For all the years I have lived in the San Francisco East Bay, one location I had not yet visited – but wanted to - was the Chabot Space and Science Center. So, it seemed like a good idea to plan a trip there on a summer afternoon, when the kids were getting wiggly and bored in our home.

Similar to the Lawrence Hall of Science, the museum is situated in East Bay Hills, tucked away amid winding roads. GPS is certainly helpful. Our newly launched KidFriendlyVenues app has this for you!

What struck me when I first arrived was the brand-new appearance of the building. The parking garage was older, but the museum itself was much more modern.

We hardly got inside the museum, and my children ran off to jump in a space capsule. A line formed behind them, as all the children impatiently waited for their chance to sit in the astronaut seat and hit all the buttons. Once I pried my children out, we high-tailed into the planetarium for one of the movies. I was impressed with how frequently they had shows, and the topics varied throughout the day. The film we watched was about one hour in length, and it captivated my children. We were lucky to get a seat as the theater filled up by the time the lights dimmed.

Because we had a late start to our day, we had to cruise the museum at Mach speed before closing time.  This ended up not being a problem as my children raced from room to room.  They seemed disinterested with the reading material and standing displays but searched out the interactive exhibits. 

The main attractions at this particular museum are the enormous telescopes.  Sadly, two of the rooms with the telescopes were locked.  The third telescope room was open but not in use so we merely stepped inside the room, gazed in awe at the magnitude of the telescope, and then returned to the main museum.

The Chabot Space and Science Center is well-worth a visit. 

The pros: the planetarium, the interactive displays, and probably the telescopes (when open).

The cons: The entry fee was quite expensive, and many of the displays were not interesting to my young children.

Would I go again?   Sure.  I would definitely research when the telescopes are in use and plan my future visit around that key fact. I can easily do this now with the KidFriendlyVenues app as it gives the website address of the museum in the details. Super convenient!

Laura D