Anne L. Francis

Stellar Kid's Museum

Nestled next to the bay in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area at Fort Baker, you'll find the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Housed in 9 buildings on 7.5 acres, this impressive learning center provides hands-on, indoor and outdoor fun for infants and kids up to age 8.

At the Tot Spot, kids 3 and under can enjoy two indoor rooms featuring a water world with soft ponds to crawl on and an ant hill to climb (or crawl) inside. Tot Spot's outdoor area has a stream-shaped water feature (tip: bring extra kid's clothes), a woodland with a puppet theater (puppets included), and a meadow with a gopher's cave. Dress-up clothes and theme-related toys are available in most exhibit areas. In Bay Hall, for example, children can play with a vintage train set or load a ship with containers. The Wave Workshop, aka the museum's science lab, provides a place for kids to conduct water-related experiments and even touch a live animal or two. And your kids can do drop-in arts and crafts at the Art Studios. Lookout Cove, the museum's permanent, 2.5 acre, outdoor exhibition offers kids big-time fun with a real fishing boat with its own little dock, a large, model Golden Gate Bridge under construction, a shipwreck (lots of dress-up clothes and sand toys here), rock cave, a hiking trail, and more.

You can easily spend the day at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. If you need food, bring your own or buy some at the Discovery Café. The café serves a nice selection of freshly made hot and cold sandwiches, organic salads and beverages, and variety of other snacks (chips, crackers, cookies from a local bakery, etc.). A shaded picnic table area is located next to Lookout Cove and there are also many park benches situated throughout the grounds.

Bay Area Discovery Museum is open six days a week (closed Mondays). Admission is free for members and little ones under 1. For nonmembers, the price is currently $7.00 (1 - 17), $8.50 (18 - 61), and $6.50 (62+). Parking is free in both the main and overflow lots. Strollers are welcome on the grounds, but must be parked outside exhibit buildings.

Have a great day.

Stars: 5 out of 5