Welcome to Seattle’s Child’s Summer Route 66 SEPTEMBER, the final leg of your journey through summer. There is still plenty to do in the final days of summer Washington’s, including visiting Washington’s biggest fair! Here we make a stop every day between September 1-7.
So, sit down as a family, check out the route, choose the stops that excite you all. Be sure to check websites and register early for events and activities that require registration. Once that’s done, sit back and enjoy the ride as you cruise through summer 2022.
SEPTEMBER
Thursday, September 1: Help a family you don’t know
It’s hard not to think about the fact that school starts in less than a week. If your family is in a position to do so, consider extending a helping hand to other families. As you shop for school supplies with your kids, collect items (for example, calculator, set of crayons, pair of shoes, or box of snacks) for their school’s list of “must haves” to donate to a family experiencing financial hardship. Check in with donation organizers, including Hopelink, Mary’s Place and local PTSAs, to find a supply drive near you where you can drop off or pick up supplies this week. Office Depot and Fred Meyer locations often have bins for donated supplies, which they give to neighborhood schools.
Friday, September 2: Step into a the garden
Drop in for Open Play at Seattle Children’s PlayGarden, a welcoming, safe, fun and accessible place for kids (and parents) to be themselves, located just south of Colman Park. PlayGarden staff are on hand to help you tend the sunflowers, visit with farm animals, facilitate inclusive play between kids, and work on a construction, art or garden project. No prior registration or fees required. Learn more at childrensplaygarden.org.
Saturday, September 3: Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids Run
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series (half-marathon, 5K and 1-mile Kids ROCK run) is an awesome way to help raise funds for research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Kid’s ROCK and 5K runs, which include LOTS of music, will be held this morning starting in downtown Bellevue. Can’t run or walk? Come to cheer! To register, go to runrocknroll.com.
Sunday, September 4: Slide through the end of summer
Embrace the summer slide with a visit to one of our area’s most exciting slopes. Fisher Creek
Park at Snoqualmie Ridge features seven steep, thrilling slides along with a bike course, ziplines and a huge climbing structure. Adventurous kids will love hitting the massive, twisty water slide at the Rainier Beach Pool. If you haven’t yet made it to Wild Waves Water Park in Federal Way, today could be the day. Tube down the Konga slides as a family or brave the long twists, dips and turns of the huge water-slide complex. wildwaves.com
Monday, September 5: Music at Ballard Locks
Visit a Seattle family favorite, theHiram M. Chittenden Ballard Locks.Lots to do here: watch the boats rise and fall in the locks, lookfor fish in the fish ladder, stroll through the botanical garden. And then, today at 2 p.m. sit on the lawn for a free concert by theMoondance & Van Morrison Band. For the full Ballard Locks Summer Concert Series line-up, go to ballardlocks.org/free-summer-concerts.html.
Attention rockhounds! Gather your shovel, sifter, flashlight and a jar for gems and head to Hansen Creek, a 1.4-mile out-and-back trail near North Bend. You won’t have to go very far into the trail to see why families enjoy hunting for crystals and other stones at this spot. There are literally gems everywhere on the trail. Look closely for quartz crystals hidden around fallen logs and the roots of trees. Dig down to see what’s below the surface. Focus on one spot, then hike farther up the hill and look for your next claim. Learn more at alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/hansen-creek-trail.
Check out “Five family-friendly and very PNW day trips near Seattle” on this website.
Tuesday, September 6: Almost back-to-school do nothing day
You’ve hiked, you’ve biked, you’ve played, you’ve danced. You’ve visited tide pools and petting zoos and museums. Instead of cramming in one more end-of-summer event or activity, how about just hanging out as a family today. Cook a favorite meal together, including dessert. Choose your favorite outfit for the first day of school, fill up the backpacks, take school lunch orders. Then pull on your jammies — parents too — and settle onto the couch for a low-stress, fun or favorite Disney family flick before hitting the hay early. Tomorrow’s a big day.
Summer’s not over yet! Go to the BIG ONE!
There are nerly 70 full-on fairs and fair shows every summer around the state, and the biggest one shows up at the end of summer and stays through the first weeks of fall.
The Washington State Fair (a.k.a “The Puyallup”) is the largest single-attraction event held annually in the state of Washington and one of the largest fairs in the world. Did you know it takes 1,900 people to put on a fair this size? Gates open September 2 and the fair runs through September 25, offering many new and familiar big- fair attractions: carnival rides, animals, agriculture competitions, food, crafts and a whole lot of kid-oriented fun. To get the line up, go to thefair.com.
Check out “Take the kids to the Puyallup or Evergreen State Fair” at seattleschild.com. And hold on to summer a little while longer.
