Taking the Kids: Visiting San Diego

In Balboa Park, there is a place to appeal to every interest. Wander through the Japanese Friendship Garden where you can adopt a Koi fish. Stop for lunch or a snack at the Tea Pavilion. (Udon soup, perhaps?)

Go behind the scenes and see what it takes to create a video game, design a slate park or produce music at the Fleet Science Center’s Design Center. The Fleet is also where New Science explores the stories of the contributions of LGBTQ people working in technology, engineering, math and other science professions. Going Places: The Technology of Transportation, has also just opened, exploring how the technology of travel has shaped society with challenging interactive exhibits. Ready to ride a hovercraft or race your kids on a recumbent bike?

Check out the folk art in the Mingei International Museum. See how pinatas tell stories and how beads are made, among the exhibits.

Take your budding shutterbugs to the Museum of Photographic Arts and car lovers to the San Diego Automotive Museum. Picture yourself in 1918 trying to cross the desert and check out all of the motorcycles.

Explore American Women of Flight at the San Diego Air & Space Museum that honors women’s contributions to aviation. The Museum’s SPACE: Our Greatest Adventure is plenty interactive, complete with selfie stations on the Moon, Mars (in a space suit!) and the International Space Station. Want to land the Space Shuttle or dock it with the International Space Station?

See how researchers are working to conserve the Baja Peninsula at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Ever see a stinging scorpion? Visit the Vivarium in the Living Lab that showcases everything from the stinging and scaly to the fuzzy and flesh-eating, including rattlesnakes, an observation bee hive, a Gila monster, several centipedes, arachnids, and frogs. Take advantage of the museum’s partnership with City Cruises anchored by Hornblower to whale watch with a naturalist on board.

Give the kids perspective on how the First Transcontinental Railroad opened the West with the new exhibit at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum where kids and adults will especially like the Toy Train Layout, complete with a “Choo-Choo cam” to give visitors a first-person virtual view. Learn about the history of San Diego, which dates back to the 16th century, at the San Diego History Center.

Young artists and art lovers will enjoy the San Diego Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art, which showcases work by artists living between Los Angeles and Tijuana, and the Timken Museum of Art with free docent-guided tours. Check for special family programs.

Happy travels!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid’s Guide to Philadelphia and The Kid’s Guide to Camping are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)