Museums for Kids

This weekend, Target (you know, that place where you buy diapers and bathroom cleaner and toys and the occasional dress or shirt) presents Arts & Wonder, a free family event with free general admission to six of San Francisco's leading museums and free art activities and performances.

This weekend-long marathon of free family fun kicks off Friday, July 16, 2010 from 5–8:45 pm at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where you can turn Target's canine mascot Bullseye into a work of Andy Warhol-inspired "Pup" art and watch a ballet performance celebrating the work of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. General admission and activities and performances are free, but if you want to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibition (highly recommended!) you'll have to get a special timed ticket—$15 for adults, $10 for children 6–17, and free for kids 5 and under.

If you're looking for a fun and unique overnight experience for the family, why not consider sleeping over at a museum? Local institutions including the California Academy of Sciences, the Aquarium of the Bay, and the USS Hornet Museum all offer exciting programs where families, youth groups, and classes can spend the night. It'll kind of be like the movie Night at the Museum, except that the dinosaurs and dioramas won't come alive after hours (we hope)!

The California Academy of Sciences launched its new Penguins and Pajamas program this summer. Kids 6 and over and their adult chaperones can camp out overnight at the museum on June 18, July 16, and August 13, 2010. Starting at 6:30 pm, overnight guests can explore the Academy after hours, attend a special penguin talk, and take in a planetarium show. Settle in for storytime before bed with cookies, milk, and Pierre the Penguin, the Academy's new children's book about its famous wetsuit-wearing penguin. Breakfast is in the Academy Café, and the whole experience ends at 8:30 am.

Did you know you can 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 special exhibits, 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

• Bay Area Discovery Museum
• Exploratorium

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.

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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