This 3-day weekend, check some things off your Things to Do In the East Bay Before Your Child Grows Up list: 

• Take a spin on the Tilden Park Merry-Go-Round, open from 11-5 on weekends, including this Monday for Labor Day
• Ride the Steam Trains, also in Tilden Park, which are open from 11-6, including Monday this weekend
• Crash a closed elementary school's playground. (We like Cragmont for the view!)
• Make art together at Habitot in Berkeley or MOCHA in Oakland
• Venture to a new Farmer's Market. Choices on Saturday include El Cerrito, Downtown Berkeley, Alameda, Grand Lake, and Berkeley's Beehive Market. Sunday offers Temescal, Kensington, Jack London and Montclair.
• Take BART to San Francisco. Ride a cable car. Ride home. Or stay and see Peter Pan in 360 degrees (best for ages 7 and up) which is playing near San Francisco's Embarcadero. Ticket prices are greatly reduced on Goldstar.com.
• Find live theater closer to home at the Berkeley Playhouse presentation of Aladdin this weekend.
• Up for a day trip? We like Sausalito's Discovery Museum and San Jose's Discovery Museum.
• Football fans getting excited about the fall can make a wooden football display at Home Depot's Saturday kid workshops
• Desparate for AC? Toy Story 3 is still at the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas and at Bay Street. Seen it already? Try the Oakland Museum's exhibit about PIXAR where you can see how they make the magic happen.