Museums for Kids

King Tut is in the news again this week. While it seems he had some pretty miserable health problems, he also had a lot of really beautiful and amazing stuff, much of which is on view through March 28, 2010 at San Francisco's de Young Museum. If you haven't seen the show yet, this weekend may be the time to do so, because it's free! That's right, this Saturday and Sunday, February 20 and 21, admission to Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs will be absolutely free, courtesy of the generous folks at Target

The only catch is that the free tickets to see Tut are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis, and a limited number of people can go through the exhibition each day. Expect the free tickets to be gone early in the day. There's a limit of four tickets per adult, and tickets will be timed and dated. The museum box office will open at 8:30 am on Saturday and Sunday; the first exhibition entry is at 9 am.

Gung hay fat choy! Sausalito's Bay Area Discovery Museum opens on a Monday (something that happens rarely) for its annual Chinese New Year Festival. The festivities take place on February 15 (President's Day) from 10 am to 5 pm. At the this celebration of the Year of the Tiger, the whole family can find something to do. Create a traditional lucky red envelope (li-cee), kite, or beautiful paper lantern, try your hand at calligraphy, or make your own traditional sweet wontons (they’ll even fry them up for you).

You can also learn about the Chinese zodiac and enjoy an exciting performance by the Dragon Horse lion dancers (10 am) and the lion dancers of the Marin Chinese Cultural Group (2 pm). Lion dance performances take place in the museum's Festival Plaza.

Let your kids’ imagination run wild and create the ultimate gingerbread house with candy canes, gumdrops, frosting, and other treats at the Bay Area Discovery Museum this holiday season. The 12th Annual Gingerbread Architecture Extravaganza starts on November 29 and runs through December 23. Registration is open now. Cost is $25 per gingerbread kit and pre-registration is required, so register online at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Make sure to register as soon as you can, because the event does sell out.

Dates and times:

• Saturdays: November 28, December 5, 12, and 19
• Sundays: November 29, December 6, 13, and 20
• Weekdays: December 21–23
• Times: 11 am, noon, and 1 pm

Looking for something to do this weekend that doesn't involve Halloween? Two interesting new exhibitions open at local museums this weekend that could be perfect outings for your family.

At Sausalito's Bay Area Discovery Museum, families can explore the hidden habitats and secret lives of forest animals in the special exhibition Animal Secrets, which runs from tomorrow through May 9, 2010. Specially designed for children ages 3–8, Animal Secrets uses imagintive role-play and hands-on activities to help children discover nature from an animal's point of view. Environments to be explored include a stream, meadow, woodland, cave, and naturalist's tent.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum is open Tuesday–Friday 9 am–4 pm and weekends 10 am–5 pm. Admission is $8 for children 1–17 and seniors 62+ and $10 for adults; free for children under 1 and members.

For more information, visit www.baykidsmuseum.org or call (415) 339-3900.

If you missed last Sunday's Target Free Museum Day in San Francisco, don't worry—you can still visit most of the city's major museums for free every month! Just about all museums have one day a month set aside as a free day. They all aren't on the same day, too, so if you plan it right you can take in several museum outings without having to pay a thing. Note that most museums still charge for special exhibitions, although usually your general admission fee will be deducted from the total.

First Sunday of the Month

• Asian Art Museum—Target Free Sundays include special family programs.

First Tuesday of the Month

• de Young Museum—Free Tuesday does not apply to King Tut exhibition, but general admission to the rest of the museum is free.
• Legion of Honor
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Cartoon Art Museum—"Pay What You Wish" Day
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

First Wednesday of the Month

• Exploratorium
• Bay Area Discovery Museum

Boo! Bring your little goblins to this year’s Goblin Jamboree Fundraiser at the Bay Area Discovery Museum on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 10 am–4 pm. Come in costume and explore the Bay Area Discovery Museum transformed into a haunted Halloween wonderland complete with games, attractions and live entertainment.

Take a train or pony ride, enroll in the witches’ school, visit the petting zoo, and enjoy a full brew of games, activities, and live entertainment. This fundraiser supports museum education programs, exhibitions, and community access initiatives. Tickets available at the door. BADM Members $12, general $14, children under 1 free. All activities are included with admission. Performers include Tim Cain, Brainy Tunes, Abby & the Pipsqueaks, Zappo the Magician, and more local favorites
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This fall, the work of legendary children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak will be on view at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum. The exhibition There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak is a major retrospective of over 100 works by Maurice Sendak, and features original watercolors and drawings from more than 40 of his books—including the groundbreaking Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen—as well as rare sketches, working materials, and interview footage.

There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak opens Tuesday, September 8, and runs through January 19, 2010.

The exhibition is organized by the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, the world's only repository of Maurice Sendak's work. The exhibition allows both children and adults to gain a deeper understanding not only of Sendak's beloved characters and books but of the author himself, as well as explore the real-life people, places, and events that inspired many of the elements in his stories.

The exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at San Francisco's de Young Museum is probably the hottest museum show in the Bay Area this summer. If you grew up in the Bay Area, then chances are you remember the blockbuster 1979 Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition from when you were a child. We had a chance to view the current King Tut show last week, and took our ancient Egypt-obsessed six-year-old and three-year-old through to look at artifacts from the tomb of the famous boy king and other Egyptian notables.

Overall, the show is stunning. All tickets are timed and dated, so you line up at your appointed time (the museum really has this organized well) and then enter through a set of double doors that look like they came from Pirates of the Caribbean or another similar Disneyland attraction. You're ushered into a dark room where a brief 90-second video introduces you to King Tut and ancient Egypt. When the video ends, another set of doors swing open and you enter the actual exhibition, where you're greeted by a beautiful, near-life-size granite statue of Tutanhkamun.