Rainy day activities for kids in the Bay Area
Written September 2026
The shorter list, sorted by county, for the days the playground is basically a puddle.
When it rains in the Bay Area, the big four are the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley and the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose (and in the city, the Randall Museum and the Cable Car Museum are free). Below are twenty-four indoor places across seven counties, from Santa Rosa down to Milpitas and out to Walnut Creek.
The lists that usually come up are either enormous and years old, or they cover one corner of the bay. This one is shorter, sorted by county, and it answers the questions you actually care about when it's pouring: is it free, do you need to book, is there a changing table, will the stroller work, and what age does it suit? When the answer is no, we say so.
It also tells you which museums are half outdoors. Three of the best known ones are, and guess which half you don't get on a wet day.
How we picked
These are the places we'd send a friend with a soggy four-year-old and a long afternoon to fill. The facts under each place come from its own site and its Play Day listing, plus a few from local parents' guides. If a fact is missing, we couldn't confirm it (not that the answer is no).
We skipped anywhere whose best part is outside. The few half-outdoor spots that made the cut are here because the indoor half holds up on its own, and those entries tell you which half you lose.
San Francisco
The most choice, and the biggest crowds. Most of it sits along the water or in Golden Gate Park (the Randall is the one up a hill).
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco
Only get one rainy day in San Francisco? Spend it here. One ticket gets you a four-story rainforest dome, the Steinhart Aquarium (say hi to the albino alligator in the swamp), a coral reef, a touch tide pool, the penguins and the planetarium, and there's honestly enough of it to fill a whole day without anything feeling like filler.
The dome is warm and humid, so strip off the rain layers before the spiral ramp, or someone will be melting in a wet fleece halfway up. You reserve planetarium shows on the day, once you're inside. Nobody under 4 gets in, and the Academy itself says the shows may lose under-7s. It's the priciest ticket on this page, and on a wet Saturday everyone in the city has had exactly the same idea.
The quietest restrooms are on Level Two, which is good to know mid-meltdown. San Francisco residents get a free weekend by zip code twice a year.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
Exploratorium
San Francisco
Hundreds of exhibits on Pier 15, and almost none of them behind glass. It's loud, everything is made to be touched, and nobody blinks at a five-year-old who's been stuck inside since breakfast and really needs to pull some levers. For that specific job, nothing in the city beats it.
The sweet spot is roughly 4 to 12, though teenagers still disappear into the Tinkering Studio and the perception exhibits. The Tactile Dome is a separate timed add-on you crawl, climb and slide through in total darkness, so save it for older kids who are fine with the dark. Under-4s get in free, and there are a few loaner strollers at the Information Desk if you leave an ID.
The walk along the Embarcadero from BART feels endless in the rain. Take the F streetcar instead, it stops right outside.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
Children's Creativity Museum
San Francisco
Small, and built around one really good room. In the Animation Studio kids sculpt clay characters and shoot their own stop-motion film, which works best from about 5. Younger ones can wander the rest of the museum, which is meant for 2 to 12.
Everyone from age 1 pays, adults included, so it's not cheap for the size, and a two-year-old can be done in an hour. What saves it? Your ticket lets you leave and come back the same day. Eat in Yerba Buena Gardens, ride the 1906 carousel right outside, then head back in for a second film.
- Free entry
- No
- Ages
- All ages
Aquarium of the Bay
San Francisco
About 300 feet of clear tunnels on Pier 39, with leopard sharks, bat rays and sevengill sharks gliding right over your head. The moving walkway through the tunnel is what your toddler will be talking about at dinner. The touch pools come early, while everyone still has energy.
Give it an hour with little kids. No outside food and no re-entry, so eat on the pier first, and accept that Pier 39 on a wet weekend comes with its own crowds and its own parking situation. The sea lions at K-Dock are outside, and honestly, go get a little damp for them.
- Free entry
- No
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Randall Museum
San Francisco
San Francisco's one real museum that costs nothing, with a free parking lot too, tucked on the hill below Corona Heights. The live animals are rescued California natives grouped by habitat (raccoons, snakes, raptors). There's an earthquake exhibit, a model train with a caboose, and the Toddler Tree House, a climbing and books room for the littlest ones.
On Saturdays the Golden Gate Model Railroad Club opens its big layout to the public, so that's your day if you have a train kid. It's also the day the lot fills up. An hour and a half covers everything. It's closed Sundays and Mondays, which is, of course, exactly when you'll think of it.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center
San Francisco
The city's only year-round indoor rink, full NHL size, up on the roof above Yerba Buena Gardens, with twelve bowling lanes in the same building. Think of it as the energy-burning half of a downtown rainy day: skate or bowl, then cross the gardens to the Children's Creativity Museum and the carousel.
For the tiniest skaters there are Skater Tots sessions and a toddler area on the ice during the day. You can reserve sessions online.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
House of Air
San Francisco
Trampolines in an old hangar at Crissy Field: the Matrix (42 of them linked together), plus a basketball court and a dodgeball arena. This is where you go when the kids have been inside for two days and have started scaling the furniture.
Mini Mondays, at lunchtime, hand almost the whole floor to 2- to 6-year-olds with no big kids around, and you jump free alongside them. There's a separate Air Junior bounce house for 3 to 6, and open jump and dodgeball are 7 and up. On a wet weekend it sells out two or three days ahead, so book, and sign every jumper's waiver online before you leave the house.
There's a café with food, plus beer and wine for whoever's on bench duty.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
Cable Car Museum
San Francisco
Free, and less a museum than a working powerhouse. The giant wheels that pull every cable in the city turn right in front of you (loud and greasy in the best way), and downstairs you can watch the cables running in under the street. Any kid who's ridden a cable car gets it instantly.
Forty minutes is plenty, so fold it into the ride itself. The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines stop at the door, at Washington and Mason, and Chinatown is downhill for lunch.
The accessible restrooms, with the big stalls, are upstairs by the gift shop.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Musée Mécanique
San Francisco
A warehouse on Pier 45 packed with antique coin-operated machines that still work: hand-cranked dioramas, fortune tellers, strength testers. Walking in is free. The machines are paid for one at a time, so agree on a budget at the door.
Laffing Sal, the cackling figure from the old Playland at the Beach, is either the best or the scariest thing your four-year-old has ever seen, and you won't know which until you're standing in front of her. A cheap hour that pairs easily with the Aquarium of the Bay or lunch on the Wharf.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda
Two science centers up in the hills, and three easy wins down on the flats.
Lawrence Hall of Science
Alameda County
Two rooms are why you come. In Design Quest kids build something, test it, and rebuild it when it falls over. The Animal Discovery Zone has animal ambassadors and shorter hours than the rest of the building, so hit it first. Add a full-dome planetarium and a 3D theater and you've got a wet day covered for anyone from preschool up.
Outside, the terrace has one of the best views of the bay you'll get from the East Bay, plus a DNA sculpture to climb and a life-size whale. Send them out there in a break between showers. Pack snacks, though (the Discovery Store sells them if you forget).
The road up is winding, and when it rains the cloud can sit right on top of it.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
Chabot Space & Science Center
Alameda County
Planetarium shows under a 241-seat dome, in Redwood Regional Park at the top of Skyline Boulevard. The free telescope nights are the famous part, and they need clear skies, so tell the kids in the car that telescopes aren't happening today. You'll save yourself a scene later.
What makes it great in the rain is more boring. Parking is free in a covered three-level garage (which matters way more than it sounds when you're juggling a baby and a car seat), and every restroom has a changing table. You can bring a picnic, and there's a café. Weekday mornings belong to school groups.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
MOCHA, Museum of Children's Art
Alameda County
A walk-in Open Studio with real materials (clay, comics and fashion among them) and staff who help a hesitant kid get started. It's the messy art morning that's never happening in your kitchen, and honestly that's most of the appeal. Dress everyone for paint.
Open Studio is for ages 0 to 10 and runs mornings, Tuesday to Friday plus the first and third Saturdays of the month. Other weekend days, it's not on. It's on the lower level of City Center, steps from 12th Street BART, so if you come by train you barely get wet.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- No
- Ages
- All ages
Pacific Pinball Museum
Alameda County
Pay once, then play more than a hundred machines as much as you like with no coins, laid out so you walk from 1940s wood-rail games all the way to modern ones. The grown-ups enjoy it at least as much as the kids, and nobody pretends otherwise.
Best from about 5. Younger kids can't see over the glass or reach the flippers, and it's loud and dim. On select Saturdays, Little Flippers gives 5- to 12-year-olds a quick lesson in flipper technique, included with admission. It stays open into the evening and is closed Mondays, so it can rescue a rainy evening as well as an afternoon.
- Free entry
- No
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch
Alameda County
The Central Children's Room takes up the entire fourth floor at Kittredge and Shattuck, one block from Downtown Berkeley BART. Free and dry, which some days is all you're asking for.
Two storytimes happen in that room: Baby and Toddler Story Time for 6 to 36 months (songs, bounces and short books) and Family Story Time for 3 to 7. The library is closed Sundays, which is annoyingly when a lot of people would want it. Street parking is scarce, so take BART or the bus.
- Ages
- All ages
Walnut Creek
One paid morning and one free one, five minutes apart.
Lindsay Wildlife Experience
Contra Costa County
Live native animals that can't be released (a porcupine, owls, raptors, snakes) plus a working wildlife hospital. Everything's at kid height and the whole visit takes 90 minutes to two hours, which is pretty much the perfect size for a toddler or preschooler. Past about 9, it starts to feel small.
The Petting Circle happens three times a day and lets kids hold a rabbit or a guinea pig, with keeper talks in between. Two heads-ups: the gift shop is right at the entrance, and some of the taxidermy can spook a sensitive kid. Parking at Larkey Park is free.
- Free entry
- No
- Ages
- All ages
Walnut Creek Library
Contra Costa County
Part of the Contra Costa County Library, opened in 2010, with a big children's wing that has its own patio and activity boards. There's a café in the building, and Civic Park is right next door for the minute the rain stops.
A good hour, not a whole day. Walk over from Walnut Creek BART, or pair it with Lindsay Wildlife, about five minutes away by car, for a Walnut Creek rainy day where only half of it costs anything.
The Peninsula
Both are open seven days a week, which on the Peninsula is rarer than it should be.
Hiller Aviation Museum
San Mateo County
A hangar full of real aircraft at San Carlos airport. Kids climb into the cockpit of a Boeing 747 and into helicopters while small planes land right outside. You see everything from the floor and then again from a mezzanine (there's an elevator).
It's open every day, which makes it one of the few rainy-Monday answers on the Peninsula, and parking is free. The Flight Sim Zone is fully wheelchair accessible, and extras like the Starlab planetarium shows cost more. A plane-obsessed kid will stay for hours. Everyone else is done in about ninety minutes.
- Free entry
- No
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
CuriOdyssey
San Mateo County
A science and wildlife museum at Coyote Point. Inside are hands-on physics exhibits: magnet walls, air experiments, light and mirrors. The animal side is rescued native wildlife, including a river otter, bobcats, a fox, eagles and owls.
Here's the problem in real rain: that animal side is mostly outdoors. Bring rain jackets, plan your visit around the indoor science floor, and make one dash out for the otter feeding at midday, which is the one bit you'll happily get wet for. Coyote Point charges for parking per car, on top of admission.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
San Jose and the South Bay
Downtown San Jose has the best toddler museum and the best one for bigger kids, a few blocks apart.
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Santa Clara County
The big purple building on Woz Way, and the best rainy-day museum in the South Bay for anyone under about 9. WaterWays has water troughs at toddler height, the Mammoth Discovery dig pit comes with goggles and chisels, and there's a life-size fire truck and a play grocery store, the Rainbow Market. Under-4s get their own area.
Regulars put their toddlers in rain gear for the water room, which is about as good as a rainy-day joke gets (bring a full change of clothes anyway). Weekend visits run as three-hour sessions with very few walk-in spots, so book your slot. Strollers are only allowed for kids who can't walk, and there's no food inside. Bill's Backyard is lovely, and also outside.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
The Tech Interactive
Santa Clara County
More than a hundred hands-on experiences in downtown San Jose: robotics, bio labs, a VR area and an IMAX dome, with one film included in your ticket. It really shines from about 5. With anyone younger, the Children's Discovery Museum across downtown makes a better morning.
Grab VR slots the minute you arrive and aim for an early IMAX showing, because some days it closes mid-afternoon. For the whole crew, it's expensive. The Tech Café does breakfast and lunch with indoor seating, so nobody has to go back out in the rain to eat.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
LEGOLAND Discovery Center Bay Area
Santa Clara County
Inside the Great Mall at Entrance 4, with the mall's free parking: a small ride, build-and-test zones, a 4D cinema, and the Bay Area skyline in bricks in Miniland. It's aimed squarely at 3 to 10, and adults can't get in without a kid.
Plan on two to three hours. Buy online, where tickets are a lot cheaper than at the door. It's small for the price and a ten-year-old will call it babyish, but the mall is right there for lunch, and on a grim day that counts for more than it should.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Santa Clara County
The largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in western North America: human and animal mummies, sarcophagi, and a walk-through replica tomb, which is what kids talk about the whole way home. Seven to twelve is the sweet spot, especially for a kid already deep in an ancient Egypt phase.
It's only open Friday to Sunday. There's a ramp entrance and a platform lift between gallery levels, but state rules keep strollers off the lift, so bring a carrier for a baby. Parking is free in two lots out back, and the gardens are nice in a dry spell.
- Free entry
- No
- Reservations
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
Marin and Sonoma
Two good wet days north of the bridge (one comes with a caveat).
Bay Area Discovery Museum
Marin County
Made for ages 0 to 8, right under the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The indoor rooms are Tot Spot, for the littlest, and Bay Hall, both with nursing nooks, and every bathroom has a changing table. Parking is free and right by the museum, and the front desk lends out sound-blocking headphones and weighted vests.
The caveat? A lot of the best stuff, like Lookout Cove and the fishing boat, is outdoors. On a truly rainy day you'll live in the indoor rooms, and so will everyone else in Marin. Outside food is allowed and there's a café. During the school year it's closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
- Ages
- All ages
Charles M. Schulz Museum & Snoopy's Home Ice
Sonoma County
Your Sonoma County rainy-day plan, in two halves across one street. Morning is the museum: original Peanuts strips, plus an Education Room where kids draw their own comics. After lunch, Snoopy's Home Ice, the rink Schulz built, which runs toddler sessions as well as public skating.
In between there's the Warm Puppy Café at the rink, where Schulz ate lunch most days, and it still does hot dogs, fries and soup. You can't book either half: museum tickets are sold only at the door, and rink sessions only in person, shortly before each one starts. Parking is free at both. The museum is closed Tuesdays.
- Restroom
- Yes
- Ages
- Ages 5 and up
When everyone else has the same idea
On the first wet Saturday of the season, the big names fill up fast. Get to the California Academy of Sciences right at opening. The indoor rooms at the Bay Area Discovery Museum get packed in a real storm (half the museum is outside, so where else would everyone go?), and the Randall Museum's lot fills on busy Saturdays.
Book whatever can be booked. House of Air weekends sell out two or three days ahead, the Children's Discovery Museum's weekend sessions have few walk-in spots, and LEGOLAND is cheaper online anyway.
If you can swing a weekday, more opens up: MOCHA's Open Studio runs Tuesday to Friday, House of Air keeps Mini Mondays for 2- to 6-year-olds with no big kids, and Hiller and CuriOdyssey are open every day. Save Chabot for the afternoon, since its weekday mornings belong to school groups. Honestly, a rainy Tuesday might be the best day of the week for this list.
Questions
What is there to do with kids on a rainy day in San Francisco?
For a whole day, the California Academy of Sciences: rainforest, aquarium, penguins and planetarium on one ticket. For a loud, hands-on few hours, the Exploratorium. The Randall Museum and the Cable Car Museum are free, and walking into the Musée Mécanique costs nothing. Need to burn energy? House of Air (book ahead) or the ice rink and bowling at Yerba Buena.
What are free indoor things to do with kids in the Bay Area?
In San Francisco, the Randall Museum is free and so is its parking lot, though it's closed Sundays and Mondays. The Cable Car Museum is free, and so is walking into the Musée Mécanique. In the East Bay, Berkeley's Central Library has a fourth-floor children's room with storytimes, and Walnut Creek Library has a big children's wing. Chabot's telescope nights are free too, but they need clear skies.
Which Bay Area kids museums are best for toddlers when it rains?
The Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose, for the water room and the under-4s area (book a session). The Bay Area Discovery Museum is built for 0 to 8 and Tot Spot is indoors, but half the museum is outside. For something smaller, try the Randall Museum's Toddler Tree House, Lindsay Wildlife in Walnut Creek (toddler sized, with a petting circle) or MOCHA's Open Studio for 0 to 10.
Do I need to book ahead on a rainy weekend?
For some, yes. House of Air weekends sell out two or three days ahead, the Children's Discovery Museum's weekend sessions have few walk-in spots, LEGOLAND Discovery Center is cheaper online, and Cal Academy planetarium shows are reserved on the day. The Schulz Museum sells tickets only at the door, Snoopy's Home Ice sells skating in person, and MOCHA is walk-in.
Which Bay Area rainy-day spots are open on Mondays?
The California Academy of Sciences, Hiller Aviation Museum, CuriOdyssey and the Aquarium of the Bay are open every day. The Schulz Museum closes on Tuesdays instead, Berkeley Central Library opens on Monday afternoons, and House of Air runs Mini Mondays for ages 2 to 6. Closed on Mondays: the Exploratorium, the Randall, Lawrence Hall, Chabot, Lindsay Wildlife, the Pacific Pinball Museum, and the Bay Area Discovery Museum during the school year.
Photos
California Academy of Sciences: FASTILY (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Exploratorium: Dan Dascalescu (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Children's Creativity Museum: D'Arcy Norman from Calgary, Canada (CC BY 2.0) · Aquarium of the Bay: Allie_Caulfield from Germany (CC BY 2.0) · Randall Museum Friends: Mliu92 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · House Of Air: Masrur Odinaev (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Cable Car Museum: Brendan Riley from Chicago, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Musée Mécanique: Zeljko.filipin (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Lawrence Hall of Science: Tbo47 (CC0) · Chabot Space & Science Center: Don DeBold from San Jose, CA, USA (CC BY 2.0) · Pacific Pinball Museum: Loudfan (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch: Sarah Stierch (CC BY 4.0) · Lindsay Wildlife Experience: Dandelion 1997 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Hiller Aviation Museum: Daniel Beckwitt (CC0) · CuriOdyssey: Arios13 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose: LPS.1 (CC0) · The Tech Interactive: The Tech Museum of Innovation (CC BY 2.0) · Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum: Oren Rozen (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bay Area Discovery Museum: Sarbjit Bahga (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles M. Schulz Museum & Snoopy's Home Ice: RadioKirk (Public domain)
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