2017 Golden Teddy Awards — Out + About

Winner: Seattle ReCreative

A North Seattle wonderland, Seattle ReCreative is part “creative reuse” retailer and part community art center. It fuses education involving skills such as fine art, woodworking and sewing with a 21st-century mission to find new life for materials that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. Shop for secondhand crafty goods and supplies, sign up for a kid, adult or family class, or drop by with your small one for arty playtime. 

Finalists

Need to get the rainy-day wiggles out? Bellevue’s Funtastic Playtorium is your answer. Designed for children ages 1–10, the big, colorful play space includes a large climbing structure, a ball blaster arena and an interactive soft play area for little ones.

The Puget Sound region has many wonderful swimming pools for families, but Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion is a perennial reader favorite. With ultrawarm water, a huge leisure pool with three spray features, a lazy river and a nearby hot tub, where parents can soak and relax, it’s easy to see why.  

Open for just two years, Kirkland’s Roo’s World of Discovery has already become a family mainstay, with a Montessori-inspired play space that fits all kids’ needs. Beyond open hours for play, it offers low-sensory hours, parent groups, play groups, workshops and even co-working opportunities, where your kids play, supervised, while you fire up your laptop.

In Kitsap Peninsula, Ahoy Kitsap Playland wins kudos for its active climbing structures, with a café right there where adults can relax. Readers cite its “positive staff,” cleanliness, great play equipment and awesome birthday parties.