110 N. Post Street

Spokane, WA 99201. 

509-624-5437

The Children's Museum of Spokane is an amazing place!  Its stated mission is to “provide a safe, nurturing environment for children from all backgrounds to come together to play, explore, take risks, ask questions, discover their community and themselves through hands-on, interactive exhibits.”  This mission is certainly fulfilled.  The museum has grown steadily and now has outgrown its present space.

In the Spring of 2005, the Children's Museum will move to the lower level of River Park Square, with almost double the space for exhibits and activities.

Galleries Within the Museum:

1.  Monroe Street's Bridge Gallery is the loft of the Children's Museum's fictional resident artist, Monroe Street. Mr. Street leaves works-in-progress for children and parents to complete with their own creative and imaginative touches.  The gallery features a large paintable wall surface, as well as several multi-purpose tables for clay and sculpture, collage, paper mache, and recycled art construction. Children develop skills including hand-eye coordination.

2.  Yiayia Sofia's Greek Village offers a glimpse into another culture. This full-scale Greek village set on the Cyclades island of Naxos, provides an opportunity to experience and appreciate a different way of life.  Dressing in authentic country clothing, children can role-play in the market, restaurant, cottage, or kitchen, or weave a rug.  As they play, they practice skills of socialization without realizing it.

3.  The Garden gives infants and toddlers lots of space for multi-sensory exploration. The Baby Exploration Path exhibit offers different textures to touch, different patterns to see, and varied surfaces to crawl over and through.

4.  The shoes in the Sole Mates gallery tell eight stories. As children walk through, they gather clues about each culture and the people who wear the exhibited shoes. A sandal from Columbia tells something of climate and habitat in South America, as does a boot from Lapland. Can you measure your foot to predict your height? What can you learn from the treads of a person's shoes?

5.  Fort Spokane Construction Zone invites children to design the city of the future or an alien dwelling using a variety of materials. They create their own gear pattern on the Gear Table. They try out simple machines in the Gravel Pit, and then take on major building projects with the Super Dig backhoe.

6.  Under the Falls lets children explore water movement and the scientific principles of flow, current, displacement, and floatation. Bubble play helps children understand surface tension, light refraction, and spatial relations.

7.  Syncopation Station   From steel drums to chimes to bells and tubes, children can experiment with rhythm, movement, and sound, even becoming musical instruments themselves.

Riverfront Park

Created for the 1974 World's Fair Expo and set on an island in the middle of the Spokane River, 100-acre Riverfront Park is the city's pride and joy.

509/456-4-FUN

The creation of the park helped rejuvenate downtown Spokane, and today crowds flock here to enjoy everything from summertime concerts to ice-skating in the winter. Activities for both adults and children abound. The restored 1909 Looff Carousel, with its hand-carved horses, is one of the most beautiful in the country. 

A family-fun center includes kiddie rides, miniature golf, and arcade games. Throughout the summer there are many special events.  Serving as a spectacular backdrop for the park is the Spokane River, which cascades over Spokane Falls. The best view of the falls is from the Gondola Skyride that swings out over the falls.

IMAX Theatre

at Riverfront Park

509/625-6686

At the IMax,  films are shown on screens five stories high.

Manito Park

located south of downtown beginning at the corner of Division Street and 18th Avenue

509/625-6622

April through October daily from 8am to dusk

Manito is located among rocks and pine forest, and contains some of the most beautiful public gardens in the Northwest.  These include the perennial garden; the rose garden; the Nishinomiya Japanese Garden; Duncan Garden, a formal garden patterned after those of 17th-century Europe; and Gaiser Conservatory, which is filled with an explosion of color from exotic tropical plants. The park also includes a picnic area, duck pond, and playground.