This is a hastily put together list of resources for parents in the Twin Cities, as seen from Longfellow Minneapolis. Further effort will be given in the future to add more information and resources and tidy it up into something that isn’t just a big list (hopefully). In the interest of getting this up quickly, I’m skipping research like hours, rates, etc.
Places to go
Rebe’s Play Cafe
At the corner of Cleveland and St Clair in St Paul, Rebe’s is what I call a “place for play first, with a coffee shop”. It is likely most appropriate for ages 0-3 years, with dwindling utility for older kids, though my 5yo still likes it but she may be a special case. Older siblings can enjoy a school playground across the street during non-school hours.
There are three play rooms with slides, a myriad of toys, a coffee bar with drinks for adults and kids, and a snack cooler. Hot tip: open a tab at the register and just pay once when you leave. If your kids are able to say your name, you can let them pick out their snacks and have it added to your tab– great practice for interacting in stores.
The owners are wonderful people that are very engaged in community.
Sovereign Grounds Coffee
Another coffeeshop, this one at the corner of 48th and Chicago in south Minneapolis, it also has a playroom, though I describe this as “coffeeshop first, play place second”. It has one larger room to play, with more Little Tykes-like structures, and seems to attract a slightly older crowd from maybe 2yo-7yo. The vibe here is that if adults want to get coffee and a treat, maybe read a book, meet a friend, do some work on the laptop, they can throw their kids in this room and be fairly hands off. So a little more zoo-like, which isn’t a discouragement but just changes the approach a bit.
The 48th and Chicago corner has lots of good places, as well, including a Turtle Bread on the opposite corner, Pizza Biga, Pumphouse Creamery (excellent ice cream), Hippo Pockets (former food truck for Hot Pockets-esque fair), and other bars, theatres, restaurants, etc.
Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum
A large museum dedicated to model railroading on University and Cleveland in St Paul, about $10/adult if I recall correctly. Run by volunteers of the more senior variety, they love having kids around. There is a large Lego set and diorama, toy train tracks the kids can operate, a large bin of Duplo train tracks and bricks, and every railroad layout is ringed by buttons that activate various set pieces or trains. In the winter they do a “Night Trains” event in the evenings. Lots to keep the attention of young kids as well as adults.
There is also the Hennepin Overland Railroad Museum in the Standish neighborhood of south Minneapolis, but I’ve never been, they have more limited hours.
Can Can Wonderland
North of University on Prior Ave is the large building home to Blackstack Brewing and Can Can Wonderland (as well as other venues like an aerial yoga studio and an axe throwing joint that I’m not sure still exists). Can Can Wonderland is basically an arcade + mini golf place at it’s heart, though it does have a few stages, full bar, a cereal bar, and restaurant. You pay to enter, and then all arcade games are free with a handful of exceptions. The games range from very old to new, from physical to video. Skeeball next to Space Invaders next to a custom “Caraoke” built in the interior of a small yellow car. The mini golf course is an “art project” style course.
Not the cheapest activity, as I believe it was $20 for an adult to enter, and then additional expense for the mini-golf (I skipped it the last time I was there so not sure on price right now). And I’d say this place is viable for 5yo+.
Hot tip: you can borrow over-the-ear hearing protection from the mini-golf desk with an exchange of ID. And Blackstack Brewing has a good vibe.
Bouldering Project
Two locations now, one on West River Parkway north of Broadway Ave and the newest location across the river from downtown St Paul way up on the bluffs, Bouldering Project is a small national chain of bouldering facilities. For the unaware, bouldering is rock climbing but with no ropes, focused less on heights and more on quickly getting on a shorter wall and traversing technical paths more horizontally across. It’s great for kids because you don’t need to be clipping into harnesses, or having someone below belaying- it’s more like the climbing they are used to doing at the playground or in trees.
Bouldering Project has dedicated spaces for kids to climb, which are separate from the adult areas, offer way more holds (though still with routes), have slides for coming down, and places to sit for parents if you opt to not climb. Each location has “date nights”, too, where you can drop your kid off for a few hours in the evening with a 2:1 ratio kid to staff and you can leave the building to go see a movie. The kids climb for half the time, and watch a movie with pizza for the other half.
The other climbing joint in the cities is Vertical Endeavors (with a bouldering facility on 280 and 94 of which I used to be a member), but my experience is that Bouldering Project offers more for kids, particularly on the younger side. This is probably a 3yo+ thing.
Book Libraries
Be sure to check out your local libraries, but also go far afield to your non-local libraries. All of the library systems in the Twin Cities have reciprocity, meaning you can use your local library card to create accounts in other systems and check out books from them, and return them anywhere. I live 5 blocks from St Paul, and my Hennepin library card is linked to St Paul Public Library and to Ramsey County Public Library. I can check out books from any of those, or return books to any location, with just the one card. Bonus, each system is totally separate, so I have a 50 book limit at each. None of those systems have late fees, so I’m never worried that a Hennepin book returned to a St Paul library will trigger fees if the transfer takes extra time.
Don’t get stuck only visiting one or two of the nearest libraries. Visiting other libraries quickly yields treasures, whereas perusing the same old catalog for the 50th time this year typically isn’t worth the squeeze. There are so many books out there, stop looking in the same place over and over.
Hot tip: Hennepin County Library has a Library Passport adventure, with a little passport booklet to collect a unique stamp from each of their 41 locations. At the end, you get a button (it’s really about the journey).
Hot tip #2: Hennepin County Library checkout kiosks use RFID chips in every book, and the barcode on the front isn’t really doing anything at checkout. This means that you can skip trying to line up the laser with that barcode, and just wave the books across the kiosk. Even better, you can scan multiple books at a time– I frequently do 10 books at once, which is handy when you are checking out 30-40 picture books for kids.
Indoor Parks
These indoor parks all cost somewhere between $5-10 totally per kid, and are good options for bad weather (though those are the busy times too). Bring socks, as a general rule.
Edinborough Park
At Xerxes/York and 494 in Edina.
Shoreview Community Center
KUBE at Plymouth Community Center
Eagan Community Center
Brookview Backyard
Minnesota Fire Museum
Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store
Wild Rumpus Books
Red Balloon Books
Emery’s Playhouse
Mischief Toys
Pinwheel Toys
Kinoko Kids
Free Play
Groth Music
Good Times Park
Bakken Museum
Events
Summer Kid’s Matinees @ Riverview Theatre
Kids Bowl Free
Doors Open Minneapolis
Services/Groups
Minnesota Toy Library
Tired of a bunch of toys in your house, which were used for 10 minutes before being discarded, never to be played with again? Suspect your kid is losing touch with reality, thinking they must consume consume consume? Well, MN Toy Library is the remedy. $40/year minimum gets you 5 toys at a time, no due dates, just bring them back and get 5 more. They have 2 (3?) locations in Minneapolis, each with multiple rooms stocked floor to ceiling with well labelled and organized toys, the vast majority of which are complete sets of what you need, with working batteries. Dolls, action figures, cars, trampolines, strider bikes, lawn bowling, puzzles, costumes, instruments, educational toys, legos, blocks, infant things, etc. They have pre-made “travel bags” to bring along on road trips or on the plane, oriented to different age ranges.
They are an excellent place to donate all those toys you bought before finding out about the toy library, or that your in-laws keep gifting you, or your friends with the older kids keep dumping on you as they empty out their basements.
Twin Cities Baby Wearing Group
Got a newborn and you expect to have them in some sort of sling or carrier, or interested in doing so? Connect with the Baby Wearing group pronto. They host classes to help you confirm that you’ve got the straps right, in a good position, and you are safely mounting and dismounting. Seems simple, right? Well, the real bonus of this group is that they have dozens (hundreds?) of carriers of all types in their collection, a portion of which they bring to these classes for participants to try out and even take home on loan for a month or two. The benefit is that you can try out different styles and brands before purchasing, with someone to help you understand how it works and whether it matches your lifestyle and baby. It’s low commitment, friendly atmosphere, with big reward.