chock full of things to keep kids of just about any age engaged, from a designated baby and toddler play area (complete with an ice cream shop, magnet wall, mini playhouse, dress up clothes, musical instrument corner and much more) to a giant playhouse with a kitchen and a slide, a water table (waterproof aprons provided), STEAM activities, Lego table, kinetic sand play station, reading corner, art and craft tables and easels, giant bubble blowing station, and so much more! Something else great about Mobius is the fact that they change out a number of the stations every month or two so that things stay fresh if you visit often. Plus, we’ve heard that they may be expanding to a whole second floor. Keep in mind that it can be pretty busy, especially if one of the local kindergartens is doing a field trip there. However, if you are arrived and feel overwhelmed by the amount of kiddos, you can leave and come back later - Mobius passes are good for an entire day and you can come and go as many times as you like. Absolutely perfect with little kids!

Good to know: Mobius is open from 10am-5pm Wednesday through Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday. Sadly, it’s closed Monday and Tuesday.

*Digging in a lentil pit with an electronic excavator. A favorite activity for our little guy!*

*The awesome water table at Mobius. Waterproof aprons and step stools provided!*

*Kids of just about any age get a kick out of pushing Mobius’s mini shopping carts around filled with food*

*The baby and toddler play zone at Mobius*

Audubon Park

Spokane has a few great parks with playgrounds and Audubon Park is one of our favorites. It features two separate playground areas - one geared for toddlers and one more suited for older kids. Add in a great splash pad that opens in May, lots of shade and picnic tables, plus a basketball court and you’ve got a wonderful place to spend an entire morning or afternoon.

Good to know: Audubon Park has a decent sized free parking lot, but if it’s full, you can street park for free anywhere around the park as well.

Little Garden Café

If you visit Audubon Park, stop in at Little Garden Café for a coffee and a snack. It may not be very fancy, but this bustling neighborhood establishment is the perfect place to go with little kids as they have a designated kid’s play area, complete with toys, a little table, and books. Our kids love playing here and always meet new friends as lots of families in the neighborhood stop by throughout the day. Such a great idea for parent who want to just sit and drink a coffee in peace for a few minutes! They have two locations in Spokane, but our favorite is the one on Northwest Blvd right by Audubon Park.

Good to know: The bathroom in Little Garden Café is huge with a changing table - very family friendly!

Looff Carrousel

Built in 1909, the Looff Carrousel is one of the best preserved hand carved wooden carousels in the United States. It's location in Riverfront Park makes it a convenient stop if you're staying at or doing things downtown. All ages are welcome and the fact that there are benches on the carrousel means you can ride holding an infant as well. You can buy a single ride for $3.25 or unlimited rides for $7.95. The time we did this, we the the unlimited rides and definitely got our money’s worth riding back to back for close to an hour as the kids loved it so much!

Good to know: Kids ages 2 and under ride free

Whiz Kids

While you’re downtown, stop in at Whiz Kids, a huge locally owned toy store with an amazing selection of everything from puzzles and games to high quality European toys like Bruder and Playmobil. It’s also a great place to get Melissa & Doug products, Tonka toys, individual Schleich animals, and fun curiosities like miniature measuring tapes.

Good to know: Whiz Kids is located inside Riverpark Square. You can park in the Riverpark Square parking garage for a fee, or utilize the cheaper metered street parking around Riverpark Square/the entirety of downtown. Metered parking is free on Sundays!

Green Bluff

If you enjoy fruit (and veggie!) picking, Green Bluff is an area of local u-pick farms around 20 minutes from Spokane that’s super fun to visit as a family summer through fall. You can see the list of farms and what’s in season on the Green Bluff Growers site. Some of our favorite things to pick include strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches and a great place to pick just about anything (including flowers and veggies) is Eleven Acre Farm. We especially love all their wagons for hauling little kids around. Another favorite farm is Hidden Acres because of all their fun animals like pigs, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a rabbit, and a friendly dog. They have some wagons too and a cute little shop with canned and frozen food. You can also camp in the orchard at Hidden Acres. A lot of the farms also offer other fun activities like fall festivals, play areas for kids, and shops with food and gifts. A favorite for all that is High Country Orchard with it’s huge super fun gift shop, café, tables in the orchard to enjoy your food and drinks in, two playgrounds, and tractor rides through the farm in a barrel train painted to look like cows. Want to eat some treats on the way back to Spokane? Stop at Beck’s Harvest House to enjoy something delicious from their restaurant/bakery. They have lots of flavors of ice cream and waffle cones too, which is always a hit with the kids. Purchase a box of produce to take home from their stand if you didn’t get want you wanted or weren’t prepared to do u-pick.

*Harvesting cucumbers at Eleven Acre Farms*

*Picking (and eating!) peaches at Hidden Acres*

*Enjoy drinks and baked goods at a table in the orchard while your kids play in the playground at High Country Orchard*

Manito Park

This 90-acre public park with arboretum, botanical gardens, and conservatory is truly beautiful and never feels crowded. Explore the different gardens including the rose garden, lilac garden, a classical European Renaissance-style (comprising 3 acres!), Japanese garden, perennial garden and more. A duck pond, two playgrounds, picnic tables, and big green expanses for playing tag, frisbee, ball etc make Manito fun for kids too.

Good to know: Parking and entrance to Manito is free. There are several parking lots and street parking in other areas as Manito is located in a neighborhood,

*Even the littlest of littles can enjoy beautiful flowers :)*

*Enchanting paths through Manito Park - perfect for imaginative play*

Libraries

Spokane recently embarked on a 77 million dollar public library renovation project that included creating whimsical kids play spaces at six of their branches. The play spaces were created in partnership with Luci Creative and are really fun and well done. Each library’s play space has its own theme and include surprisingly large play structures. Some even have slides! Two of our favorite play areas are at the Central Library downtown and the Shadle Library in north Spokane.

*Play area at the Central Library. The views over the river and downtown are pretty awesome!*

*Each play space includes areas specifically suited to babies and toddlers*

*Shadle Library play area. The rope ladder and enclosed slide are especially big hits with kids of all ages.*

Lilac Lanes Bowling

Lilac Lanes Bowling is a large family friendly bowling alley with pretty good prices ($10/hour most days at the time of writing this) if you need a rainy day activity or enjoy bowling. There’s always lots of folks there with little kids and we’ve taken ours several times and always had a good experience. They sometimes even put a bin of free kids books by the entrance, which our little always enjoy!

Good to know: You can bowl with bumpers along the lane so your little ones can play without getting gutter balls

The Scoop

Who doesn’t love some fancy ice cream? Finish up your fun visit to Spokane with some delicious small batch ice cream at The Scoop. The ice cream is made using liquid nitrogen in a variety of amazing and every changing flavors using locally sourced ingredients. They have vegan, dairy free, and gluten free options so you can be sure your entire family can enjoy it.

Good to know: The Scoop has two locations - one in a neighborhood in South Hill and one in Kendall Yards downtown by the river