Top 20 Places to Take Kids in and around San Jose - 2023
Every May and June, thousands of local parents, grandparents, and caregivers weigh in on their favorite local places to take kids. This page is where we showcase the 2023 list of winners for the San Jose area. (Click here for the full list of nominees.)
Of course, there are literally hundreds of wonderful places to take your kids in our area, not just this year's winners! After you check out the list, make sure to find great things to do on our packed daily calendar, sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter, and visit our Everything That's Free page for lots more ideas.
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1. Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Test, tinker, and create with more than 150 hands-on exhibits exploring science, humanities, the arts, nature, and health. It’s family fun and learning with open-ended play at the award-winning museum that inspires creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning!
2. Happy Hollow Park & Zoo
Connecting people to nature through play, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo is a division of the City of San José, Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services Department. With tens of thousands of visitors passing through our gates each year, the teams at Happy Hollow understand the importance of providing great experiences and memories that last a lifetime.
3. The Tech Interactive
Where dreams become reality and imagination takes flight!Unleash your imagination at The Tech Interactive, a family-friendly science and technology center in the heart of downtown San Jose. Engage in hands-on experiences that will ignite your creativity, curiosity, and compassion. Dive into the captivating Biotinkering Lab and explore your problem-solving potential in the Tech Studio with guided experiences and challenges in STEAM. The Interactive’s IMAX Dome Theater has a four-story wraparound screen and 12,000 watts of digital surround sound.
The Tech Interactive is a place where innovation and creativity converge to empower individuals to make a meaningful impact on the world. It's an unforgettable experience that will leave you inspired, motivated, and ready to shape a brighter future for all.
4. California's Great America
California's only combination theme park and waterpark, offering more than 100 acres of world-class entertainment for guests of all ages!
5. My Local Library
Of course, the libraries in the San Jose area are not really ONE place, but MANY places... but it's important to emphasize how valuable libraries are for family learning and fun. The libraries in our area are wonderful about posting their events to the KidsOutAndAbout calendar so you always can get ideas for free things to do with your kids that celebrate education and imagination. KidsOutAndAbout.com takes this opportunity to salute the wonderful children's librarians who serve our community with such dedication. They're proud that locals voted them to the list of best places to take kids this year!
6. LEGOLAND Discovery Center
LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Bay Area is the ultimate indoor LEGO® playground in The Great Mall in Milpitas. The indoor LEGO attraction is a 3-hour play experience featuring 10+ interactive play zones! Celebrate with a LEGO® Birthday party at LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Bay Area and have a fun-filled adventure to remember! For a birthday party to remember we offer Awesome, Awesomer, and Awesomest birthday party packages in our private birthday party rooms. See why we are the most unique venue for kid's birthday parties in the Bay Area!
7. Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery
SCCMOD team offers learning opportunities through hands-on manipulative experiences geared to a variety of interest levels and learning styles; showcasing special exhibits on a rotating basis; utilizing state-of-the-art learning theories and research to provide high quality exhibits; and featuring exhibits that incorporate tiered learning to engage and involve children and those who accompany them.
8. The Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
The Junior Museum & Zoo is a place where children and their caregivers come to explore, discover, create and play. Through hands-on science exhibits and a diverse community of live animals, your child's natural scientist will be nurtured.
9. The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is an educational institution that uses trans-disciplinary approaches to increasing knowledge about the past, present, and future, especially related to the diversity and relationships in nature and among cultures.
12. Ardenwood Historic Farm
Ardenwood Historic Farm offers a glimpse into life on a family farm between 1890 and 1930. Step back in time as you explore the remnants of the once vast estate of George and Clara Patterson, whose family farmed the land for over 100 years, beginning in the 1850s. East Bay Regional Park District has operated the property as a fully functioning, turn-of-the-last-century farm since 1985.
13. Children's Musical Theater San Jose
Children's Musical Theater San Jose (CMT) trains and educates today's youth through musical theater to set and achieve high artistic and personal goals, and to inspire them to become exemplary artists, patrons and citizens of tomorrow. In a normal year, CMT mounts ten full-scale musical productions at the historic Montgomery Theater in downtown San Jose. As a nationally acclaimed theater organization and the oldest performing arts organization in San Jose, CMT remains dedicated to providing the highest possible caliber of musical and theatrical training to children from ages 4 to 20, spanning all abilities. We stand behind our promise never turn a child away, regardless of financial or physical limitations.
14. Gizdich Ranch
Spend a day with your family at our family ranch and breathe in the fresh air and countryside atmosphere. Pick your favorite fruit of the season right off the tree or vine; then, picnic among the apple trees and the hills. Take home a jar (or two) of fresh berry jams, a jug of our fresh pressed apple juice, and eat the best pies this side of the Rockies!
15. Municipal Rose Garden
San José's 5.5 acre Municipal Rose Garden – a one-time prune orchard – is today one of the most attractive of its kind in the world, drawing thousands of visitors each year. The garden is exclusively devoted to shrubs of the rose family and features over 4,000 rose shrubs with 189 varieties represented. Hybrid–teas comprise 75% of the plantings. These shrubs are characterized by a single high centered bloom per stem.
16. Raging Waters San Jose
Northern California's largest waterpark! More than 23 acres of slides and attractions, including raft rides, body slides, kiddie activity pools, thrill rides, the endless river and wave pool. Raging Waters San Jose was founded in 1985 and is Northern California's Largest Waterpark, offering scenic panoramic views of Lake Cunningham and the San Jose Foothills, over a million gallons of San Jose water slides, rides, and attractions, and 23-acres of family-friendly fun!
17. Whirlygig: A Party Place
Where kids are active and crafting and scheming to play and celebrate. A place where that Pinterest dream party can become reality. While we’re at it, why can’t this place be a parent hang-out too? A place where moms connect and make friends, a spot where the baby can crawl around in a playgroup. A place for families...We do it all.
19. Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch
Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch is open beginning the last weekend in September through the month of October. Come ride the Spina Pumpkin Express TRAIN for a tour of the Pumpkin Patch. Explore our Sunflower fields on an old-fashioned HAY RIDE adventure! Come join us at our new location off Laguna Ave and Santa Teresa Blvd!
20. Baylands Nature Preserve
Bounded by Mountain View and East Palo Alto, the 1,940-acre Baylands Preserve is one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland remaining in the San Francisco Bay. Fifteen miles of multi-use trails provide access to a unique mixture of tidal and fresh water habitats. Many consider this area to be one of the best bird watching areas on the west coast. The preserve has a substantial resident population of birds as well as being a major migratory stopover on the Pacific Flyway.
Top Arts Educator: Children's Musical Theater San Jose
CMT offers a robust arts education program providing year-round training, master classes, guest artist series, winter and summer camp. Our Student Matinees offer affordable weekday performances to audiences of young people, many of whom are experiencing the gift of live theater for the very first time. CMT prides itself on being a reflection of the community it serves, with an ethnically diverse staff, board of directors, and roster of participants.
Top STEM Educator: Happy Hollow Park and Zoo
As an integral part of our commitment to conservation, Happy Hollow offers engaging experiences to educate the community about wildlife. The Education team encourages people of all ages to embrace their wild side with our new virtual program options. Fascinating encounters with animal ambassadors help visitors feel more connected to animals, and motivate them to take action to protect the natural world.
