Staycation in Bay Area

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Staycation in Bay Area is on everybody’s mind since the school year has finally ended and parents are frantically looking for things to do with kids in Bay Area during the nine weeks of summer. Don’t panic – I have got you covered! In this article I put together some cool suggestions for staycation in Bay Area. I divided my ideas for staycation in Bay Area into themed buckets – you can mix and match them and pick and choose what you like best. Staycation in Bay Area is going to be so much fun, I promise!

Two considerations were important for me while putting together these tips for staycation in Bay Area: affordability and educational value. Kids love things fun but wouldn’t it be great to do things that are exciting AND teach kids a valuable lesson? And wouldn’t staycation in Bay Area be even better if you didn’t have to spend a penny on all these cool activities or at least not spend more than $10 per engagement?!

Finally, in these uncertain times of COVID-19, I tried to put together a list of ideas for staycation in Bay Area that bear minimum health risk and follow all State of California COVID-19 guidelines.

I have divided my list of staycation in Bay Area ideas into themes: Wildlife, Hiking, Art, STEM, Astronomy, Botanical Gardens. Please, check each theme below for day trips and kids activities.

Staycation in Bay Area Theme #1 – WILDLIFE

So we are really blessed in San Francisco Bay Area that we have so many opportunities to observe and learn about wildlife IN THE WILD.

Option 1: Sea Lions and Harbor Seals

Let’s observe, study and compare sea lions and harbor seals! Do your kids know the difference between the two?

First, Seals have furry, generally stubby front feet — thinly webbed flippers, sea lions have mostly skin-covered, elongated fore flippers. Second, sea lions have small flaps for outer ears. The “earless” seals lack external ears altogether. You have to get very close to see the tiny holes on the sides of a seal’s sleek head.

Third, sea lions are noisy. Seals are quieter, vocalizing via soft grunts. Fourth, while both species spend time both in and out of the water, seals are better adapted to live in the water than on land. Though their bodies can appear chubby, seals are generally smaller and more aquadynamic than sea lions. This makes them fast in the water but basic belly crawlers on land. Sea lions, on the other hand, are able to “walk” on land by rotating their hind flippers forward and underneath their big bodies.

Ideally you can observe sea lions at Pier 39. While it is temporarily closed you can spot these mammals anywhere along the Pacific Coast in San Francisco Bay Area. The best place to see seals close to Bay Area is in Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.

Option 2: Birds Scavenger Hunt

There are several parks in Bay Area where you can observe various species of birds. The best ones are Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont and Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto.

Here you can find a list of most common San Francisco Bay Area birds. You can do a simple print out of this list and take it with you on a scavenger hunt to see how many bird species you can locate and identify.

Here is a short video that I put together about Coyote Hills Regional Park hike:

Option 3: Tidepooling

There is no better summer day activity in California than tidepooling. There are so many cool creatures you can discover in those sparkling pools and kids love doing just that. To make a tidepooling trip education we love to take this guide book with us so that we can identify the pools inhabitants and learn about them (click on the image below for more details):

There are several great tidepooling areas in San Francisco Bay Area. Fitsgeralnd Marine Reserve and Santa Cruz are my favorites but you can also explore tide pools in Pescadero.

For more ideas on wildlife themed staycation in Bay Area check out my latest post Where to See Otters in California and Other Coast Animals. It will provide you with detailed information on where to locate various wildlife between San Francisco Bay and Morro Bay.

Staycation in Bay Area Theme # 2 – HIKING

We are blessed in Bay Area that we have so may regional and state parks and nature reserves. A day trip to one of these parks is a great option for staycation in Bay Area. Here is just a small selection of great hiking options available in San Francisco Bay Area that I described in detail on my blog:

Best Places to See Redwoods Near San Francisco

Uvas Canyon and Other Best Hiking Near San Francisco

Things to Do in Pacifica California

Also check out this fun video of one of our most favorite hikes in San Francisco Bay Area in addition to the ones highlighted above:

But to add something extra to your hiking adventures why not teach kids a new skill like orienteering. This orienteering website gives you all information you need to learn beginner orienteering skills. You can start from simple things like teaching kids to read a map and find directions using a compass and then go further from there. Here are the essential resources that will get you started with orienteering:

Another book we absolutely love is Lost Art of Reading Nature Signs. It teaches kids how to find their way, locate water, predict weather, track animals and many other useful skills that they can practice while hiking and have fun with it:

Staycation in Bay Are Theme # 3 – ART

All indoor museums are still closed in Bay Area during COVID-19 pandemic but there are lots of other options to enjoy beautiful art in San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco

Did you know that there are over 1000 gorgeous murals in the city of San Francisco? This SF Murals Art website has information on all San Francisco murals and their locations.

Accompanying art activity for kids to make staycation in Bay Area fun: drawing a chalk mural on the sidewalk

Stanford

Stanford University has 2 great indoor art museums but it also has a couple of wonderful outdoor art exhibits: Rodin Sculpture Garden and Papa New Guinea Sculpture Garden which are both great to stroll around. Kids especially love the whimsical creations in the latter one. I have a detailed self-guided Stanford walking tour itinerary that you can use.

Accompanying art activity for kids to make staycation in Bay Area fun: older kids can learn wood carving inspired by Papa New Guinea Sculpture Garden. We bought the woodworking kit for beginners shown below and woodworking gloves to protect hands (very important) and my older son loves working with it. I requested a set of wooden Christmas decorations and he is at it almost every day 🙂 (click the images below for more information on the products).

Google campus

Google corporate campus in Mountain View does not come to mind as a premier artistic destination. However it has a fun android sculpture garden that kids will love. I typically recommend Google campus on my self-guided Silicon Valley Tour.

Accompanying art activity for kids to make staycation in Bay Area fun: creating android sculptures with Pay-Doh.

Sausalito

Sausalito just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco is famous for it cool floating homes. And those floating homes are famous for their decor. The variety, originality and creativity is just stunning! Take a stroll around and see which you like best.

Accompanying art activity for kids to make staycation in Bay Area fun: creating a mosaic with any materials available at home or using one of these fun sets:

Staycation in Bay Are Theme # 4 – STEM

At the Beach

Have you thought about how many STEM aspects you can teach kids at the beach in a fun way? Here are some of our favorite ideas and activities:

Learning physics concepts by building balancing rock towers
Learning about movement of the Sun by making a sun dial using nature materials
Learning about principles of flight through making and flying a kite (see a set below with 2 different types of kites for experimenting)
Learning about Moon and tides by watching the tides come and go
Learning about physics (density, floating, wind power) through experiments with building various floating devices from nature materials you can find at the beach or materials you can bring with you from home. Below is an example of a DIY floating foam boat kit you can get on Amazon (it is a set of 12 boats enough for all members of your family and may be some friends too 🙂 ).

Here are some supplies that you may find useful for your staycation in Bay Area beach STEM activities:

And of course we should not forget the funnest STEM-themed staycation in Bay Area activity of them all: building sandcastles. There are lots of scientific concepts behind building a great sand castle. Here are resources you will find helpful if you want to advance your sand castle building skills this summer:

In a park or at home

Our most favorite STEM activity at home or in a park is experimenting with paper airplanes. There are dozens of designs that you can build. You can make it a competition to see which ones fly farther. We use John Collins’ book on how to build great paper airplanes (see below). We saw Mr. Collins perform at Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos and he is AMAZING! He knows paper airplanes like no one in the world. Trust me, we had many paper airplanes instructions books – this one is by far the best (click on the image link for more information):

Staycation in Bay Are Theme # 5 – ASTRONOMY

Astronomy is a fun to learn with kids, the only thing you need is a cloudless night and a spot with low light pollution. The best areas for stargazing in Bay Area, which make for a great day trip from San Francisco, are considered to be: Point Reyes, Mount Diabolo, Mount Tamalpais, coastal areas between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, Big Basin Redwoods State Park and Henry W. Coe State Park.

In pre-COVID-19 time Henry W. Coe park was open 24 hours and it was the best place for star gazing because it is very far away from light pollution and you can be there when it really gets dark. Check their website from time to time to see if the opening hours will change later in summer, for now they are only open till 8.00 pm.

You will need some sort of stargazing guide to take with you and this National Geographic book is pretty good and inexpensive:

Some things you can even observe without a guide book, like meteor showers. The peak of Perseids Meteor Show can be observed in Bay Area on August 11-13, 2020, for example. The meteors appear in all parts of the sky. These meteors frequently leave persistent trains. Perseid meteors tend to strengthen in number the closer it gets to midnight. For more information on meteor showers, please, check the calendar from American Meteor Society.

If you own a telescope or if you can afford to buy one, it would be perfect for stargazing (not for meteor showers). We have been eyeing this popular Gskyer beginner telescope for a while. It is on sale now at Amazon so it is the perfect to buy one as it is an excellent lifetime investment:

Staycation in Bay Are Theme # 6 – BOTANICAL GARDENS

The good news is that San Francisco Botanical Garden and Filoli Gardens are both open now. Even better news is that there are over a dozen FREE botanical gardens in Bay Area that you can visit too. I have a free detailed guide to all FREE botanical gardens in San Francisco Bay Area for your to use.

Here is a quick preview of Filoli Gardens – I hope you like it!

Accompanyingactivity for kids to make staycation in Bay Area fun: plant a garden at home. It does not have to be the whole garden. In can be just 1 plant but something that kids will choose for themselves and will care for. Our children love a small herb garden, lavender bush, strawberry plant – i.e. things that you can actually use in the kitchen, not just the ones for decorative purposes only.

You can go a step further and experiment with these edible plants: make a lavender tea or a lavender ice cream, or make combination teas with different herbs.

Another option is to create whimsical fairy gardens:

Do you have any staycation in Bay Area ideas of your own? Please, please, please, share them in the comments below! I would love this to become a comprehensive resource for all Bay Area families and visitors as well.

If you found this information on staycation in Bay Area useful, please, share it with other parents because chances are they are struggling with finding ideas and resources too.

Also don’t forget to subscribe to my social media channels (see the links in the upper right hand corner of the blog, on top of the right hand navigation panel): I will be posting more staycation in Bay Area ideas and resources throughout the summer.

CHECK OUT MY LATEST POSTS:

Staycation in Bay Area Theme #1 – WILDLIFE

Staycation in Bay Area Theme # 2 – HIKING