Best winter activities for kids

[jakeatwood]

I have a 2 1/2 year old and I'm trying to put together a few activities for this winter. My usual snowmobile tours and skiing will probably need to wait until she's at least 3

Any ideas from those of you with kids?

[tholt]

Well there's always the Childrens' Museum. The Science Museum has some cool things, but she might be a bit young yet.

There are lots of indoor play structures around. Our favorite is Edinborough Park in Edina (York and 494 or thereabouts...), then Eagle's Nest in New Brighton. Woodbury has one in their library/City Hall/YMCA building called (I think) Lookout Ridge or something like that.

There's always the Y for swimming/lessons. The Woodbury Y is nice and the White Bear Y actually has a diving board for entertaining the older ones. In the Frogtown area in Saint Paul, the Oxford Pool has a bunch of cool stuff including a shallow wading pool and play structure as well as some water slides. Check the hours. Also, don't let the fact that it's in a sketchy neighborhood bother you. It's pretty safe.

Hope this helps out,

Tim

[Jerryalan]

How about sledding and snow tubing? If you find a local hill it only costs as much as gasoline and a sled if you don't have one yet :-)

Also, I dunno how old a child needs to be to ski but maybe you can sign her up for ski lessons while you go skiing.

[gnatman]

You could always get adorable little snowshoes and go out and try that. I'm sure a kid that young wouldn't last long, so maybe it's more appropriate for when a kid is about 5 or more, but for other people coming to the topic with slightly older children, it's an idea. I know I loved doing it when I was younger.

[fatmoose]

+1 to Edinborough Park in Edina, there's a cost but it's well worth it for a good day of energy burning. Burnsville Center and Eden Prairie Center have play areas with padded floors and climbing objects, great for a 2.5 year old. We're in the south metro and took our toddler to those areas frequently last year. At that age they're not too young to get bundled up and spend a little time outside sledding.

[mmwfunk]

I have a 4 year old and a 1.5 year old.
Sledding is great for our 4 year old, but his younger sister can't stay out too long. Hopefully next year we'll fare better.

I hadn't heard of the Lookout Ridge location:
Lookout Ridge Indoor Playground
For Tues and Thurs it looks like it only costs $3.50 after 6pm.
I'll have to check that one out.

There are fun play areas at the Maplewood and Rosedale malls as well. And those ones are free.

Children's museum is a lot of fun. They have the Target Free Sundays (3rd sunday every month). It's free, but it's nuts. Try to go on a weekday or any other day for that matter if you can't handle HUGE crowds.

Sometimes we'll go for a cheap breakfast at IKEA and then my son can go play in the ball pit/children's area for a while.