300,000 visitors a year visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum, conveniently located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and rather uniquely, the only children’s museum in the US to be located inside a national park.

Making waves at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in San Francisco, CA (photo courtesy Bay Area Discovery Museum)

This means that as well as a variety of indoor adventures, it’s great for outdoors activities too, and the center aims to foster discovery through enabling a connection with the environment.

Children needing to burn off some energy tend to be huge fans of the 2.5 acre outdoor “Lookout Cove”, an interactive play area featuring icons of the Bay Area and exhibits aimed at raising kids’ awareness of the natural environment, such as a spider’s web or the rock basins.

Inside, Bay Hall takes a more indepth look at the Ports of San Francisco and Oakland, switching the focus from nature to technology such as trains and levers. Visitors can also construct their own boats and test them in a wave pool, or build structures in the Discovery Museum’s Art Studios (with simpler activities included for young children).

As so much of the center is focused on outdoors activities, it’s worth checking the weather before you leave — there’s also a handy webcam on the website it you want to make sure for yourself!

Fact: The Bay Area Discovery Museum is located in Fort Baker… Which is the fictional location of Starfleet Command in the Star Trek universe.