Family-Favourite Science Centres & Museums

So much of the magic of the modern era happens invisibly and at nano scale, but The Tech Museum of Innovation—or simply ‘The Tech’—does a great job of creating a fun laboratory and learning experience for curious people of all ages. Dive into interactive exhibits showing the power of technologies ranging from robots to gene-splicing and alternative energy. Let virtual butterflies alight on your arm, and let the kids play with the ultimate video games—you’ll probably want to play too. Another highlight is the Silicon Valley Innovation Gallery, showcasing the machines that revolutionise human thought, creativity and communication. Man does not live by bits and bytes alone—so relax in the café, the peruse tech-and-science items in the gift shop (especially great for holidays and birthdays). 

This remarkable hands-on museum, dedicated to the science of learning, fills a former water front pier with hundreds of innovative exhibits and demonstrations. The cavernous space is ideal for children with lots of energy, who love to dash from one clever exhibit to the next, from learning about sound waves, to playing with prisms, figuring out magic tricks, and learning how fog is formed. Exhibits change regularly, so there’s always something excitingand new to discover. There’s also a small cinema. Check the calendar for special films and presentations.

The fun continues outside, too, with assorted free exhibits, like stationary bikes that help teach about energy and unusual climbing structures in fantastical shapes. And don’t miss the all glass observation cube at the very tip of the pier. Climb the stairs for remarkable views of sailing boats, freighters and ferries, as well as the nearby Bay Bridge and Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands.

Insider’s tip: Sign up in advance to crawl and bump your way through total darkness in the Tactile Dome.

Turtle Bay Exploration Park is exactly that, a mostly outdoor institution built alongside the shady Sacramento River, with creative ways for children to learn about Native American and pioneer history, as well as plants and wildlife. Indoor exhibits shed light on the region’s natural world. Outside, Paul Bunyan’s Forest Camp lets children learn about what it was like to be an early logger in the region. There is also a recreation of a traditional Native American bark house.

The park also lets children experience some pretty classy outdoor art, most notably Redding’s striking Sundial Bridge Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Children love to stare down through the glass tiles that pave this remarkable pedestrian-only bridge spanning the Sacramento River. On the far side of the bridge, opposite the museum, is the 200 acre McConnell Arboretum & Gardens, with displays of native California plants and trees that are especially pretty in spring. 

With green spaces and gardens, museums, and assorted playing fields, Exposition Park is a place for playing, learning, and being entertained.

Most of its museums and attractions are free. A quick stroll takes you to the impressive California Science Center, with hands-on exhibits and a dramatic centerpiece—the space shuttle Endeavour, which completed 25 space missions, including ones to the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. (Keep in mind that you often need timedreservations to see the shuttle on weekends.) Or, check out paintings, sculpture, photography, and video exhibits at the excellent California African American Museum

Visit the park anytime between April and December, and you can stop and smell the roses for free—roughly 16,000 of them—at the adjacent Exposition Park Rose Garden.

Dino-fans, meanwhile, flock to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (which offers Free Tuesdays  about a dozen times a year) to see the impressive collection of prehistoric creatures, especially a remarkable trio of complete T. rex skeletons of various ages and sizes. Other notable sites include the Becoming L.A. permanent exhibit, a1,300-square-metre masterpiece that tells the history of the city. Learn about Spanish padres and their missions during the 1700s, the era of Mexican ranchos, the water wars, the Great Depression, and, of course, Tinseltown

Kids get to learn about science in real-life ways—from fossil-digging to bubble-blowing, and gardening—at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. The location alone offers some serious Silicon Valley street cred: The distinctive purple building sits on downtown San Jose’s Wozniak Way—known by locals as “the Woz,” and named after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

First opened in 1990, the museum houses roughly 150 exhibits, ranging from classic displays to interactive real-world applications, and geared to kids as young as infants (the sweet spot, though, may be primary-school age). Start by checking out Lupe, the replica of a woolly mammoth—whose real fossils were found in Silicon Valley—then take to the neighbouring dig pits to learn how archaeologists search for fossils. In other areas, kids can make art, blow giant bubbles with bubble rings, play with worms to learn about composting, and explore the mathematical magic of circles.

“Parents love the opportunities that the museum provides for family learning, whether it’s seeing who can create the biggest bubble, sparking scientific inquiry in Mammoth Discovery, or unleashing a misty cloud of fog in WaterWays,” says museum spokesperson Cecilia Clark. Additionally, reflecting the diverse community of Silicon Valley, the exhibits feature trilingual signage: English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

As of summer, 2017, the museum is stretching outdoors. Its half-acre “Bill’s Backyard: Bridge to Nature” invites kids to get their hands dirty, whether they’re digging in the dirt and planting seeds, tree-climbing, or pumping water out of a rain catchment system.

“Regardless of ability, age, or access, adults love that their children take the lead in exploring in a safe, welcoming, and enriching environment,” says Clark. Snack time is rewarding too: The museum’s FoodShed offers fresh and minimally processed foods—like sweet potato quesadillas, whole-grain-bread sandwiches, and German apple cake—all low in sugar with no additives or preservatives.