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Minnesota Babies
utgirl2
member
Favorite activities around Minneapolis with your kids? New need suggestions
utgirl2
member
We are heading from Utah to MN next week. We will be living in lakeville . Can you tell me some of your favorite places you've been with your kids? We want to explore the area, and surrounding areas of Minneapolis. Also, could you throw in some of your favorite free activities too. Thanks, we are getting excited!
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Re: Favorite activities around Minneapolis with your kids? New need suggestions
Favorite free activities: Toddler Tuesdays at the Mall of America, Como Zoo, story time at the library, going to parks/splash pads to play
Other activities: MN Zoo (We have a membership, so we go often.), ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) classes (take place during the school year; offered by your local school district)
This year I am thinking about getting a membership to the Children's Museum. I have never been there, but a friend took my DS (2 1/2) before and he had fun.
all things pp have said are great. Also check out storytime at Barns & Noble (Apple Valley would be closes to you) & Library.
In my sig I have a link to a calender that has a lot of fun ideas around town, I have been updating it so make sure to check back for new things.
Plus this Saturday there were be a FUN storytime at all Targets.
There are many indoor playgrounds - The Blast in Eagan or Edinborough in Edina are probably the closest.
A lot of the malls have kid play areas with small climbing structures and quarter rides.
We like going to Open Gym at various St Paul Rec Centers, not sure about any in/around Lakeville.
All of the libraries have story times and activities.
Swimming at small splash pools - The Grove in Inver Grove Heights and Oxford Pool in St Paul. In the summer, Minneapolis has a lot of parks with wading pools and Apple Valley has a great sprinkler park.
We have MN Zoo and Children's Museum memberships. The CM is closer so we mostly go there, but MN Zoo would be closer to Lakeville. There is plenty to do there in the winter.
The local library consortium has a "Museum Adventure Pass" program where you can get 2 to 4 free tickets to a variety of museums and other such places. Sadly this is the last year for the program. Link here
https://www.melsa.org/MuseumAdventurePass/index.cfm
All of the Hennepin County libraries have free storytimes, with family storytimes for all ages and age range storytimes from birth through preschool.
One super fun (though not particularly cheap) thing for kids in the Twin Cities is the children's track of the local theater fringe festival.
https://www.fringefestival.org
copy and paste this link in your browser
https://www.farmington.macaronikid.com/
every week they put out a listing of things to do in the area (farmington/lakeville/apple valley) with kids...like story time, open gym, special activities, etc.
We love our MN zoo pass, and also go to The Blast and Edinborough. I prefer Edinborough because it is bigger and more parent-friendly with padded crawling areas. Every Saturday the MOA has a free family movie at 10AM and we like to hit that up. During the summer we head out to Como zoo. Oh, and near to us (and you) is Lebanon Hills Regional Park which has some nice walking/hiking areas as well as picnic and playground space. We are members at the Lakeville Lifetime and so that is where we do most of our outdoor swimming, but Apple Valley and Eagan both have aquatic parks with waterslides.