This is a wonderful place for toddlers and slightly older kids to play! I took my 3 year old and my 1 year old to the museum on one of the "free" days and it was super easy to find parking, and both had a blast. It was very crowded due to it being a free admission day but we enjoyed it so much that we ended up staying for the whole day. My 1 year old liked the water play and the indoor play areas best, while my 3 year old liked climbing on the ship and the outdoor play areas. If we lived in SF, we would buy annual passes here because the kids loved it so much. Definitely worth the visit if you have the time, your kids will love it!

We had a blast. This place had the usual terrific well thought out children's exhibits. Toddler crawling tactile area, hands on nature exhibits. I actaually learned some stuff about our local fauna.

They also had a visit that day of live animals. Got to touch a real baby alligator, albino burmease python (8 feet of yellow!), and lots of other critters.

The educational stuff really apealed to me, but the think my kids remember the most are the totally cool play structures outside. Looks like they have a real boat turned into a playground thing. Got a mini suspension bridge. And had some neat hands on sculptures that left my kids not wanting to go home.

We were told about the Bay Area Discovery Museum by a friend from San Francisco and it was a great tip. Our daughter was 16 months old at the time of visiting and she loved this place.

The museum is basically a series of buildings each featuring a different activity or style of play. Eg there is an art area, music section, an area specifically for tots, etc.

There are lots of outdoor play areas which our baby girl loved. The "tot spot" has indoor and outdoor activities aimed at toddlers. She loved the stream where you can play with the plastic fish and other marine life and the woodland area with lots of space to play, tunnels to crawl through, play birds and animals to interact with and much more.

The art area is divided up for big and small kids. For our daughter she had fun modelling with clay, stacking magnetic shapes and reading books.

For parents, there is a well stocked cafe that sells sandwiches, drinks and snacks, a shop where you can buy toys to bribe your kids to leave (it was the only way we could get ours to walk away) plus plenty of areas to sit down and watch your loved ones enjoying themselves.

If you're in the Bay Area for a few days with kids, try and get to this place and give yourself at least a few hours to explore. Your kids will thank you for it.

This place is a mixture of outdoor and indoor fun for kids who are walking up to 10 I'd say. I did bring my daughter to the toddler area at 11mos, she wasn't walking so it wasn't great as many people allow older kids in the toddler room and it can get dangerous. Too bad as it would be fun for crawlers. Now that she is walking and can get to more places, it's more interesting. They also have arts and crafts projects for older kids and a big playground. They had changing tables in the restrooms and it's totally family friendly. Bring a jacket as it can get windy.