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.

This place is terrific for kids from 18 mo. thru atleast 8. They won't want to leave and is so different from most attractions on a vacation. A real breath of fresh air for all, and parents will really enjoy the location (Golden Gate Bridge in the background, hills and countryside-- not city surroundings).

We visited here while staying in San Francisco in April. We have four children in our family (4years to early teens) and they all had a great time.
The cafe at the Museum does a super range of foods and we would recommend using it to anyone visiting (saves lugging a picnic basket around).