The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose: The Star Wars Exhibit

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose: The Star Wars Exhibit

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose’s current special exhibit is Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination through the end of February. Star Wars themed things usually disappoint me, as a die-hard, and old school Star Wars fan, so I was happily impressed with this exhibit. There are lots of original models, costumes and props from the movies. The models are very impressive, even by our more modern standards. I could really get on a much deeper level than I did before why they had been so groundbreaking back in the 70’s and 80’s.

The hands on activities are a lot of fun too. We experimented with magnetic lego hovercrafts, droids that needed to move across uneven ground, and lots of others. There is also a real (although small) hovercraft to ride on. The exhibit was not very busy when we were there, our group was the first in of the day, and we still had to work our way in to a spot for some activities. I can easily imagine that on a crowded day it could be tough to get a turn, although I do believe they limit entrances to the special exhibits to keep crowds under control.

Within in the larger Star Wars exhibit there is what they call the Millennium Falcon experience. It is an additional small cost. Basically, you get to enter a wonderful replica of the bridge of the Millennium Falcon where you watch a 4 ½ minute video through the cockpit window about our real universe and all the planets and galaxies that have been discovered. The actual video wasn’t anything too thrilling, but the Millennium Falcon was fun. There were even some switches to flip, although most of the buttons were fake, and couldn’t be pushed, I found one that was pushable. And, most importantly, it does the jumping into hyperspace bit at the beginning of the video. Still, if getting to sit in the Falcon isn’t worth five bucks to you, then skip this extra bit. There is only seating for four inside, and it runs nearly five minutes. So you can imagine that could lead to quite a wait. For example, we were in the first group into the Star Wars exhibit, and had about a 40 minute wait for our turn in the Millennium Falcon. I do have to give kudos to the staff for their solution to the wait. You can leave a cell number and get a text when your turn is up. So you don’t have to stand in line the whole time.

The de Young Art Museum in San Francisco

The de Young Art Museum in San Francisco

The de Young Museum exhibits a combination of modern and ancient art from around the world. It is located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco across from the California Academy of Science.

They are closed on Mondays, but admission is free on the first Tuesday of every month. Kids under 12 are always free. Active military and their families receive free admission from Memorial Day through Labor day. If there is a special exhibit with an additional fee, the free admissions do not include the special exhibit.

The day we visited the de Young Art Museum we spent a couple of hours there at best. While I might have enjoyed a more leisurely stroll through the exhibits, children have a different time table. Some areas sparked their interest and they looked at everything in the room, other areas seemed to overwhelm them and they moved more quickly through.

One tip we got before going did really seem to help engage the kids and keep them a little more focused than I’m sure they would have been otherwise. We went to the gift store first and each child picked out two postcards that featured art pieces in the museum. Then, one of their tasks as we walked around was to try to find the pieces on their postcards. It really did get them more invested in the tour. 

Also, I noticed again what I observed when we visited the Legion of Honor several years ago – the time periods or places that we had studied ahead of our visit were much more interesting to the kids than new things. The de Young website can help out with that. A tab at the top labeled ‘Education’ has resources to prepare for a visit.

One of the hits of the trip for my kids was the observation tower that offers a spectacular view. It’s worth the elevator ride up. A warning to those with fear of heights, the windows up there are floor to ceiling. It adds to the beauty of the view, but I couldn't make myself stand too near the edge, even knowing there was glass there to protect me.

Generally, the older the kids, the more they will likely appreciate the art, but there is such a variety, even younger children will find something interesting at the de Young Museum. With kids getting free admission, and free days offered monthly, it is worth the time to visit. 

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose

We visited the Tech Museum in San Jose in early January when most schools were still on winter break, yet not all were. So there were still some school groups there during our visit.

I have very mixed feelings about the Tech. We primarily went to see the special Myth Busters exhibit before it ended. I don’t want to go into a review of that too much since it is now ended (but it was wonderful!) but the Tech does offer other special exhibits for limited amounts of time. It’s worth it to check out their website to see what special shows they have going, and what others might be coming up so that you can plan your trip for something that would be of the most interest to your family. The downside is that the special exhibits have an additional charge above the general admissions cost. We were lucky enough to go as part of a group, which offered us a wonderfully discounted rate for both the special exhibit and the rest of the museum.  If you think you can get a group together, it would be a significant savings to everyone.

Also, for homeschoolers, or other groups, the Tech offers many workshops and classes at good rates, and I believe these also include admission to the museum as well. I have not attended such a class, but I have heard from friends that the ones they attended were fun and successful.

Aside from the Myth Busters exhibit, I found myself a little disappointed in the rest of the museum. There were certainly lots of interesting and hands on things to see and do, but I often felt like there was little to no explanation of the science involved. Those exhibits that did have useful signs explaining the science were not explanations that were accessible to children.

However, the very few exhibits that had a docent or museum volunteer stationed with it were wonderful. They were very accessible. They wouldn’t wait only for questions, but would jump in to demonstrate or ask questions to the children to encourage them to try different things. Those exhibits are the only ones that I felt my kids walked away from having learned something, instead of just playing with pretty lights that they didn’t understand.

One interesting feature that I don’t think we used to its best benefit is a ticket tracking program. Each entry ticket has a bar code that can be scanned at numerous (almost all) exhibits throughout the museum. Some just take a photo of you at the exhibit. Not a great photo, sort of a security camera grainy photo, but still neat. Some record your activity for that project. Then you can use the number on your ticket to access online all the things you recorded during your visit. Pretty darn cool.

A personal pet peeve of mine was partly to blame with my lack of enjoyment, and that’s poorly supervised school groups. There were enough of these kids all over the place to really make it difficult to enjoy each exhibit. It was not unusual for my youngest to be pushed (or edged) off a station she was working at, or for kids to shove ahead of us as we waited for a turn at something. Enough that I had to scold other’s children more than once as they were rude of mean to my small child as their chaperone stood on watching.  A friend told me that they have enjoyed the museum more when they go in the later afternoon instead of right at opening, because the school groups are starting to leave by that time of day. I think if we ever return, we will go on a weekend or in the afternoon as well.

If you plan to be at the museum at lunch time, I strongly recommend bringing a packed lunch, or preparing to leave to eat at on outside restaurant. The in house restaurant was packed with long lines and no seating at lunch time so that we ended up leaving all together when we were too hungry to keep exploring. The website says they don’t allow food in the exhibits, but I believe as long as you keep your food packed away, and only eat in the eating area (or outside if you can’t find a spot to sit) all should be fine.

Despite all the little annoyances that pushed my personal buttons, my kids had a fabulous time at The Tech, and have asked many times since to go back. I am certainly happy we went, and loved the Myth Buster exhibit, but I know when we make another trip down to San Jose, there are some things I’ll do differently.

Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco

Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco

The Legion of Honor Museum is located in Lincoln Park at 100 34th Avenue at Clement Street. It showcases ancient and historical European art.

My children were very young when we visited the Legion of Honor, yet I was surprised how much they enjoyed it. What helped, I believe is that we spent a little bit of time learning about ancient art before we visited, so they were able to recognize some of what they had learned about. A trip to the Legion of Honor would go along very nicely with the study of ancient Romans, Greeks or Egyptians, as well as European history from the medieval times up to the early twentieth century. They also have some special exhibits, and you can visit their website (linked above) to see what is current.

My youngest was two when we visited and while she wore out before we’d seen all there was to see, it was a lot of fun to watch her, and see what pieces spoke to her. The elaborate chandeliers in each room may have fascinated my children more than any of the art did, but that was interesting too.

The Legion of Honor is closed on Mondays, and is free on the first Tuesday of the Month, and is always free for children under 12 years old.

We visited on a free day and arrived right at opening, and had no trouble finding parking right out in front. When we left, it looked like parking was more of a problem, so I recommend arriving early or taking public transportation if you have the option.

Blackhawk Car Museum in Danville

Blackhawk Car Museum

When I thought of fun places to take my kids, a car museum did not come up in my mind. Yet when we were invited to attend a tour with a group of kids at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, we agreed to go. My girls enjoy playing with trucks and wheeled toys as much as the next kid, but they aren’t nuts about cars and neither am I. I was therefore, very happily surprised how fun the Blackhawk tour really was.

Our docent was so knowledgeable, and also seemed to really love kids. The museum is beautiful. The cars are spotless and just gleam in their spotlights. Having my littlest one running around this place made me cringe, but our docent was relaxed and encouraging to the kids. She had great stories to tell about the cars, and pointed out some very interesting historical details. Then at the next car, she would ask the kids to look at it a moment, then tell her what they noticed so the kids had a chance to use what they had learned along the way during the tour. The docent did a superb job of keeping the kids engaged.

While anyone who visits the museum can join a docent led tour as part of their museum admission, I don’t know how the routine tours might vary from the one we got that was focused for children. If this is a place you’d like your kids to see, I think it would well be worth taking the extra step and getting a group of kids together and calling ahead to set up a tour special for children.

There was a lot of history in our tour, as well as some very strange looking prototype cars that never went in to production, and the kids loved them all.

Just outside the Blackhawk Museum there is a very pretty little shopping area that also has a small pond, and stream with ducks and a small playground. Luckily, we were not in a rush, so we spent some time there as well. It would have been hard to drag the kids away once they saw it, so you may want to factor this into your planning as well.

As of this writing, the Blackhawk Museum is included in the Discover and Go discounted museum pass program through a number of public libraries. 

Free and Discounted Museum Passes with your Library Card

Free and Discounted Museum Passes with your Library Card

A program called ‘Discover and Go’ available at libraries all over the bay area offers free or discounted museum passes to tons of great museums around the Bay.

We’ve personally used the Discover and Go program to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkley, and the Lindsay Wildlife museum in Walnut Creek. Both times getting and using the passes was a simple and straightforward process.

We visited our library’s website, found the ‘Discover and Go’ link, then followed the instructions to find the museum we wanted to visit, and chose from the available days.  We printed the pass at home and presented at the admissions desk at each venue. That’s all there was to it.

Some museums have a limit to how many Discover and Go passes you can print each year. Some only offer free or discounted admission for 1 or two people, so if you have a larger family, you would have to see if you’re able to reserve the same date on multiple library cards, or pay for admission for some of the members of your group. Still, it is a really wonderful deal.

I could not find a complete list of participating libraries, but here are at least some of the libraries that offer Discover and Go:

Contra Costa County Libraries

 Burlingame Public Library

Menlo Park Library

Redwood City Public Library

San Mateo County Library 

San Mateo Public Library

Daly City Public Library

South San Francisco Libraries

Berkley Public Library

Alameda County Public Libraries

Despite some of the venues being located in Solano County, I was unable to find Discover and Go passes on the Solano County Library website. If someone else finds that information, please share it here in the comments.

I don’t know if, or how often the museums in the Discover and Go program might change, but as of this writing, these are all the wonderful places you can visit with a Discover and Go discount:

Aquarium of the Bay

Asian Art Museum

Bay Area Discovery Museum

Bedford Gallery

Blackhawk Museum

California Academy of Sciences

California Historical Society

California Shakespeare Theater

Charles M. Schulz Museum

Children's Creativity Museum

The Contemporary Jewish Museum

CuriOdyssey

Exploratorium

GLBT History Museum

Golden State Model Railroad Museum

Habitot Children's Museum

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Lindsay Wildlife Museum

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

The Marine Mammal Center

Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment

Museum of Craft and Folk Art

Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)

Napa Valley Museum

Oakland Aviation Museum

Oakland Museum of California

Oakland Zoo

Pacific Pinball Museum

Peralta Hacienda Historical Park

Ripley's Believe it or Not! ODDitorium

Saint Mary's College Museum of Art

San Jose Museum of Art

The Tech Museum

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

USS Hornet Museum

Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek

The Lindsay Wildlife Museum is a true treasure of the East Bay. Not only is it a fun place to see some local wildlife with your family, but they also provide a wonderful public service through their attached wildlife rehabilitation hospital.

We have visited the Lindsay Wildlife Museum many times over the years. Even though not much changes from one visit to the next, the kids and I always have a great time. It is a small museum. You won't need a full day to explore everything, a couple of hours should be plenty of time. There are various live species of native wildlife on display: raptors, reptiles, mammals, and more. They also have some stuffed specimens of the larger animals, like mountain lions, bears, and deer, that would be impractical to house in a smaller place like this. They also have some common small pets, like hamsters, that occasionally come out for petting in a corner of the museum dedicated to educating kids about choosing and caring for a pet.

Some of the wild animals also come out of their enclosures and can be touched. While one is not available at all times, I don't think we've ever visited Lindsay Wildlife Museum when we didn't get to pet a snake or other wild creature at some point while we were there.

In addition to the wildlife displays, there is also a 'Discovery Room' aimed at younger children with wildlife-themed puzzles and toys available to play with. I've found this space to be often disorginized, but my kids have never seemed to mind the occasional missing puzzle piece, and always have a fun time.

Make sure to check the Wildlife Museum's website before planning your trip. Their open hours vary depending on the day of the week. They frequently host school groups, and offer their own classes, and may not open until later in the afternoon on some days.

My daughter took a drawing class recently at the museum, and produced some great drawings. We would love to take more classes, but the cost can be a bit much for us to go on a regular basis. However, I have several friends who have children that attended many of the different classes offered. All of them have only positive, rave reviews about their teaches and their classes.

The wildlife hospital is attached to the same building as the wildlife museum, but has a separate entrance and you cannot get to the hospital from the inside of the museum. The entrance is on the opposite side of the building than the main museum entrance. If you have an injured animal, you would want to drive past the main parking area, to the next driveway, and there you will find the entrance to the wildlife hospital. To my knowledge, tours are not permitted inside the hospital to allow the injured and recovering wildlife as much peace as possible. Teens over 18 years old can volunteer to work in the hospital if they have a passion for helping animals.

If you follow the pathway that runs in from the the wildlife museum, you will come to a playground. This is a fabulous place to have lunch if you want to make a whole day of your visit. Or, if you want to have your kids run a little energy off before they need to be calm and quite around the animals inside.

Larwrence Hall of Science in Berkley

We're big fans of science museums (as you may have been able to tell by the reviews listed here so far), but the Lawrence Hall of Science is one of our favorites. It's among the great hands-on science centers of the Bay Area. It's also a little less expensive than many of the other big science museums, right now running at $6.00 to $9.00 for kids and $12.00 for adults, kids under 3 are free.

One of the things we like best about the Lawrence Hall of Science is that it has generally not overwhelmingly crowded when we've visited. We may have to wait a moment to take a turn with an experiment or a table, but most of the time we don't. Usually the stations we have to ration ourselves with and share the most are the big, new ones in the main lobby. There is usually enough room to move, and take time at each science station without feeling like other as hovering around waiting for us to move.

My oldest daughter took a one-day workshop on animal adaptations that she told me she enjoyed very much. I only peeked through the window from the hall, but the group of kids all looked enthralled with the class.

Some of the exhibits change every few months or so and you can see both the current and upcoming themes on the Lawrence Hall of Science website. There are also many exhibits that stay the same all the time, so not everything will be brand new if you visit a few times a year.

The only thing I've been disappointed in was the planetarium show. It's a fairly small planetarium, so the host/speaker is very accessible for asking questions of, which is nice, but the shows we've seen have been underwhelming. One of the shows we watched was projected with a regular projector as a traditional rectangular screen, which made viewing very difficult for anyone sitting underneath it in the circular room. It seem to be a waste of a domed planetarium to me. On the upside, tickets are very cheap, only $4 (it isn't included in the admission cost). But if you're short on time, or unsure if you want to stop and see a show, I'd pass and stick with the other great options available at the museum.

The Habitot Children's Museum

Habitot Children's Museum is an indoor play area for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. It features an art room, a play store/restaurant, a water play area, wiggle wall (a tunnel that kids can crawl and climb through), a baby play area, a short riding toy space, and an area for a changing exhibit - currently, a recycling center.

The cost to get into Habitot is $7.00 for children, and $6.00 for adults. Multiuse passes are also available. They offer occasional free entry days or evenings. We visited on such an evening. Their website lists free entry days for January of 2008, but we visited much later than that. It may be worth a call to ask about upcoming free admission days before scheduling your visit. The phone number is 510-647-1111. We had a good time, but if I'd paid $20.00 for my two children and I to get in, I would have been disappointed.

Habitot Children's Museum is located at 2065 Kittredge Street at Shattuck Drive in Berkeley near the Berkeley BART station. Street parking is available, but tricky to find. There's a parking garage across the street, which is convenient, but adds to the cost of a visit.

Read the full review here.