ATTENTION ALL MOMS W/ Infants/Toddlers...I Need Your Input, Thanks!

Check out the Bay area Discovery Museum in Marin. There is a baby/toddler play area that I was taking my baby to since he could walk! It is great. There are also wonderful places to hike all around the bay area which are safe for babies. You can find a book and research those hiking trails. I took my baby to the Exploratorium and let him play with stuff that he was interested in. There is also a baby gym for little kids in West Lake at the gym there. I forget the name of it but it is open on Wed and Friday mornings from 10 to noon or something like that. I always felt there was a lot to do in the bay area for kids of all ages. There is Crocker Amazon Park, which has a tiny structure for babies your baby's age. I have a 17 month old and a 4 year old and we have so many places to take them and not enough time (like another mom said). Ocean Beach and Fort Funston are another option. We can spend TONS of time at the beach, on warm days. You can even go up to Stinson Beach past Marin. Another fun thing to do is Gilroy Gardens. A perfect amusement park for your 15 month old. I took my oldest son there several times. Many of the rides are for 1 or 2 year olds. There is also the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I have a friend who takes her small kids to Great America several times in the summer. I take my kids to the Yerba Buena park, where they can ride the carousel or play on the slides and the water, which is across from the Zeum. the SF Zoo is good for a couple of hours in the afternoon. They also have a carousel, train and petting zoo inside. The aquarium at Pier 39 is fun, as well as just walking along Pier 39 and watching the sea lions at the end of the pier. There is Tilden Park in east bay, which has pony rides and a steam engine ride, as well as a FABULOUS beach at the lake. It is a great place for little kids. It is called Lake Anza. I took my first when he was your son's age. Oakland's zoo is also perfect for little kids.

We never had a shortage of things to do. I think the bay area has more stuff than a lot of other places. The California Academy of Sciences is also fun for both you and your son. There is the aquarium there, as well as a rain forest with butterflies that fly all around. He can have a lot of fun there.

I honestly feel that there are more things out there than I can get around to! I have not yet been to Lake Anza with my 17 month old son, because we are so busy doing other things, but I think I will try to squeeze it into my schedule now that I thought of it again!

There is also AcroSports, which has classes for babies around 1 to do acrobatic and floor exercises. It was a great class. There are also foreign language classes for babies, too! I took my son to a Spanish class.

Good luck and I hope you find some fun things to do with your son!

try some local churches. our church is in Millbrae and we have wonderful nursery facilities that our infants and toddlers love! perhaps you could find one in SF that would suit your needs.

Hi,

I have two little guys (my youngest is 3), and I'm wondering if you just happen to be in that very unnerving zone of parenting a new walker? There were a few months after my guys were walking where I did have to be extra vigilant, but in short order (long, long before they were 2.5) they were totally fine on a 2-5 year play structure. I guess there is a question of parenting judgment here, too -- what one parent considers a reasonable risk another may consider unacceptably dangerous, but my thought on this stuff has always been, "what's the worst that will happen if they fall?". On the 2-5 structures(after they were past the 'new walker' phase), my usual answer was "a pretty bad bump" -- so, I let them go. Also, the comment about Gymboree really surprises me, as their whole business is the "0-5" age range, probably with a heavier emphasis on "0-3" from my memory. That said, I guess if you went to an "Open Play" at Gymboree, I think there is more variety in the stuff that is out, whereas the classes are much more targeted -- in fact, as you mention, with time slots for particular age ranges. Little Gym is definitely pitched a bit older IMO. You might also try the play area in the Tanforan Mall -- it is in the mall right next to Target. The only thing is, on rainy days it can be pretty hectic/busy.

Good luck,
D.

I have to say I don't agree. My daughter enjoyed Gymboree from about 15 months until she started preschool. My nephew started Gymboree at 6 months and will likely stay until preschool. Their teachers gear the equipment to the age of the kids in the specific class. In fact, my daughter who is small for her age, started outgrowing the Gymboree equipment by the time she was 3.5. Also, if you contact Los Madres, you can find a group close to you with kids exactly your child's age with whom you can have playdates. Most parks near us have 2 sets of equipment, stuff for 2-5 and others for 4-6. But it's all strong enough for a parent, so we took our daughter on the 2-5 stuff before she was 2, as we were sliding with her in our laps and holding her hand as she wobbled around on it. I'd say the Little Gym equipment is geared for a little older, but by 2.5 my daughter was having fun on it. The days/times model you've suggested is exactly what Gymboree does. I actually feel like there has always been more for my little one to do than there are hours of the day. Just the view from my corner of the world. Hope that helps.

Hi D.-
I completely get where you are coming from, I had the same challenges. I have found that the Children's Discovery Museum (San Jose) is a great place for little ones from crawling and up. Also I tend to go to the malls with the play areas. But I agree, options are a bit limited... Check out CDM and see what you think.

i don't know where you are in the bay area but in san francisco, a lot of the playgrounds are for 2 different age groups and places like gymboree are geared towards crawling age to toddlers so i don't quite understand where you're coming from.

as for mother's group, i originally joined golden gate mother's group (www.ggmg.org) here in san francisco (sf residents only) and found a playgroup for kids born in march 05 so every kid in the group was the same age (give or take a few days). if you don't like the way a playgroup in structured, i'm sure you can create a sub-group that caters to your specs. good luck.