I recently took a vacation with my husband and two kids, ages 7 and 4, to sunny California. First of all it was wonderful being in 75 degrees with blue skies after the winter we have had in NY! (Yes, there is snow on the ground AGAIN!) Second of all we did so many great activities – I’m still smiling just thinking about all the fun we had! If you live in the L.A. area or you are planning a trip to the area (if you’re not, you should), here are some ideas for activities to do that the whole family will enjoy!
California Science Center: This place is unbelievable. We literally spent the whole day there! There are so many interesting exhibits that are hands on and really interesting for little kids all the way through adults. My kids loved learning about the different Ecosystems, how a plane works, the history of toys and so much more. The museum is located in Exposition Park and is free, all they ask for is a donation.
L.A. Zoo: What kid doesn’t love going to the zoo, and the L.A. Zoo is wonderful. They have areas set up where kids can see certain animals up close and even touch them, my daughter loved holding a snake! The children’s section is nice and the entire place is beautifully done. They even have a new Elephants of Asia habitat that just opened up!
Griffith Park: There are many things to do at this beautiful park. Have a picnic, go to the observatory, play in the playground… my kids went on a pony ride and a train ride to “New York City”. You may even have a celebrity sighting, we were there with David Caruso from CSI Miami! We also went to Travel Town which has old trains that you can actually go into. It was very cool!
Skirball Cultural Center: There is an amazing interactive Noah’s Ark exhibit going on at the Skirball, my kids had an absolute blast there. There is a huge ark with nets to climb, tons of stuffed animal puppets (two of each of course), a huge ark with figures to play with and all the big animals are made out of items such as a keyboard or rope or boxing gloves. It’s a must see. There is even an arts & crafts area where my kids made cardboard arks to bring home. They didn’t want to leave. Educational and fun, gotta love that.
Last but definitely not least… Disneyland! It’s hard to be 45 minutes away and not go, it is the happiest place on earth. We did a one day park hopper pass, got there at 9 am and spent half the day at Disneyland and half the day at Disney California Adventure right across the street. We left at 8:45 pm with two very tired children (and adults). You may think I’m crazy but we had the best day ever! Your best bet is to go on a non-vacation week if possible, we hardly had to wait on any lines and even had our picture taken with Mickey Mouse with only a 6 minute wait. Disneyland is smaller and more manageable than Disneyworld in Orlando, FL and if you have been before, then you have to check out California Adventure because there are many wonderful attractions there. For example, Muppet Vision 3D, Turtle Talk with Crush from Finding Nemo, Toy Story Mania, A Bug’s Land, an animation studio and so much more!
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