Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in seattle, WA

The Seattle Aquarium  (of course!). The newly renovated aquarium has jellyfish that float dreamily through an arch you can walk around and under, plenty of colorful fish, puffins, otters, an octopus or two and a real life-like reef where you can reach out and touch urchins, sea stars and other watery creatures.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks A vastly different venue than the Aquarium, this is a great place to see salmon through underwater windows (especially in July and August), and to watch herons hovering out in the canal, hoping to catch a meal or three.

Discovery Park (Magnolia) and Me-Kwa-Mooks Park (West Seattle) These parks offer guided tide pool walks where you can watch small, colorful creatures flit and sway through shallow basins left during low tide.

Whale Watching. Spot orcas and other fantastic sea life on one of a number of Seattle area charter vessels.