With the Bay Area being one of the most innovative regions in the world, there’s no shortage of amazing places where kids can make, create, tinker, and learn. From world-class science museums to hands-on maker spaces, these are our favorite Bay Area spots for interactive STEM fun — where curiosity is always the point.
Bay Area-Wide
Play-Well – Teaching engineering through LEGO building, Play-Well offers classes, camps and drop-in hours with both structured and free-form activities with hundreds of thousands of LEGOs to explore engineering, physics architecture and art.
Multiple locations
East Bay
The Crucible – The Crucible has been an epicenter of the Bay Area maker movement since it opened its doors, teaching industrial arts from glassblowing to welding to ceramics and more. The center offers classes, workshops and camps.
1260 Seventh St., Oakland
The Junior Center of Art and Science – It offers classes, camps and workshops for kids in carpentry, art, science, engineering and more. You can stop by every Saturday for free drop-in programming from 10am-4pm.
558 Bellevue Ave., Oakland
MOCHA – The Museum of Children’s Arts offers open studios every first and third Saturday of the month. Artists are available to help provide technical instruction and suggest age-appropriate activities. Designed for ages 0-10, but older siblings and caregivers can participate. Register online. 10am-2pm. Admission: $12 ages 1-17, $5 for caregiver.
1221 Broadway LL-49, Oakland
Marin
Bay Area Discovery Museum – This children’s museum offers a variety of ways to make, create and tinker. Kids can cut, tear and layer their way into creative creations at the Collage Corner. At the Try It Studio, they can build crazy contraptions and puzzle out patterns. There are also workshops, fun exhibits and great outdoor spaces. Wed.-Sun. 10am-4pm. $25 children and adults, $23 seniors.
557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito
San Francisco
The Butterfly Joint – They offer woodworking classes and camps for kindergarten-age and older. Along with woodworking skills, its camps focus on teaching manners, community, personal responsibility and social justice.
4411 Cabrillo St.
Children’s Creativity Museum – Create a stop-motion movie, record your own music or take the Mystery Box Challenge in which kids are given a prompt to invent something using only the materials given. These are some of the interactive activities that aim to nurture creativity and collaboration. Open Thurs.-Sun.10am-4pm. $20.
221 Fourth St.
Exploratorium – The Exploratorium offers hands-on exhibits, tinkering opportunities a science-themed storytime and more. From June 11-Sept. 13, the “Life in Space,” exhibit will explore the science of living in space. See sidebar for details. 10am-5pm Tues.-Sat., 12-5pm Sun. $29.95-39.95, 3 and under free.
Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green Street
Mission Science Workshop – Stop by Mission Science Workshop to tinker, build and explore at this program aimed at underserved youth from low-income communities. You can drop in every Tuesday from 3-5pm at the Excelsior site. It also provides free community days on select dates at the Bayview, Mission and Excelsior locations from 10am-3pm.
Bayview location: 50 Pomona St.
Excelsior location: 4458 Mission St.
Mission location: 3750 18th St.
Peninsula
CuriOdyssey – It’s home to about 60 animals, including many that came from wildlife rehabilitation centers,. It also has a physics-in-action playground where kids can explore motion, energy and gravity by playing. It offers Sensory Sundays with features for neurodivergent guests and those with sensory sensitivities. Open every day, 10am-5pm. $19.95-24.95.
1651 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo
Silicon Valley
Children’s Discovery Museum San Jose – The museum offers interactive indoor and outdoor exhibits exploring science, nature, culture and art, including “Waterways” where kids can splash and play while learning physics and “BubbleUp!” That explores types, shapes and sizes of bubbles. There are also opportunities to create art, explore a nature space, use imagination and more. Tues.-Fri. 9:30am-1pm., Sat.-Sun. 9:30-4:30pm. $16-18.
180 Woz Way, San Jose
LEGOLAND Discovery Center Bay Area – The center features an area where you can build, a Miniland Bay Area, 4D cinema and more. You can also build a LEGO race car and test it on a track and there are opportunities to meet your favorite LEGO characters and a master model builder. 11am-5pm. Tickets start at $24.99 per person.
870 Great Mall Drive, Milpitas
legolanddiscoverycenter.com/bayarea
The Tech Interactive –. At the Tech Studio, everyone can be a maker with guided experiences in science, technology, engineering, art and math. In the Biotinkering Lab, do experiments and activities at select times with scientists. The new AI-powered immersive exhibit, “Dream Garden,” allows visitors to step into a dream-like world and explore the possibilities of AI. Tues.-Fri. 10am-3pm, Sat. 10am-5pm, Sun. 11am-5 pm. $28-38.
201 S. Market St., San Jose
