Kids Out and About Top 20 Places to Take Kids (Seattle): How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Seattle Top 20 survey from Kids Out and About?

Each year KidsOutAndAbout.com compiles its Top 20 Places to Take Kids ranking through a family ballot run by Kids Out and About Seattle, the Seattle edition of a national network of local activity calendars for parents. Each cycle the site publishes a nominees page titled Nominees for Seattle Top 20 Survey, listing the contenders families choose from when they vote for the Seattle area's favorite places to take kids. No third-party polling service hosts this ballot; the voting address sits inside the Kids Out and About Seattle domain at https://seattle.kidsoutandabout.com/content/nominees-seattle-top-20-survey.

In vertical terms this is a best-of contest, but its field is narrower than a general local ranking. Restaurants, shops and professional services fill many readers' choice ballots; this survey instead gathers the destinations parents, grandparents and caregivers pick for outings with children. The page footer carries an EntertainmentCalendar copyright line, marking the calendar operation behind the Seattle site.

A returning reader also gets context for free: the nominees page keeps a link to the previous cycle's Top 20 and category winners, so anyone can see how the last edition finished before casting fresh votes.

When does the Seattle Top 20 survey run, and which editions are confirmed?

Timing is the clearest published fact about this ballot. In the 2026 cycle, voting runs June 4 through June 20, 2026, and the organizer frames the whole exercise as a May-and-June tradition in which local parents, grandparents and caregivers by the thousands weigh in on their favorite places to take kids. That seasonal shape has held for a long stretch: KidsOutAndAbout describes sponsoring its Top 20 Places to Take Kids ranking each summer since 2005.

On the Seattle ballot specifically, confirmed editions include 2024, 2025 and 2026. The 2024 invitation asked supporters to place their votes for their top three venues and educator categories, which shows the ballot mixing destination rankings with education-focused honors in at least one past cycle.

Two details sit outside the published text. Whether a separate nomination round precedes voting is not stated anywhere on the ballot pages. And the organizer pairs no category roster with the nominee list; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Finished standings stay visible all the same, because the nominees page links straight to the previous cycle's Top 20 and category winners.

How does a supporter cast a vote in the Seattle Top 20 survey?

Casting a vote starts at the nominees page, https://seattle.kidsoutandabout.com/content/nominees-seattle-top-20-survey, which lists the Seattle area's contenders. From there the governing rule is printed outright: you can vote once on each device you have. A household holding a phone, a tablet and a desktop computer therefore has three separate chances to back a favorite, all inside the same June window.

Nothing in the published ballot text describes an account, a sign-in or a registration step, so the practical barrier is only the device itself. Because the survey runs on Kids Out and About Seattle's own domain, the same nominees page loads in a desktop browser and in a mobile browser without a detour to another platform.

The per-device rule also explains why the survey rewards broad turnout rather than repeat effort from a handful of people. Once a supporter's devices are spent, extra pressing adds nothing; a place with many distinct backers spreads much further. Anyone who wants the fullest picture before voting can open the link to the previous cycle's results kept on the same page.

How does this ballot compare with other Washington readers' choice contests?

Washington readers'-choice voting is well served on this site, and the Seattle Top 20 survey has clear neighbors. KING5 Best of Western Washington reaches the whole western half of the state, Best of 425 speaks to Bellevue and the Eastside, and Cascade's Best takes its own regional slice. Further afield sit the Columbian's Best of Clark County, the Everett Herald's Best of Snohomish County and Seattle Medium's Best of the Best Northwest Readers' Choice.

What separates the Kids Out and About ballot from each of those is audience and subject. Those programs pitch broad best-of fields to general readers, while this survey asks a family audience about places to take kids, and it runs on the calendar site's own pages rather than a media company's contest hub. Its early-to-mid June window gives it a calendar slot of its own as well.

For a Seattle destination deciding where to focus a supporters' push, the fit matters. A museum, zoo or play space speaks naturally to this ballot, while a restaurant or salon often finds its stronger match among the general-interest neighbors listed above.

How can a favorite place gather more support in the June window?

The printed rule, one vote on each device you have, is the fact that should shape any push to rally supporters for a favorite Seattle place. Because every device carries its own vote, reminders work best when they reach each person directly and invite action from the device in hand, whether that is a phone at pickup time or a laptop at home. The June 4 to 20 stretch is short, so messages timed to opening day catch supporters while the full window still lies ahead.

The survey's published pages lay out that device rule but print nothing about paid assistance, so any organization weighing outside help should study the ballot's instructions with care. Our overview of earning more votes online collects approaches suited to public ballots of this sort, from reminder timing to reaching distinct supporters instead of the same few screens.