Academy of Sciences
Dec 17th, 2009 by Bethany
We went to the California Academy of Sciences museum yesterday on their monthly “Free Wednesday”, which was more of a life science museum than general science. It was so fun!
The planetarium wasn’t recommended for kids under six, so we skipped that. Maybe that was the “other sciences” part. But we saw the aquarium and the butterfly/rain forest exhibit (very cool, except Degen got a little claustrophobic and kept asking when we could go outside). And we saw the penguins.
A few notes in case I go again, or for those of you planning a trip:
The parking garage is pretty close, but expensive, like $12 for four hours. You might be able to get free 4 hour street parking, but don’t count on it.
We got there 30 minutes before the 9:30am opening time, and were only in line for about 5 minutes after it opened. The very long line moves fast so don’t be intimidated. It was rainy that day, so that might have affected it, but there was ZERO line when we left at 1pm.
Get in line for the rain forest immediately if you’re not going for the planetarium. Lines there get long and move slowly because they have staff supervised double doors in and out to keep the fancy butterflies and bugs in.
The food is wildly expensive. A little ham sandwich costs $8.50. A bottle of soda is $2.50. Pack your lunch and eat it in the lovely atrium in the center of the building.
I want to try to get to the roof garden next time. I think roof gardens are neat.
It’s a busy place, so bring enough adults to supervise kids going in different directions. Grandma and Grandpa came with us and we were just able to keep track of our two preschoolers running at different speeds and in different directions, plus the baby in the stroller.
The rain forest is hot. The rest of the place was slightly chilly. Wear layers.
I liked the albino alligator, the jellyfish, and getting to touch star fish, abalone, and spikey sea urchins. The kids liked getting to stomp on virtual bugs in a floor projected game and catch butterflies in a Wii-style computer game. Maggie liked touching the star fish too, but Degen would have nothing to do with touching animals.
4 hours is not enough to see the whole thing, but it’s past the amount of stimulation my 4-year-old can manage with any civility, and even worse for my 3-year-old.
Did you go to the childrens area in the back? I forget what they call it. Its tucked away in the back of the museum and its easy to miss. Anyway, they have a big pirate ship and stuff for the kids to play with. It was nice for us to take a break and relax while the kids played. When we left the area, they gave the kids a book with activities that reinforced what they learned all around the museum.