5 Free Edmonton Art Galleries to Explore with Your Kids this Summer
Not every gallery in Edmonton is going to entertain a nine-year-old. These five are a great place to start when introducing your kids to art in the city. Free to walk into, small enough to beat the meltdown, and interesting enough that someone under ten actually looks up and gets engaged with the art in front of them. Here's where to start this summer — five of the best free things to do in Edmonton you can pull off in a morning — and what to do once you're in.
1. Art Gallery of Alberta: the one with an actual kids' room
Downtown's flagship has a children's gallery right on the main floor — play space, books, small but fun — plus Tours for Tots for the three-to-five set. Kids always get in free, and the entire building opens up free on the last Thursday of the month, 4–7 PM. Closed Monday and Tuesday, so save this one for midweek. There are some cool installations your kids will love this summer - so add it to your list of free things to do in August.
2. Alberta Craft Council Gallery: for the kid who hates paintings
Glass, clay, textiles, wood: objects a kid can wrap their head around way faster than an abstract canvas. It's small, so you're in and out before the fidgeting sets in, and the shop next door is a browse-only wonderland of Alberta-made stuff. Free, downtown, low-commitment. A great gateway gallery.
3. Borealis Gallery: art now, fountains after
Tucked into the Legislature grounds, which means a free rotating exhibition on Alberta's history followed by the single best run-around-and-scream space downtown, steps from the door. If burning off energy is half the mission, here are Edmonton's best playgrounds to build the rest of the day around. Do the quiet part first, the loud part second, and nobody leaves underran. It's quietly the most overlooked free art stop in the core.
Tip: pair this one with AGA's free Last Thursdays where you can get free admission to Art Gallery of Alberta on the last Thursday of the month.
4. Bearclaw Gallery: the one worth slowing down for
Fifty years of First Nations, Métis and Inuit art on 124 Street — painting, sculpture, beadwork, jewellery — in a room built for a little adventure. One of the best places in the city to start a real conversation with a kid about the land under their feet. Tons of galleries nearby to continue the art crawl.
5. SNAP Gallery & Printshop: where kids can make the art, not just look at it
An artist-run centre built entirely around printmaking, with street-facing windows so there's something to see even when the doors are locked. Walking in is free, and they run classes if your kid decides looking isn't enough. Pair it with the rest of the 124 Street galleries and you've filled an afternoon with the kids.
Five is just the start
We keep a full, verified list of every free, family-friendly gallery in and around Edmonton — plus the mural routes and art walks worth the drive — with all the hours, addresses and free days in one place: Edmonton's free art galleries, walks and mural tours. Check it before you head out: hours shift by season, and a few spots close early in the week.
Free. Indoors. Cool when it's blazing outside. Pick one, then check the weekend guide for what's on around it.
