The Twin Cities are a second home for our family. My husband and I both went to college in the cities. It’s where we were living when we got married, had babies, and where we brought them home for the first time.

This summer we brought our not-so-little babies back to the Twin Cities to visit dear friends and show them around the place they were born.

Our visit reminded me of all of the amazing things there are to do with kids in the Twin Cities. It is overflowing with family fun. Below are the things we love the most and did with our twins when we visited this year. Even more ideas are at the bottom!

Visiting the Twin Cities

The Twin Cities, in case you’re wondering, are called the “twin” cities because there are two cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis) sitting right next to each other. They are somewhat realistic twins in that they are really not a whole lot alike, but there are some underlying similarities.

STAY.

The Twin Cities is a sprawling urban area. From one end of the suburbs to the other is at least a two hour drive. To decide where you’re going to stay I think you need to start with your to do list. Figure out where you plan to spend most of your time and then book a room accordingly.

We stayed in Bloomington on our last trip which is near the airport, Mall of America, and not a bad drive to either St Paul or Minneapolis. It worked well as a centralized home base for us – but figure out what you’re going to do and where that will take you and go from there.

EAT.

There are all of the things when it comes to food in the Twin Cities. There’s great pizza, good vegan, yummy ice cream, amazing farm to table restaurants, awesome ethnic food, I could go on and on.

We are somewhat limited as a family because of my son’s allergy, but here are the places we ate out while we were in the Twin Cities this summer. I highly recommend them all.

Mall of America

There are a million – well maybe just a hundred – places to eat at the Mall of America. If you want a fun experience I recommend either the American Girl Bistro or the Rainforest Cafe. My kids loved the Rainforest Cafe on our recent trip. It comes complete with moving animals, a rainforest surrounding you, and periodic rainstorms. Truly an experience.

Pizza Luce

This is one of our favorite local chains – especially for dairy allergy food. They have a number of vegan and gluten free options on the menu – including some yummy dessert options so our little guy had choices which always feels amazing. The pizza is also delicious. The Baked Potato is my personal favorite.

ICE CREAM

We were on a bit of a vegan ice cream hunt this summer so we tried several. These three were our favorites. Note: They do all have excellent vegan / dairy free ice cream but they also have regular ice cream as well.

The Pumphouse Creamery

Located near Lake Nokomis, this little shop has a good variety of interesting flavors, including several dairy free options for my kiddo with allergies.

Izzy’s

This was our local ice cream shop when we lived in MN and is my personal favorite. As a bonus it also has several options every day that are Dairy Free and I love their adorable little Izzy cones for kids.

Milkjam Creamery

This spot wins the award for most creative flavors. They also have a host of vegan options for my dairy free kiddo.

Things to do with Kids

Oh my goodness. There are so many things to do with kids in the Twin Cities. This list only cracks the surface, but they are some of our absolute favorites.

1. Lake Harriett

In the land of lakes you have to see at least one while you’re in the Twin Cities. My favorite is Lake Harriett. It is beautiful. It is just far enough around to feel like you had a good walk but not take up your whole day. The band shell has a decent spot for breakfast or lunch. And if you’re with kiddos, there is a playground just up the hill from the band shell that is great for a range of children.

2. Wild Rumpus Children’s Bookshop

This place is magical if you’re a kid. From the moment you arrive and see that kids get to walk through their own specially sized door. Inside you’ll find a chicken and cats roaming and an awesome selection of children’s books from board books to chapter books and everything in between. It is located blocks from Lake Harriett so I like to pair the two.

3. Hyland Park

The Play Area at Hyland Park is truly impressive. It has several different structures of different sizes all in one space. My kids loved the huge climbers which felt like a maze to them and got their imaginations going. I loved the huge umbrellas offering shade from the surprisingly hot summer heat.

4. Mall of America

You could literally spend your entire long weekend at the Mall of America. It has everything – restaurants, an amusement park, an aquarium, attached hotels, and so much more. It certainly is a unique place. I personally think that one day is enough, but that will mean that you have to pick and choose how you spend your time and money. On this trip we went to the Crayola Experience and the SeaLife Aquarium. Next time my kids want to go to the Nickelodean Universe amusement park to go on the rides.

5. Como Zoo

The Minnesota Zoo in Bloomington is definitely the bigger, better zoo – but it also comes with a matching price tag and a lot of walking. If you want to spend a whole day at a great zoo then absolutely make the trip. If you want to spend 2-3 hours at a decent zoo that is FREE, then this is a fun place to go with kids. Don’t miss the polar bear exhibit and walking over the lions. There is also a new seal area opening soon.

6. Minnehaha Falls

I think the Falls are gorgeous. They are an easy walk and if you go during the week it isn’t usually hard to find parking in one of the nearby lots of on the street. It is paid parking, although inexpensive. The walk isn’t hard, but if you want to see the Falls from all angles then it does require some stairs. You can also just walk along the top with a stroller if you prefer to avoid the stairs.

More Family Friendly Places to Explore in Minnesota:

Having lived in the Twin Cities for 11 some years there are a lot more things we have done with kids that didn’t make it onto our list for this visit. This mostly had to do with proximity, friends’ preferences, and weather.

Here are more awesome things we love to do with kids in Minnesota.

7. MN Landscape Arboretum

8. Walker Art Museum

9. Mill City Museum

10. Bakken Museum

11. Minnesota Zoo

12. St Paul Children’s Museum

13. MN Science Museum

14. Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store (down the block from Izzy’s Ice Cream)

15.  Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater

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Looking for a unique field trip in the Twin Cities area? The Mill City Museum is a fascinating way to explore history, water, baking and more.

It is a museum erected in footprint of an old flourmill in Minneapolis.  Admission to the museum gets you into the gallery, exhibit labs (baking lab and water lab), and a couple different multimedia shows.

Kids 4 and under are free!

(Guest Post by Rebecca Nutter)

Mill City Museum with a Preschooler

Rebecca Nutter of the Minneapolis Toy Library is here today to share more about visiting the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis with preschoolers. Here are her favorite things to do here with little kids.

Ride the Flower Tower Elevator

We took the “Flour Tower” tour while we were there.  This is a guided elevator ride (giant freight elevator with seating.

I think they ask that you don’t bring strollers on, but since we had a small group they let me bring my umbrella stroller in) that travels through 8 levels and shows you different scenes of what the old mill looked like, while you listen to worker’s accounts of their job at the mill.

It concludes at the 9^th floor where you can get out, learn a little bit more about the mill from a tour guide and get an amazing view of Mississippi River and St. Anthony Falls.

The Water Lab

In this area there are 4 different interactive pieces where children are able to manipulate the flow of water, build bridges, and learn about water power.

We had this space to ourselves, although they do have school groups in here sometimes.  It was a little tough for a 3.5 year old (who is actually quite tall for her age) to reach the middle of some of these tables, but she was able to do most of it herself.

The Baking Lab

Here they host cooking classes and offer demos of various types of recipes.  Usually flour is involved. We went in and were able to taste some bread that they made.  They also gave us the recipe!

Helpful Things to Know:

• The museum is very stroller accessible.  They have elevators to access everything.  The doors have handicap buttons, which was great.  The exhibits are very spacious.
• There was a café with a small lunch selection.  We did have lunch and it was delicious!
• The bathrooms are on the main floor, right next to the coat racks.
• They don’t allow food or drinks in the gallery.  I told them I had a water bottle in my backpack and they said to just keep it tucked away.

I learned a lot about the mill industry that dominated the Minneapolis landscape in the late 19^th century.  I also think the information on the elevator ride and the interactive labs made the learning clear for my preschooler.  I was pleased with the water lab exhibit too.  It was spacious and had enough to keep my preschooler happy for 20 minutes.

Extensions for Home:

• Build with blocks (or other materials) and make the building blow up by pushing the structure over.
• Do some baking!  Make muffins, bread, or pancakes.  Have your child help measure out the flour.
• Flour is an ingredient for many different sensory materials.  Play dough, “cloud dough,” or just plain ol’ water and flour.

More Ideas: 15+ Best Things to do in the Twin Cities with Kids

I’m excited to have Rebecca Nutter guest posting today to share a STEM related field trip in the Twin Cities area. If your child is curious about electricity or magnetism, this is an awesome place to explore.

(Guest post from Rebecca Nutter)

Ever since we moved to Minneapolis, I have been curious about The Bakken Museum.

The museum explores electricity and magnetism.  It showcases the history of electricity and tries to excite young children to explore this world of science.

There is admission for the museum, but children under 4 are free.

The exhibits are broken up into different rooms and over all it’s a small museum.  We spent about 45 minutes there.

I was pleased to see some hands on activities that were geared toward the younger crowd (toddler/preschool age).

My daughter used a small crane to lift metal cars, turned a crank to make a spark, listened to different animals heartbeats, and put a magnet up to a TV to see the magnetic field in color.

There were many other hands on activities for older elementary school kids though.

Upstairs they laid out a collection of “electrical found items” as I would call them and invited families to create something. There were telephone cords, circuit boards and other gadgety things to use.

Although it wasn’t really that interesting to our 3 year old, I like that we have a resource if this interest comes up later in her life.  Looking online I noticed they have an inventors club, a LEGO robotics class and even a workshop that (for a fee) families are able to come use all the museums tools to just build and create!  How cool is that?

More Ideas: 15+ Best Things to do in the Twin Cities with Kids