San Francisco Kids Museums the Whole Family Will Love
Last updated on August 14, 2026
Looking for the best kid-friendly museums in San Francisco?
You’ve come to the right place!
Let me start by saying a museum does not have to be dubbed an official “children’s museum” to be a great place for kids. Some of the best museums in the world cater to adults and kids of all ages alike, and if they are interesting and engaging, everyone will have a great time.
As frequent visitors to Northern California, we love spending time exploring the many kid-friendly museums in San Francisco. To help you plan a great trip, I’ve rounded up 14 unique and fun kids museums in the San Francisco Bay Area.
So whether your kids are interested in art or science, or if you are looking for more hands-on exhibits young children will enjoy, there is a great museum waiting for you.
Top 5 Picks: San Francisco Museums for Kids
If you are just looking for a quick list of the can’t miss, very best kid-friendly museums in San Francisco, I am here to help! Here are our Top 5 recommendations.
► Check out the four-story rainforest and catch a show in the planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences
► Learn all about San Francisco’s famous cable cars and see the system in action at the totally FREE San Francisco Cable Car Museum
► Little kids will love the hands-on exhibits at the Exploratorium, located on the waterfront at Pier 15
► Bay Area Discovery Museum combines play and learning with fun, interactive exhibits
► Every Disney fan needs to check out the The Walt Disney Museum at the Presidio
Keep reading for more details on these top five museums for families, plus lots more ideas to help you plan your trip!
San Francisco Museums Kids Will Love
1. California Academy of Sciences
Established in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1853 and beautifully renovated in 2008, this fantastic museum is an aquarium, planetarium, rain forest and natural history museum all rolled up into one. In total, 40,000 live animals call the California Academy of Sciences home!
We enjoyed this museum way more than expected! The best part is their four-story rainforest. As you travel up a circular ramp, this multi-level habitat features brightly colored butterflies, frogs, and other critters you can watch flit about.
On the lower level of the California Academy of Sciences, there is an impressive aquarium with all kinds of marine life.
The museum also features a 2.5-acre rooftop garden waiting to be explored.
- 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco
- calacademy.org
2. Bay Area Discovery Museum
Across the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, California, you’ll find the Bay Area Discovery Museum.
One of the most popular Bay area children’s museums, this interactive museum offers a myriad of fun activities for kids. Indoor and outdoor displays are designed to offer younger kids the chance to explore everything from tunnels and caves to building things out of foam blocks.
The museum recently opened two new exhibits. How Things Work, the Try It Studio and Tot Spot are included with general admission.
- 557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito
- bayareadiscoverymuseum.org
3. Walt Disney Family Museum
Located in San Francisco’s scenic Presidio, a national historical park, in one of the historic brick barracks built in 1895, the Walt Disney Family Museum honors the remarkable life story of Walt Disney.
My son and I have been to this museum a couple of times and absolutely love it! The museum features 40,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and galleries detailing the life of Walt Disney and the company he founded. There is always something new on display.
Opened in October 2009 by Walt Disney’s eldest daughter, the late Diane Disney Miller, the museum features innovative technology alongside a vast collection of historic materials and artifacts that bring Disney’s achievements to life.
There are a number of interactive galleries, which present early drawings and animation, Disney movies, music, listening stations, a spectacular model of Disneyland, and much more. Many of the stories are narrated by recordings of Walt Disney’s own voice!
Exhibits at The Walt Disney Museum include everything from family photos to the earliest known drawings of Mickey Mouse to the original multiplane camera used to make animated feature films. In the Disneyland gallery, there is even a sprawling 13-foot model of Disneyland theme park!
► Read this article for full details on the Walt Disney Family Museum.
- 104 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
- waltdisney.org
4. Children’s Creativity Museum
If you are looking for fun things to do in San Francisco with kids, the Children’s Creativity Museum should absolutely be on your list!
Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, the Children’s Creativity Museum is an interactive space for kids with a wide range of hands-on activities. It is the ideal place to go if your kids are between two and 12-years old.
Kids can learn how to program a robot or record their own music in the Making Music Studio. The museum is also home to a nice playground and the LeRoy King Carousel, originally built in 1905.
- 221 4th Street, San Francisco
- creativity.org
5. Chabot Space & Science Center
Located across the bay in Oakland, the Chabot Space & Science Center is a science museum with interactive exhibits, educational programs, a large screen theater, three powerful telescopes and plenty of hand-on activities kids will love. It’s a great place to visit if you are taking a day trip to Oakland during your time in San Francisco.
Among the museum’s many exhibits is the NASA Ames Visitor Center, a hands-on experience showcasing space exploration and the real stories of NASA’s Ames Research Center. There is a full-dome planetarium that runs show shows every hour, on the hour.
- 10000 Skyline Boulevard, Oakland
- chabotspace.org
6. Aquarium of the Bay
Okay, so not technically a children’s museum in San Francisco, the Aquarium of the Bay is a fun and educational destination that shouldn’t be missed! Located at the foot of Pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf, the Aquarium of the Bay is a great stop to spend an hour or two.
The Aquarium’s coolest feature is its 300 feet of clear tunnels. You’ll get a scuba diver’s view as 20,000 of San Francisco Bay’s most amazing animals (including sharks, eels, fish and octopus) swim overhead.
There are also daily educator-led animal feedings and interactions, hands-on science experiments, sustainable seafood discussions and more. Be sure to check out the amazing views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from the Aquarium’s outdoor decks.
- Pier 39 (Embarcadero & Beach Street), San Francisco
- aquariumofthebay.org
7. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park & Maritime Museum
Located near Fisherman’s Wharf, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park immerses visitors in Pacific Coast maritime history. The museum’s collection includes approximately 35,000 items detailing local maritime history.
The park also includes a magnificent fleet of historic ships, a Visitor Center, Maritime Museum, Maritime Research Center, and Aquatic Park Historic District. There are six National Historic Landmark vessels, all moored at Hyde Street Pier, an extension of Hyde Street. These ships are part of the museum and open to visitors year-round, and a Visitors Center is located across the street.
The Maritime Museum is located in the nearby Aquatic Park Bathhouse building. Built in 1939, this unique structure was designed in the Streamline Moderne style, a late offshoot of the Art Deco period, and mimics the lines of an ocean liner.
- 2905 Hyde Street, San Francisco
- nps.gov/safr/
8. Cable Car Museum
If your kids enjoy riding the cable cars, they’ll love visiting the San Francisco Cable Car Museum. Best of all, the museum in free!
Here, you’ll learn the history of the cable cars and how the whole system works, including a look at the gripping mechanism that every car extends below the street level. It is so cool to see the actual cables doing their thing – the ones currently pulling the cars around the streets of San Francisco. All three San Francisco cable car routes are run by the four sets of cables you’ll see in action at the museum.
Honestly, if any museum deserved to charge an admission fee, this one is it. It is so interesting to see this engineering marvel from its time still at work, and learn about a system that is such an integral part of San Francisco.
It’s so amazing that it is totally free!
Located in Nob Hill along the Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines, the free Cable Car Museum is an easy stop on your way to Union Square (where you will find the famed Westin St. Francis San Francisco), Chinatown, or the surrounding areas. So if you are riding the cable cars, just hop off at the corner of Mason Street.
- 1201 Mason Street, San Francisco
- cablecarmuseum.org
9. Exploratorium
Recently named by CNN as the #1 Spot for Kids in the country, the Exploratorium is an attraction not to be missed if you are visiting San Francisco with kids.
The totally reimagined Exploratorium reopened in 2013 in its new home on the waterfront at Pier 15. There are both indoor and outdoor exhibits.
This hands-on museum encourages guests to touch, explore and play with 600 exhibits. Investigate the living world, experiment with thoughts, feelings and behavior, explore the local environment, think with your hands and much more.
One highlight is the Tactile Dome, a dark, twisting sculpture that you walk, crawl and slide through guided only by your sense of touch.
The Exploratorium houses a cafe and a waterfront restaurant, both serving seasonal and sustainable cuisine.
- Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street), San Francisco
- exploratorium.edu
10. USS Pampanito
Located at Historic Pier 45, in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf, The USS Pampanito is a meticulously restored World War II diesel-electric powered submarine. The USS Pampanito is both a museum and a memorial to those who served in the “silent service.”
Built in 1943, Pampanito made six patrols in the Pacific during which she sank six enemy ships and damaged four others. The museum is open daily, offering self-guided audio tours and (by prior arrangement) docent-led tours. My son and I visited and it only took about 30 minutes to fully explore the vessel.
- Pier 45, San Francisco
- maritime.org
11. Cartoon Art Museum
Located in Fisherman’s Wharf, the Cartoon Art Museum houses nearly 7,000 original pieces of cartoon art, including comic books, graphic novels, anime, political cartoons, and much more!
Visitors of all ages can view original cartoon art, as well as have fun making their own comics and animations. Older kids and teens will probably appreciate this museum more than the little ones.
The Cartoon Art Museum is the only museum on the West Coast devoted solely to cartoon art! They host classes for children and adults, as well as other educational events.
- 781 Beach Street, San Francisco
- cartoonart.org
12. San Francisco Railway Museum
Though this museum is tiny, it packs a lot of info into the small space!
The Railway Museum celebrates San Francisco’s rail transit history, focused on the positive impacts streetcars and cable cars have made on the city.
The museum features a full-sized exact replica of the motorman’s platform of a 1911 San Francisco streetcar, where kids of all ages can experience what it was like to be at the controls. You’ll also find unique historic artifacts, illustrative and informative displays, rarely seen archival photography, and audio-visual exhibits that use 21st century technology to bring rail transit in the 19th and 20th centuries to life.
The San Francisco Railway Museum is located near the waterfront, across from the Ferry Building, at the F-line Steuart Street stop. It’s fun to see street cars going by as you learn about them inside the museum!
- 77 Steuart Street, San Francisco
- streetcar.org/museum
13. Randall Museum
The Randall Museum is another great interactive children’s museum in San Francisco. Located in the Castro District, the Randall Museum focuses on animals, plants, history, and science. It offers hands-on science, live animals and bugs, as well as experiences where kids are encouraged to be creative and explore. They also offer summer camps and field trips.
The museum has an art and ceramics studio, science lab, wood shop, greenhouse, gardens, playground, and a 188-seat theater.
The Randall Museum is run by the San Francisco Parks and Rec department, and admission is free!
- 199 Museum Way, San Francisco
- randallmuseum.org
14. Musée Mécanique
The Musée Mécanique collection includes over 300 vintage and novel coin operated machines. It’s a must-see attraction for vintage game lovers and history buffs, and a fun way to show your kids what games were like before Xbox.
This quirky museum has been family owned and operated since 1933. It offers free admission, but you’ll need coins if you want to play any games. Items include coin-operated pianos, antique slot machines, hand-cranked music boxes, and various vintage arcade games. The arcade games are all in working condition. There is also a collection of mechanically operated musical instruments. It is a fun and lively environment that older kids especially will love checking out.
The museum is open daily until 8 p.m., making it a fun option if you are looking for family-friendly things to do in San Francisco at night.
- Pier 45, Fishermans Wharf, San Francisco
- museemecanique.com
Final Thoughts: San Francisco Kids Museums
Though we live in Southern California, we visit the Bay Area often and always try to squeeze at least one or two museums into our itinerary.
Taking the time to explore a museum is not only educational, it is so much fun and a great thing to do with kids – especially if the weather is chilly or rainy, which it often is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
With all these great San Francisco kids museums, you are sure to find many fun and interesting ways to fill your days when you visit!
Read these articles for more help planning your trip to San Francisco:
Save These Family-Friendly San Francisco Museums for Later!
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