Kid Friendly Guide to Tacoma Arts Month
Updated for 2019
Do you want to introduce your kids to the arts? Fall is the perfect time to do it. October is Tacoma Arts Month, when hundreds of arts and culture programs will be featured for the community to enjoy. There are music, dance, theater, visual arts, workshops, and cultural events. All events are open to the public. Many are free, though a few are in worth-the-splurge territory.
Here we round up our pics for the very best events for kids and families. Grab your calendars! Note-In most cases, we have linked to the event venue. You can also find more details and even more events on the event page at the Tacoma Arts Month site.
We do appreciate you using the links to confirm details for yourself before you head out with your junior culture vultures! Thanks for doing that!
Photo Credit: City of Tacoma
October 2nd Kaleidoscope: The Tacoma Arts Month Opening Party
Start Tacoma Arts Month off on the right note with a kaleidoscope of visual art, hands-on activities, music and dance performances, and more at this free, family friendly, community festival! Enjoy appetizers and no-host bar while we honor the 2019 AMOCAT Arts Award winners and funding recipients. It’s all free and open to the public – pack up the family, invite your friends and come help us celebrate! Eastside Community Center 6:30-9
Image Credit: City of Tacoma
You might wonder why some trees drop their leaves, when to expect migrating birds, or how animals and plants prepare for the winter. Join us as we explore these questions and more in our celebration of the changing season! 6-7:30PM Free
Multiple Dates-The Addam’s Family Musical at TMP
THE ADDAMS FAMILY features an original story, and it’s every father’s nightmare. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family – a man her parents have never met. If that weren’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Gomez Addams must then do something he’s never done before – keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s ‘normal’ boyfriend and his parents.
Ongoing-Neighborhood Nights at the Tacoma Arts Museum
Tacoma Art Museum is now open late and FREE to the community every Thursday, 5 – 8 pm! There is always something fun to do at TAM! Stop in for performances, artist demonstrations, and more every week.
Add your artistic impressions to the “Spoonscape” and enter to win a prize! Color while you dine at Happy Belly, Marzano, Pimienta, Tibbitts@Fernhill, and Proctor Farmers’ Market with Jan Parker.
Movie lovers of all ages will delight in these animated, documentary, and narrative short films.
Image Credit: Family-Friendly Shorts at The Blue Mouse Theatre, Tacoma Film Festival 2018. Photo credit: Peter Berkley
October 5th ProctoberFest at the Proctor Farmers Market
9 AM – 2 PM | Free, but must provide their own pumpkin (purchased from one of our vendors)
October 12th Family Day at the Museum of Glass
1-4PM Included with admission (5.00-17.00).
Join and make your own identity masks inspired by Transparency: An LGBTQ+ Glass Art Exhibition.
Multiple Dates-Spookley The Square Pumpkin The Musical at TMP Family Theater
11 AM and 2 PM | $15 Adults | $13 senior, students, military | $12 Children (12 and under) | $10 groups of 10 or more
Shunned by the other pumpkins, Spookley is befriended by three hilarious spiders who convince him that, square or not, he has a right to be the Pick of the Patch.
October 12th Studio and Storytime at the Tacoma Art Museum 11am-2pm Free with admission
Join your zoo friends for a fun, fall-themed weekend as animals experience special pumpkin enrichments. Wear a costume and save $2 on general front gate admission. Play ghostly games for treats. 9:30am-4PM Free with admission (11.00-21.00).
1 PM -3 PM | Free for members. Included with museum admission for not-yet members. $14 adult, $11 seniors/students/military, $40 for a family, ages 0-5 free, Washington Quest Card and Washington Foster Parent $1 per person or $2 per family (ID and Quest card/foster parent license required).
Family Saturday events feature facilitated gallery exploration and hands-on activities inspired by local history. Second Saturday each month, 1:00-3:00 PM. Designed for children ages 4-12 but all ages are welcome!
October 13th Tacoma Studio Tour
You are invited inside the working studios of 95 local artists to learn about the artistic process, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. All studios will feature demonstrations or will have hands-on activities for visitors. It’s family friendly and free! Get your Tacoma Studio Tour Passport and more info online.
Image Credit: City of Tacoma
Enjoy a tour of the hauntingly dressed Tacoma City Ballet School. Then settle in for a delightful performance of spooky Halloween Ballets. Appropriate for all ages
You and your child, grandchild, or family can design, build, tinker and learn together as you explore the world of automobiles and its relation to science, technology, engineering, art and math.
When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her. Rated PG. Seating is first-come, first-served. All children under age 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
October 19th Paper Trails at King’s Books 11am-5PM
Paper Trails is an annual celebration of all things paper. See art books, hand made paper, tools and embellishments, prints, finished items, printing presses, calligraphy, demonstrations, make-and-take, and more.
Spooky Storytime With the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the Seymour Conservatory
Join Spooky Storytime with The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence! Spooky picture books geared for age 6 and under, but open to everyone.
October 19th Wolf Awareness Weekend at Point Defiance Zoo
9:30 AM – 4 PM | Free with admission ($11 – $21)
Saved from near-extinction, red wolves aren’t just beautiful – they’re an American icon. Meet ours, talk to their keepers and discover these graceful, loping animals with activities, enrichments and more.
Join TYS and TYAO for a fun evening of music from the movies. The musicians and conductors will be in costume and the audience is invited to come in costume.
Image Credit: Tacoma Youth Symphony student credited to Kristina Thomas
October 26th Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure the Mystery of the Dinosaurs of the Deep
hosted by Tacoma Arts Live 3PM 19.00-49.00
An adventure at the bottom of the ocean with the entire family! This show uses technology, science and imagination to create a visual experience connecting young audiences to real science.
October 27th The Kareem Kandi World Orchestra at the Swiss 5PM
Free Jazz by The Kareem Kandi World Orchestra. All ages welcome, no cover charge.
October 30th Night At The Museum: Decomposition and Decay
at the Slater Museum of Natural History at UPS 6-7:30PM Free Get an insider look at the research and teaching specimens that make up the Slater Museum of Natural History.
Community made altars or ofrendas and tapete made by Seattle artist Fulgencio Lazo, performances of dance and music, art making, traditional foods, art vendors, face painting, and more!
Disclosure: Sounds Fun Mom is a proud media sponsor of Tacoma Arts Month and received recognition in exchange for our coverage of these awesome events!