Traveling with a Toddler: San Jose & Santa Cruz - Discovery Museum

Traveling with a toddler in San Jose and Santa Cruz continues with a visit to a museum.

Our first stop in San Jose was the Children’s Discovery Museum. There is a reason why it’s frequently on the list of the top 10 children’s museums in the nation. It’s a 52,000 square foot museum that is bursting at the seams. It’s a place where kids have fun while learning. The exhibits are layered for different ages so it’s a great place for children of different ages. The exhibits are hands on and are very engaging.

However, we almost didn’t make it past the lobby. In the lobby is a full sized fire truck that the kids can climb on. They don fire gear and pretend to drive the truck.

Once we convinced our three year old to leave the truck we got to experience rest of the museum. We really enjoyed the Mammoth Discovery exhibit. It is a 2,200 square foot exhibit featuring fossils that were found in the nearby Guadalupe River.

The highlight of the exhibit is the skeleton of a juvenile mammoth that was found in the Guadalupe River. The Wonder Cabinet exhibit for toddlers had so many great activities that were perfect for a 3 year old. The activities in the room were geared toward using the different senses to explore. We especially liked smelling things and guessing what they were as well as listening to the sounds that different objects make. Many of the exhibits in the museum had a physics theme.

While kids are playing they are learning different principles of physics. Our three year old enjoyed splashing in the waterways exhibit as well as making bubbles in the bubble room.

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