San Francisco Bay Area family weekend planner
Best museums in San Francisco Bay Area
Family-friendly museums in San Francisco San Francisco Bay Area: hands-on science, art, history, and children's museums, plus their upcoming free days and family programs. Browse 30 family-friendly spots and 40 upcoming events on FamHop.
Plan a day with FamHop Weekend guide
Upcoming museums
- The Frontier Between Legendary Monsters and Verified Natural History · Sunday, October 25, 2026
- A Vision of Paris: The Roxane Debuisson Collection at Stanford · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Green Library, Bing Wing, Stanford
- Aquarium of the Bay — animal encounters · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco · $$$
- Bay Area Discovery Museum · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito · $$
- Book spells · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Education (Cubberley Bldg) - 101, Stanford
- Carolyn Lazard: Long Take · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Cantor Arts Center - Lynn Krywick Gibbons Gallery, Stanford
- Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Children's Discovery Museum, San Jose · $$
- CuriOdyssey · Sunday, October 25, 2026
CuriOdyssey, San Mateo · $$
- Free Family Day: K-Pop, Art, and Beyond · Sunday, October 25, 2026
SFMOMA, San Francisco · Free
- Habitot Children's Museum · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Habitot Children's Museum, Berkeley · $$
- In Focus: Asian American Art from the Collection · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Cantor Arts Center - Ruth Levison Halperin Gallery, Stanford
- JANE! An intimate exploration of Gilded Age excess and the enigmatic life and death of Jane Stanford · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Cantor Arts Center - Stanford Family Rooms, Stanford
- Korean Indigenous Futures: The Art of Kim Bong-Jun 김봉준 판화전: 토착적 미래- K아트, 디아스포라, 세계 · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Lathrop Library - East Asia Library, 2nd Floor, Stanford
- Penguin Feeding Talk · Sunday, October 25, 2026
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco · $$$
- Text Machines: Scarlet Thread of the Digital Order (1883-2026) · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Green Library, Bing Wing - Hohbach Hall, Stanford
- 32nd Annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration · Sunday, October 25, 2026
OMCA Campus, Oakland · $10
- Electric Contrasts: the Art of the Detail · Sunday, October 25, 2026
McMurtry Building - Bowes Art & Architecture Library, 2nd floor. Visitors: Please call 650-723-3408, Palo Alto
- Special Guest Gallery Chat with Traditional Medicine Practitioner Batul True Heart · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Gallery of California Natural Sciences, Oakland · $10
- Coral Reef Dive Show · Sunday, October 25, 2026
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco · $$$
- Family exhibits + tinkering · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Exploratorium, San Francisco · $$$
- Gallery Conversations | JANE! · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Cantor Arts Center - Stanford Family Room (122), Stanford · Free
- Lawrence Hall of Science — weekend demos · Sunday, October 25, 2026
Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley · $$
- The Tech Interactive — Family Saturdays · Sunday, October 25, 2026
The Tech Interactive, San Jose · $$
- Electric Contrasts: the Art of the Detail · Monday, October 26, 2026
- The Frontier Between Legendary Monsters and Verified Natural History · Monday, October 26, 2026
- A Vision of Paris: The Roxane Debuisson Collection at Stanford · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Aquarium of the Bay — animal encounters · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Book spells · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Branner Library Book & Map Exhibit - Water in the West · Monday, October 26, 2026
Mitchell Earth Sciences - Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections, Stanford
- Carolyn Lazard: Long Take · Monday, October 26, 2026
- JANE! An intimate exploration of Gilded Age excess and the enigmatic life and death of Jane Stanford · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Korean Indigenous Futures: The Art of Kim Bong-Jun 김봉준 판화전: 토착적 미래- K아트, 디아스포라, 세계 · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Penguin Feeding Talk · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Text Machines: Scarlet Thread of the Digital Order (1883-2026) · Monday, October 26, 2026
- In Focus: Asian American Art from the Collection · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Tangling the Digital: Weaving, Printmaking, Computing · Monday, October 26, 2026
McMurtry Building - Coulter Art Gallery, Palo Alto
- TNT Traysikel: Never Gonna Give You Up! · Monday, October 26, 2026
McMurtry Building - Miller Discussion Room and Vitrine Gallery, Palo Alto · Free
- Touch Me Not: 12th Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition · Monday, October 26, 2026
Art Gallery, Stanford
- Coral Reef Dive Show · Monday, October 26, 2026
- Electric Contrasts: the Art of the Detail · Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Top-rated museums
- The Phoenix Collection Tea Museum · Lagunitas
- Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center · San Francisco
- Aftel Archive of Curious Scents · Berkeley
- Bolinas Museum · Bolinas
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- WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall · San Francisco
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- Misalignment Museum · San Francisco
- San Francisco Fire Department Pioneer Museum · San Francisco
- Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye · San Francisco
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- Legion of Honor · San Francisco
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- USS Hornet (CV 12) · Alameda
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- Anderson Collection at Stanford University · Stanford
- Japanese American Museum of San Jose · San Jose
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- Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center · Santa Rosa
- Cable Car Powerhouse and Barn · San Francisco
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- Randall Museum · San Francisco
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- Exploratorium · San Francisco
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- Musée Mécanique · San Francisco
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- San Francisco Maritime Visitor Center · San Francisco
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- Bay Model Visitor Center · Sausalito
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- Oakland Museum of California · Oakland
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- Golden State Model Railroad Museum · Richmond
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- Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center · Richmond
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- Mills College Art Museum · Oakland
- Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum · Vallejo
- Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum · Fremont
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- Computer History Museum · Mountain View
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- Antioch Historical Museum · Antioch
- Portuguese Historical Museum · San Jose
- Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch · San Jose
- Asian Art Museum of San Francisco · San Francisco
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