Rainy Day Drop-in Activities for the Little Ones for Marin & North Bay

With children bouncing off the walls at home on a rainy day, I’m always looking for places to go to get them out of the house and burn off all that energy. Here are a few ideas for rainy day drop-in activites:

Corte Madera:

• Kids Power Hours drop-in play takes place at the Corte Madera Recreation Center on Mondays with two sessions: 10:30 am–noon and 12:30–2 pm for ages 0–6. Play inside this winter in an inflatable toddler bounce zone, with a huge bounce house, games, tumbling on mats and more. Padded gym mat area provided for children ages 0–2. Attendance limited to first 40 children per session. $8 per child; two or more $14. 10-session pass $70 per child or $130 for two children. The Corte Madera Recreation Center is located at 498 Tamalpais Drive. For more info call (415) 927-5072.

Cotati:

• Pump-It Up Pop-in Playtime Pre-K for ages 2–5 Monday-Friday from 10 am–11:30 am. You and your child are invited to come and play on giant, soft, fun-filled interactive inflatables during Pump It Up Pop-In Playtime. My kids love this place. We have been to the drop-in playtime and birthdays several times. This is a perfect outing for a rainy day or for your next playgroup. Cost: $7 per child and for playgroups for 6 or more $5 per child. Pump It Up is located at 374 Blodgett Street, Suite 1 in Cotati. For  more info, call (707) 794-9533 or visit their website.

Fairfax

• Pavilion Playgroup in Fairfax offers drop-in indoor play for ages 0–5 years Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:30 am–12:30 pm. Bring the little ones for some indoor playtime during the rainy season and meet other moms at this drop-in play. Come play with toys, scooters, soft blocks, and more. December 8 through April based on weather. Cost: $5 per child per visit or $30 for a 10 visit punch card. For more info, visit their website.
  

Novato

• Cal Star Gymnastics Indoor Power Play drop-in for ages 5 years and under on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30–11:30 am and Saturday and Sunday from 9–10:30 am. Participants can run, jump and play in an open gymnastics environment. Bring the kids in on a rainy day to burn some energy. The cost is $15 per child and $135 for a 10 visit saver card. Cal Star Gymnastics, 70 Digital Drive, Suite #3 in Novato. For more info, visit their website.
• Studio 4 Art offers drop-in hands-on art and crafts for all ages on Monday–Friday from 10 am–5:30 pm (Wednesday 10 am–8 pm). A drop-in session at Studio 4 Art is a perfect activity on a rainy day (or any day, really). My kids love this place. They also offering sewing for the young ones—my daughter made the cutiest doll out of felt. Cost: $19.50 per hour (includes all supplies); 20% off each additional hour. For more info, call (415) 596-5546 or visit their website.
  

Mill Valley

• The Mill Valley Community Center Jump Indoor Playday Drop-in for children ages 1–5 every Wednesday from 9 am–noon in the Cascade Room. All the mats will be out with push and pull toys, balls and obstacles to play on. Parents and or caregivers must attend. The cost is $5 child or $7 for the family. No registration necessary. Exact change appreciated. The Mill Valley Community Center is located at 180 Camino Alto. For more info, call (415) 383-1370 or visit their website.
• The Strawberry Recreation Jumping Jacks drop-in program, a safe, soft, super place to play every Monday and Friday from 10:30–noon. Obstacle courses, climbing structures, slides, and rides are all part of the fun. Kids will have fun with parachute games and songs. You stay and play with your little one. For children under 5 with adult supervision. The drop-in cost is $5 per child or $8 per family. Series Cards: 10 classes—$50 individual or $80 per family. Strawberry Recreation District is located at 118 East Strawberry Drive in Mill Valley. For more info, call (415) 383-6494 or visit their website.
  

Petaluma

• Redwood Empire Gymnastics offers drop-in gymnastic classes for children ages 1–3.5 years on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9–9:45 am and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 11:45 am–12:30 pm. Cost: $12 for drop-in for the Little Bugs class. Redwood Empire Gymnastics is located at 434 Payran Street in Petaluma. For more info, call (707) 763-5010 or visit their website.
  
• Burn off some of that rainy-day energy bowling at AMF Boulevard Lanes, at 1100 Petaluma Boulevard South. They offer bumper bowling to make things more fun for the little ones. For more info, call  (707) 762-4581 or visit their website.

San Anselmo

• The Play-Well TEKnologies Marin Engineering Center in San Anselmo offers drop-in LEGO play on Monday-Thursday 10 am–6 pm, Friday 10 am–8 pm, Saturday 10 am–5 pm and Sunday 11 am–5 pm. Cost: $9 and hour per child weekdays, $10 and hour per child weekends and holidays. Pre-school discount: $7 hour for kids under 5 on weekdays before 1 pm (not applicable on school vacation days, including summer vacation). For more info, call (415) 460-5210 or visit their website.

San Francisco

• The Presidio's new House of Air indoor trampoline park offers open trampoline time and their Air Junior bounce house—complete with double slides and climbing wall—for kids 3–6. Trampoline park access is $14 per person, and includes special shoes and a helmet (reguired for jumpers under 10). Bounce house access is $10 per child. House of Air is open Monday–Thursday 10 am–10 pm, Friday 10 am–11 pm, Saturday 9 am–11 pm, and Sunday 9 am–9 pm. Reserve weekend time slots in advance as they sell out! They're located in an historic aircraft hangar at 926 Mason Street at Crissy Field. Info: www.houseofairsf.com or (415) 345-9675

San Rafael

• The San Rafael Community Center Jumping Jacks drop-in program for ages 6 mos. to 3 years every Tuesday and Thursday. Jump-up (for children crawling to 22 months) class is from 9:30-10:30 am. High Jump (for children 23 months to 3 years) is from 10:30-11:30 am. Jumping Jacks is an hour-long class that consists of activities that encourage creative movement, balance and hand-eye coordination. These activities are done in a high-energy, fun-filled atmosphere. The first half of each class is free play and the last half hour of class is group time...have fun dancing with scarves, playing with the parachute and of course popping bubbles!  Fees: 6 classes for $54, 12 classes for $96. Drop-in fee is $10. 25% sibling discounts available. For more info, call (415) 485-3333 or visit their website.
• San Rafael Gymnastics offers a drop-in play for ages 18 months–6 years on Saturday mornings from 9;30-10:30 am. Bring them to Kid's Choice and let them bounce off a trampoline into a foam pit instead! . Each child must be accompanied & supervised by an adult at all times. Cost: $8 for currently enrolled students and $10 for not currently enrolled. For more info, visit their website.
• It's always fun to go bowling on a rainy day! Country Club Lanes in San Rafael is open Sunday–Thursday 10 am–11 pm and Friday–Saturday 10 am–midnight. They offer bumper bowling for smaller children at no extra charge. They're located at 88 Vivian Street, off East Francisco Boulevard. More info: www.bowlmarin.com or (415) 456-4661.

Sausalito

• Play Land is Sausalito's newest indoor bounce house playground for ages 0-9 years. They offer drop-in hours that range depending on age. Hours are: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday morning session for ages 1-6 from 10 -11:50 am. The afternoon session is for ages 1-6 from 12-1:50 pm, ages 3-7 from 2-3:30 pm and ages 3-9 from 3:30-4:50 pm. The drop-off hours are from 2-3 pm and 3:30-5 pm. Drop-off is for children ages 6 - 9, and only in the afternoon at the times shown. Playland cost: daily drop-off is $8 for resident and $10 for non-resident and you can purchase a session pass for $70 resident and $90 non-resident. Afternoon drop-off is $20 resident and $22 for non-resident. Kids 1 and under are free with paid admission. Families with 3 kids pay $20. More than 3 are an additional $5. They are located at 610 Coloma Street in the MLK Gym in Sausalito. For more info, call (415) 381-1241 or visit their website.
• The Sausalito Recreation Department offers two different drop-in options. Tot Club drop-in is an open play program Mondays and Fridays 10:30–11:30 am in the City Hall Exercise Room, 420 Litho Street. The drop-in rate is $5 for residents and $8 for non-residents. The eight-visit drop-in card cost is $25 for for residents and $30 for non-residents. Adventure Club drop-in takes place Wednesdays from 10:30–11:30 am and is located at MLK Gym at 610 Coloma Street, a larger space that offers the kids room to burn off a little more energy. Play in the bounce room, drive kiddie cars, jump on a trampoline, play with puppets, tumble on mats, draw pictures, or do some puzzles. Drop-in cost: $5 residents, $8 non-residents. For more info on any of these programs, call (415) 289-4150 or visit their website.
  
• The Bay Area Discovery Museum is a perrenial favorite with Marin parents and children. They have a number of different indoor play and activity areas that are perfect for a rainy day. For program information, visit www.baykidsmuseum.org or call (415) 339-3900.