Hey, Tacoma-Kids climbing the walls yet?
If you’ve got a fan of Legos or Thomas the Train-or better yet both….head on over to City Blocks in the bottom of Freighthouse Square.
Freighthouse Square is that funky, green building down the hill from the Tacoma Dome and across the street from the transit center (You’ll want to park there for free).
City Blocks is Dan Parker’s space. He’s one of the most highly regarded Lego artists in the World, and his creations are definitely worth checking out. He also has a room next door with a very cool, all Lego Thomas display and a table full of Legos for the kids to play with. There are also some Duplo blocks and trains for younger builders. If you’ve been here before, you’ll be glad to know the play area has shifted to a bigger room with plenty of places for parents to sit. Oh, and it’s all Free!
Now, to be clear-there isn’t anything really to do here apart from building with Legos, which means you’ll probably be bored in 5 minutes, and your kids will probably want to stay forever. You may want to decide on a time limit before you go! Mom tip: I’ve found kids will leave their creations more easily if you take a picture.
If you’d like to extend this outing, the food court upstairs has lots of interesting choices. The boys and I like Paya Thai Fish and Chips as well as R.J’s Burgers. Wendy’s Vietnamese is also popular. When we were there, there was also a train exhibit with a button kids could push at the opposite end of this floor. I’m not sure how long that will stay up.
If you have more energy to burn after all that, you could take a free link ride (it’s the street trolley, and it picks up roughly every 12 minutes right in front of the transit center-you’ll see signs) to the museum district for any number of other adventures.
For more Winter Break ideas all over, you can check out this post!