West · California

Exploratorium, San Francisco

Museum Full day difficulty: Easy with kids: yes

On a pier over San Francisco Bay, a museum where everything is touched, pushed, and tried: hundreds of experiments you activate with your hands. You can touch a fog tornado, step into a room that plays tricks on your sight, or make music with your body's shadow.

The pop wink

The Exploratorium invented the idea of the science museum where you don't just look but touch everything: it was opened in 1969 by a physicist who wanted people to learn by playing with their hands. Today there are museums like it all over the world copying its idea.

With kids

Put your hand in a fog tornado and break it apart with your fingers
Step into the room that makes you look like a giant or a dwarf
Make music or drawings with your own body's shadow
Try dozens of experiments that come alive when you touch them

Accessibility: All ages; almost everything is hands-on, a paradise for the curious

With family

Compete as a family with the optical-illusion experiments
Learn by playing why things that look like magic happen
Step out onto the pier to see the bay and the bridge in the distance
Discover a new experiment together in every room

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