One of the benefits of being a teacher, is that I get summers off with the kids! I am always looking for fun, inexpensive excursions for us, and going to a lot of kid/science museums is always high up on the priority list. Kidspace Museum in Pasadena is one of our favorites.
We'd go to Kidspace more often, but it is a solid hour's drive from Riverside. Having said that, it is definitely a worthwhile excursion.
Having a 5 year old and an 8 year old is sometimes difficult, in that the older one can actually read and understand the exhibit information, whereas the little one mostly wants to climb and manipulate things. What I like about Kidspace is that there is plenty to please both kids, often in the exact same exhibit. Kidspace has multiple climbing towers, which if you read the descriptions, actually have some science and knowledge behind them. While my big girl reads (and climbs) the Tomato is busy climbing up and down and wearing off some of his energy. The inside space has exhibits on insects, a functioning beehive, stuff on the environment and a really cool room with minerals and other tactile objects to manipulate. However, the outside part is great too, with a construction zone, more climbing objects, gardens, a tricycle track, environmental exhibits and plenty of water play. We may have spent as much or even more time outside than inside.
If you have a toddler, there is a section of the museum just for little ones. The first time we went to this museum, my Tomato was still 2 or 3, so I dropped him off with Grandpa in this section and we didn't see them at all until lunch! I'm not sure exactly what play options are in there, but apparently it was lots of fun. The Tomato rejoined us when we went to the outside exhibits, mostly because there were lots of opportunities to climb and run amuck, two of his passions in life.
The museum has absolutely FABULOUS eating options with healthy snacks, but it is also located in the park adjacent to the Rose Bowl, so there are many places inside and out to eat a picnic lunch under mature, beautiful trees. Another advantage to its location in a park is that before you hit the car for the big drive back home, you can always have the kids hit the nearby playground for a last ditch attempt to wear off some of that energy.
Perhaps the only thing I don't like about Kidspace is that it is NOT cheap. At $10 a person (kids AND adults), it can turn into an expensive outing, once you add in the price of gas and food. Combined with the drive from Riverside, it definitely turns into an excursion. These are the reasons we don't go more often, but when we do go, we thoroughly enjoy it.
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