50 things to do with Bay Area kids when school is closed

With so many vacation days on the horizon, we wanted put together a list of destinations for our fellow families with grade school children to explore the Bay Area during holidays and other random school’s out days. Enjoy!

Thanks to Sarah’s Science for sponsoring this post (and providing the photos). All of the content was created by 510 Families.

1. Plan ahead for a day of school break camp with Sarah’s Science (Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring, and Summer camps are designed to excite children ages 5 – 15 about science and learning). Children will build cool toys while learning important science concepts.
2. Spend the day in Alameda; climb aboard the USS Hornet, forever-docked, or choose one of 24 other family-friendly activities on our list of things to do with kids in Alameda.
3. Tour Explore a National Park, FREE if you have a fourth grader in your house.
4. Get dirty and get air at the BMX dirt bike park in Pleasanton.
5. Watch the knives and vegetables fly at Hana Japan when you go for an exciting lunchtime date at the Berkeley Marina.
6. Visit Plank for basket-shooting and skee-ball at off-peak prices. Explore the rest of Jack London Square when you finish.
7. Bounce to the ceiling (not really!) at one of four trampoline parks; dodge ball included. Swing from the life-size hammocks and shoot hoops from the trampolines at Kids Gym Berkeley.
8. Zap your friends at Laser Tag at Bladium or Q-Zar.
9. Ping and pong at iTable Tennis Club with a stop at Casper’s for hot dogs after.
10. Give your ankles a workout at Oakland Ice or Yerba Buena with a skating session. Seasonally, you can check out Little Rink in Alameda.
11. Go full tilt on pinball and old-school arcade games at the Pacific Pinball Museum or Playland-Not-at-the-Beach (which has especially holiday-friendly hours, we’ve gone there Christmas Eve!).
12. Climb around on Indian Rock in North Berkeley. It’s free and doesn’t close!
13. Let everyone stay up late for a drive-in movie. After all, it’s not a school night.
14. Run around on the Cal campus before getting yourselves epic ice CREAM sandwiches. Did you know you can go up in the Campanile?
15. On a hot day, hit the water park. Not so hot? Silliman Aquatic Center and East Oakland Sports Center have indoor water slides!

16. Try on an astronaut’s suit and dock the lunar lander at Chabot Space + Science Center (open Tuesday through Sunday).
17. Bring a laptop, a playmate for your kids, and spend a couple of hours at the Jungle in Concord.
18. Unleash your inner Katniss Everdeen with an afternoon at the archery range.
19. Splash around paddleboats or fondle the gardens at Lake Merritt with popcorn afterward.
20. Spend the day playing in Rockridge or hop the BART to catch a movie at Orinda Theatre Square.
21. Go really outside! Hide among the caves in Rock City; look for wild turkeys, magpies, and owl boxes at the Sunol Regional Wilderness; hike Angel Island with snacks at Cove Cafe; run through the Black Diamond Mines with a stop at In-N-Out on the way; look for trains and juggle the mud (!) at Point Pinole.
22. Play with Lego bricks at Brickspace in Benicia or Play-well in Pleasanton.
23. Paint pottery at Color Me Mine, Alameda or Brushstrokes in Berkeley
24. See the trains at the current Conservatory of Flowers exhibit; play at Golden Gate Park’s fab playground afterward.
25. Pet the animals at Sulphur Creek Nature Center (Careful, they have a guinea pig lending library!)
26. Hop the Amtrak for Sacramento’s Old Town and Railroad Museum.
27. Climb the Secret Stairs of the East Bay in Oakland.
28. Take the ferry to SF for a treat at the Ferry Building. Ride a street car, cable car, city bus, and BART all in the same day.
29. Slide down turf hills at Heather Farms Park (Walnut Creek)
30. Try your luck at lawn bowling in Berkeley.
31. Pack a picnic to eat at Codornices Park and explore the creek, trees, and playground (with concrete slide!) before you try all the toppings at Menchie’s frozen yogurt .
32. Visit the Oakland Museum with a scavenger hunt checklist in hand.
33. Create your own play structure at Adventure Playground in Berkeley. Share a smoothie at Sea Breeze on the way home.
34. Bring a huge tote bag and check out the maximum number of books and DVDs from the library.
35. Let animals crawl on your arms at The Lindsay Wildlife Experience, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Playground out back. (Check their schedule here.)
36. Cruise around the roller skating rink at Golden Skate in San Ramon. Open for extra sessions around the holidays (but closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Days) and open on MLK Day. Antioch’s Paradise Skate is open Wednesday through Sundays with some special holiday hours.
37. Go bowling at Albany Bowl, Southshore Lanes in Alameda, or for an upscale treat, head over to Lucky Strike in San Francisco.
38. Daytrip to a San Francisco museum! Visit the Asian Art Museum, say “hi” to the penguins at the Cal Academy of Sciences, or play with dry ice at the Exploratorium. Museums can be $$, so reserve Discover and Go passes beforehand.
39. Bring a football or a fishing rod to Lake Temescal.
40. Take in the view and the interactive exhibitions at The Lawrence Hall of Science. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas, but open on the days surrounding, from 10 am to 5 pm.

In addition to school break day camps and after-school Toyology, Sarah’s Science also has Saturday workshops.

41. Go geocaching — this worldwide scavenger hunt is always open! More details on our love of geocaching.
42. Play on the playground of a school you don’t attend. (My husband and kids are currently doing a challenge of going to every BUSD elementary school playground.)
43. Play miniature golf at SubPar mini golf in Alameda or GolfLand in Castro Valley.
44. Fly kites in Berkeley Marina, perfect on a day when most places are closed, like Christmas Day.
45. Bike around town. Fill your water bottles, pile on some layers and ride the weird partial path on the Bay Bridge, along the new path on Shoreline in Alameda, or enjoy the Bay Trail bike path near Costco in Richmond (head towards the gas station end of Costco and look for a parking lot).
46. Hang out with the wild animals at the Oakland Zoo or San Francisco Zoo. Older kids can play photographer and then come home and make a video. (We’ll post any kid-generated videos here!)
47. Ogle the reptiles at the East Bay Vivarium and then walk over to Peet’s for hot cocoa.
48. Play with art materials at the Sticky Art Lab in Berkeley. Dig through the bins at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse or Urban Ore for some treasures to upcycle. Create a robot from your pieces parts.
49. There’s so much to see at Blake Gardens, you won’t want to stick to the paths. Eat lunch somewhere new-to-you in El Cerrito.
50. Go back in time to a land before websites, smart phones, and television at Ardenwood Farms.

We hope you’re having a fantastic family day when school’s out; next time, plan a long weekend instead with this travel hack.

Where else do your grade school age kids love to go when school’s out?

Thanks again to our sponsor, Sarah’s Science. Visit them online to learn more about their many creative science camps, after-school programs, and Saturday workshops. Have fun out there!