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Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Rating Details »
Categories: Venues & Event Spaces, Museums, Playgrounds [Edit]
180 Woz WaySan Jose, CA 95110
(408) 298-5437
- Hours:
Tue-Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
97 reviews for Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
This place is great for all kids! I would never go on the weekends since its super duper crowded and my son just does not do well in large over crowded groups like that and I end up stressed.
My nephews were staying w/ us for a week during the summer and I had to come up with things to do that was inexpensive....cost very little or FREE. Now that I am not working it's been getting tougher nowadays as many know. WELLLLLL......... I found out that the Discovery Museum will not refuse anyone if they cannot afford it. They have a policy that many people are not aware of called the "Open Door Policy".
I was embarrassed and wasn't sure how to ask about the policy but I did and we (my 2 nephews and I) were able to enjoy it.
Thought I'd share for those that cseriously annot afford the cost. I used it but I don't abuse it.
My kids give this place two thumbs and two big toes up! This fun factory is made for little kids and babies. It's definitely not the kind of "museum" that is full of wonderful and educational things that bring you and your children big yawns and tears of boredom.
Most of the exhibits are interactive and allow your little ones to touch, feel and experience stuff.
Just remember to bring an extra change of clothes and shoes for the water exhibit. I'd say forget putting on the smocks they provide because they won't keep your kids dry. They only provide a false sense of security which you'll realize when the water goes down your child's arm drenching their whole body.
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If I were to review this, I'd probably give it 1-2 stars. You get a plain, purple building on the outside, a bunch of random things crammed into 3 stories on the inside.
HOWEVER, I am reviewing this in the eyes of my 2-almost-3 year old baby cousin. 5+ stars!!! lol. This place combines technology with the old-school playing that I experienced as a child. I think it's so neat to see children interact w/each other and other things (instead of sitting and watching tv). There's a fire truck and ambulance you can climb in, an exhibit on circles, a self-face painting room (my cousin LOVED it!!), and (I think?) an area for kids 5 and under?
My cousin had so much fun that we didn't make it up to the 3rd floor where the 5 and under area is. We went to the BUBBLES section and WATER area instead. She loooooooved it so much, she wouldn't leave! I had to drag her out! And on the way out, she stopped at the traffic light, ambulance, firetruck, and everything else to play with them one last time before leaving!!
Gift shop prices are reasonable. I'm just happy that my cousin was able to interact w/other kids. Next time we come back, I will for sure take her to the 5 and under area. This place is DEFINITELY 4 stars bc it kept my cousin so entertained. (You can't really expect too much! You're dealing w/kids! lol)
TIPS/INFO:
- Parking in the lot on Woz Way is $5. Bring cash; their card machine doesn't work
- Admission is $10 (1-59) and $9 (60+). Def. invest in the family membership if you plan on going often. They accept card.
- Take your child to get his/her face painted!! They love it! It's washable too. Just wet a napkin w/water and wipe it off.
- Do bubbles second to last.
- Do water last. If you think you're child's gonna spend 10 mins there, think again. At least 45 mins. And bring a change of clothes.
*** Watch out for parents. Sometimes, you get parents who are RUDE and pushy and PSYCHOTIC and like to fight with babies for toys for their children (like some 40 year old did w/my cousin today! Sheesh lady, pick on someone your own size, lol.) Other times, you get parents who let their children run around and pick on other kids. But for the most part, you get friendly parents who will keep their kids in check and teach them how to share. So it's not that bad =)
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Take the train! I was dreading the drive (specifically the return trip in traffic) but somehow stumbled onto the idea of taking the train. My son and I had an hour and a half of quality art & story time each way from Berkeley. The train is costly, but the interaction time is worth it, on top of the novelty value.
The museum is way smaller than I expected, but the little one kept going all day. I think age 2-5 is the sweet spot for this venue. The water area is fantastic (bring spare clothes). Everything was clean (though corn-husk lady needs a serious attitude adjustment). The weekday school trip crowd thinned out by noon, and we had just the right level of activity to make it vibrant, but without all the kiddie gabbiness and pushing that too often mar a hands-on museum visit.
Itinerary: 8:32am Berkeley Amtrak, 10:00am San Jose Diridon (train arrived early), transfer to VTA Light Rail 2 stops to Convention Center. Return via 4:20pm train. Similar times work for Peninsula riders via CalTrain. DO NOT try for the Discovery Museum light rail stop if you come from Amtrak -- Convention Center is better, and a nicer walk than the Museum's own parking lot. Alternately cab fare is $10, or walk is 1/2 mile.
This is a unique thing to do on a day when the kids get bored. I always get excited when I plan for a visit, but every time I go, I'm just a little disappointed by the overall experience. I then remember why I haven't gone back in so long.
I think the problem is there is so much POTENTIAL there, but it's just a little unimaginative. There are lots of different areas for the kids to explore, but everything seems dirty and drab. The toddler area reminds me of someone's really big basement play room with lots of random stuff, but ultimately very little value.
The diaper/nursing area was a dingy little room with no privacy.
With all the money and creativity in the Silicon Valley, I think this place could be so much more.
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I have fond memories of this place as a child. Now that I have my daughter I am helping with her memory making of CDM. She is five years old and loves the "purple building."
First of all, you can take light rail straight to the entry way/path to the door. No deaing with parking which is $5.00.
For potential family cost savings, the family membership is only 100 bucks. This is the way to go for getting your money's worth.
The exhibits are spot-on for kids. The bubble exhibit entertains children of all ages, not to mention adults can have fun with extra large bubble making and explaining that air in liquid = bubble.
My daughter's favorite exhibit is probably the water play area. Smocks are available to prevent kids' clothes from getting wet. We spent a good 45 minutes here one day just playing with water and making balls go from point a to point b with all the water works. I even had fun making water flow patterns with moveable channels/barriers and seeing how fast a ball would travel down the stream.
There is currently a play pizza house where kids can pretend to have a restaurant. This is also a good resting spot for parents as they pretend to be patrons and order food. We also like the facepainting, the dance area, and the under 5 area upstairs. For parents and older kids, cornhusk doll making is really fun.
A cafe exists inside with small meals/snacks and healthy options are available.
We heart CDM!
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I really like this local children's museum- our daughter is only 10 mos old so I thought there would be limited things for her to do there, but we have been here three times now because she likes it so much.
We spend the majority of our time in the section for toddlers, where they have a miniature table and chairs and fake food set up to play house. They also have an area for her to crawl around in, including one section which is all mirrors which she LOVEs. They have hand puppets and a ramp for her to crawl up too. they also had story time the last time we were there, and they were reading one of her favorite books: Chicka chicka boom boom.
there is another section here which we visit occasionally but I can see us spending a LOT more time here when she's older: the water section! There's a ball game where you stick the ball in the tube and it's shot up into the air and into a huge tank of water that's swirling around- it gets sucked down and shot out into a slide.
They also have a full sized fire truck, a section with an emphasis on environmental convervation, some neat art projects, and healthy food in the cafeteria. Good times, we're getting a membership- yay!
My five year old and 15 month old had a lot of fun here, and we didn't get to do everything that the museum had to offer in our visit of 2 hours. We'll definitely come back.
Good things: Clean. A lot of safe areas for kids to enjoy, and play areas for all types of kids. The area for very young children was great, and one of the most fun places for our whole family. We loved the bubble fun area. It was wet and messy, but something you really can't pass up for your kids. I've never met a child who didn't like bubbles. And admission prices are very reasonable. Staff was friendly.
Bad things: The cafe, while clean (including very clean high chairs), didn't have great food, and the prices were rather high for such blah food. Also, you're always going to run into other parents who think everyone is out to get their child and destroy their little angel's good time. Anticipate that and you won't be as offended when one of those people snaps at you or your child. And the gift shop was overpriced and lacking in a variety of merchandise. We ended up leaving with sidewalk chalk and a small wind-up school bus. Boring, but they had almost nothing else that was cheap and fun.
So, overall it really was a good experience, and well worth a repeat visit.
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My daughter, just LOVEs this place. We started taking her there since she's 1-yr-old and a confident walker. She loves almost all the activities, water, bubbles, riding cars. She can spend hours in the 4-yr-old & under playroom.
There are couple negatives... Parking is not great, it's not too close to the museum, so can be a pain. Secondly, the food court can be improved.
This place is super fun! A whole day's worth of activities and fun for only $8. I think on the weekdays, it's packed from opening to about 1 PM, and then it totally dies down because all the kids on field trips head home. I also like how close the parking lot is, because I honestly hate having to walk miles to get to my destination. $5 for all day is a very good rate.
I knocked off one star, because when we went upstairs to do the corn husk dolls, there were 2 women there, and when I sat down with my 3 year old daughter, I said "hi! so how do we begin?" In response, she swivels her chair around, and points at the board behind her and says "all the directions are up there." I was under the impression they were sitting behind the activity desk to lead the crafts, just like in the other art rooms.
Uh, okay. Thanks a lot. What are you there for? To make sure kids don't cut themselves on the blunt, square tipped kid-safe scissors? To help anyone who gets a corn husk papercut? I mean come on. Yeah, I can read. Yeah, I can understand the directions. But your job is to make it exciting and let me interact with my daughter, instead of making me pause every couple minutes to squint and read the directions.
Besides that, everything else was dandy. The water area for 4 year old children and under is SO FUN. I could stay in that section all day with my daughter. Just like other reviewers, I have to also agree that parents need to respect all the rules that CDM establishes. I clearly saw children older then 4 years old in the water area, and they typically tend to dominate the different stations and roughhouse too much for the smaller children. In any case, I'm in love with this place, and definitely prefer it when it's not crazy busy. My daughter and I can enjoy it much more.
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We had to babysit our 2-year old niece for the first time ever this past Saturday so we took her to the CDM.
The museum looked sooo much larger on the outside but there was definitely a lot of fun that was had on the inside! She had a lot of fun playing with the "WaterWays" exhibit, thank goodness for the little ponchos they provide! She also loved playing in the "Out on a Limb" room, although some of the puppets did kind of scare her, no cries though! "I" wanted to check out the "Rainbow Pizza and Market" but she wasn't in the mood...boo! But, that's what next time is for!
We got there exactly at 10am and left at around 2pm, definitely time well spent! It wasn't too overly crowded, even for a Saturday but I did notice a little more traffic around the noon hour. At $8.00 per person, even for her, it was well worth it! I wish this place was around when I was her age, um....twenty-X years ago!
PS:
Not being a parent myself made me a little overly cautious about her activities and whereabouts but I did observe what many reviewers mentioned before...CDM is not day care!
Lastly, anti-bac gel, anti-bac gel, anti-bac gel!!!!! Thankfully the museum has dispensers all over the place!
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Popularity is its own fault here....
this place has TONS of cool stuff for little ones to run around and play with, and it draws tons and tons of kids.... and along with it, you get the interactions of tons of different parenting styles as well.
This place is NOT daycare... please watch over your kids when you bring your little ones here, respect the different areas and the ages, and be mindful if your little ones are not in the area they are used to.
I bring my 19 month old here, and there is nothing more irritating than having some 5 or 10 year old come stomping through the toddler area and totally steamroll or start taking toys and items from little ones. Totally uncool.
but this place is great fun, can get really busy, so show up late!(so that I can show up early and have more time when it's not so busy!)
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This place is an easy indoor way to burn some energy. It's pretty clean, nice and big and relatively inexpensive. I think for a family membership, it was $80. I think for the day, it's like $7-8. I recommend gong in the afternoon, when the field trips and mobs have gone. If you've never taken your little one, bring a change of clothes. Every time we go check out the waterworks exhibit, we walk out soaked. But it is a cool exhibit. And they have a fire engine and an ambulance. The kids can climb in and "drive". Right now the feature exhibit is Curious George, and since my son knows who he is, we love this one.
Bottom line, CDM is affordable and fun. My 4 and a half year old is just as excited to go now as he was 2 years ago.
And you can bring your own food and drink.
My mom and I went for my first time yesterday with my 2 1/2-year-old son and 3 1/2-year-old nephew. Perhaps going on a rainy Saturday wasn't the best choice, in terms of the crowd - I felt like I was constantly stumbling over other parents and moving my kid so other children would have a chance to play with the exhibits.
The museum itself was pretty amazing, but felt a little claustrophobic for me. We were indoors the whole time, in contrast to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. It was nice to be inside for colder/wetter weather, but it felt stuffy and louder, and less relaxing than the more outdoor experience in Sausalito.
We had a great time with many exhibits (not limited to but) including the:
* fire truck
* tunnel (upstairs)
* pizza kitchen (upstairs)
* face-painting
* water area
Bring a set of dry clothes for the kids, since the water area is generally the most attractive area for the kids to play in, and the water-proof smocks are only somewhat effective. We saved the water play for last, which was a wise choice for us.
The kids had a fabulous few hours and were totally exhausted by the time we left.
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So, there really isn't much more I can say about this place that already hasn't been said. It's great for the kiddies, and I have fun watching them have fun, so it's a win-win. Just a couple of observations;
I came here on a rainy holiday; This = MASSIVE CROWDS
I have never in my life seen such a huge collection of "mom jeans" in one place
Parents, don't climb on the apparatus and then purposely block out other kids so that your kid can have the apparatus to themselves.
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Man, my kid is too old (in a sense for this place). Although we had a great time, I could sense that my child, who is three years of becoming a teenager has grown-up immensely.
I love the layout of the museum, it is definitely an overload for imagination. The $8 admission price is well worth the cost, because however small the facility is, there is always something to do or see. The Kids Cafe was surprisingly inexpensive, in this scary times, even at a kids museum prices would be high.
Nonetheless, I didn't feel like I had to spray my daughter down with disinfectant. Usually I feel so grotty after I take her those indoor jumping castles or places like Chuck-E-Cheese. We had a good time though, though I know that this time of being a child will be gone in a heartbeat and I'm looking at $4k text messaging bills. *Sniff*
This is such a great place if you have children. Both my son (5 months) and daughter (22 months), are entertained when they are here. My daughter loves the "dance" room and, oddly, their stairs. They have a little railing for small children to hold on too, and she loves to be a "big" girl by holding on to it. That little railing alone is four stars. I'm telling you, my daughter LOVES that thing.
Their cafe is great too. I highly recommend their fries! They are the perfect size and fried to just the right amount of time. This makes them crispy but not greasy at all. PLUS, all the utensils are earth friendly!
The membership prices are very reasonable, until you factor in the cost of parking. Negative one star for having to pay $5 every time you visit.
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So to get me out of my newly single rut, my good friend took me here today to play and get my mind off of things.
SO much fun! We did take her daughter here and it was just fun watching her explore everywhere while she and I ran around and acted like silly children.
Yeah it's educational as well.. but most importantly it's fun!
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When I was a kid I "volunteered" ie "was forced" to take the Summer Of Service Program that is run out of the CDM. It's actually darn fun so if you live in the area you should sign your kid up for it.
As such, I helped in the Zoom Zone and basically got the run of this place almost every day for three months for two summers. I don't think I ever got tired of it though because there's so much stuff to see and check out.
I still have the song from the Zoom Zone stuck in my head... something along the lines of "02164..."
I was here to see the Mr Rodgers exhibit and try on all the sweaters and play with the puppets. And baby you ain't lived until you've been on the set of your fav show when you were a baby.
I love CDM and I'd come back any time. Hmmm maybe I should plan a trip.
Oh and the light rail comes right to it FYI.
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Great place to bring the little ones of all ages, my son loved this place and the best thing about it it caters to kids as young as crawlers to the pre teen age. They have a reeom for the crawlers they can play and climb and rooms for very age. they only thing I will say is they need to have people watching the parents, I was having fun watching parents tell others" My child is there first and ripping the toys out of other kids hands, com on now who is worst the parent or the child and what are you really teaching your kid by that? other than that we will be going back soon
We just visited this place today - it's fantastic! So many different things to do and see...my 4-year old was going nuts! :) We went to each area ("Pizza Room", Crafts Room, Bubble area etc) for a little while. I was planning on spending the morning here, but we ended up staying for almost 5 hours. And that still wasn't enough! The fire truck was a big hit too - my daughter and her friend didn't want to leave :)
So here's some info:
Parking - across the street ($5 all day) or meter parking ($1.50 for 3 hours) The parking lot has very nice shady spots if you prefer your car staying cool in hot weather.
Entrance Fee: $10 It's a bit expensive, but worth it for a whole day of fun. They have a membership deal which would be cheaper.
Food: There's a food place ("Kid's Cafe") which offers kids-friendly foods and snacks fairly reasonable priced. I would even suggest bringing a picnic-type food and eating in the nice garden area outside.
Overall: defnitely recommend. Lots of fun for the whole family. Oh, bring extra clothes for your child(ren). The kids get wet in the water area...AND don't forget to paint your faces in the Facepainting Room :)
I love this place and so does my 3 year old son. I have been taking him here since he was 6 months old. They have a separate area for kids under 2. We usually spend 2+ hours here. My son loves the water play area (bring extra clothes) and the Secrets of Circles exhibit. We are members and membership is worth the cost. I've never seen a kid have a bad time here.
The food court is nice, but the healthier options can be a bit pricey.
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EVERY CITY SHOULD HAVE ONE!
First off, I have to tell a side story.
My younger brother and I used to go to Primary Plus for years, and we'd constantly go here for field trips. My mom received a call one morning when my brother was here for one of the regular field trips. He ran into the corner of the Museum and almost broke his nose. I understand he was super young, but IT'S A BRIGHT PURPLE BUILDING!
Anyway, this place has THE most interesting stuff ever. I took my nephew here years ago. Different generations have been able to enjoy this place, and I love that. Hopefully, if I ever have children, they'll get to go here.
I used to ride the lightrail with my friends and spend all day here. It never gets old.
The only negative has nothing to do with the actual museum. It's the stupid kids and their stupid parents. Some kids hog certain activities FORever and you never get a change to try them, because their parents also let them.
Went on a Sunday afternoon about 3, it was a sunny day so it was not really busy. My 3 year old son had a good time. We spent most of our time in the water area. Parents beware, you kid can get soaked, so a change of clothes is a great idea. All the exhibits were hands on which I liked. Was cleaner than I expected. The snack shop closed before we had a chance to grab a snack.
One big plus was it was light rail accessible, which made for an extra exciting day for my son.
Might invest in the family membership, but for a sunday outing $30 bucks is a great deal.
Volunteering gets you into the coolest of places.
I volunteered here for a "Family Lunada" an evening of Hispanic Music, Dance, Crafts and Food. A family fun night free to the members and the public.
I walked around this place and it has some of the best "How Things Work" stations. The Fire Truck and Ambulance are great too.
Great place for kids to have a fun educational experience.
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Great place, the staff are really helpful, they have food that is edible, and my kid doesn't ever want to leave. I love that they have a separate section for younger kids, because some of the school groups here are poorly supervised, and the kids have no manners (and their parents too).
There are some nasty children out there who will push and shove small kids out the way. My kid is so funny and says "sorry" when they do this. I just want to put my big arse in their faces and "oops" knock them down.
My 3 yr old son always enjoy our visit to the San Jose Children Museum.
He particularly enjoys the special exhibit section (this summer is the Curious George exhibit) and the small children area. Great place to bring your kids as they are having both a lot of fun and tons of educational experience!
Kids love this place, a definite local must attend for kids from 4-10 years old or so.
Pros:
*This is what it is all about healthy stuff for children, very educational (mostly science), yet fun and interactive. Truly a wholesome, learning environment here.
*Exhibits are either fascinating, intriguing, or at a minimum, interesting.
*The gift shop is neat, their little knick-knack stuff for under a $1 makes good, fun souveniers for the little ones without breaking your pocketbook.
*$7 admission is reasonable
Cons:
*Food is on the high-side
*Parking was $3 in a weird, un-manned lot, and then a short hike to the entrance.
Notes:
Sunday afternoon parking was near empty (which was nice), and parking is free.
Can't walk around with food or drinks in the place, so have to eat/drink at the table area then resume your tour/roaming.
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We brought our 15 month old here last weekend. She really had a good time in the toddler room- there was a lot of hands on stuff for her to get into without us having to worry about it being dangerous/fragile. The only problem I have with the museum is the price. It's really expensive for two parents and one child (30 bucks!) especially when an under 2 year old can't utilize most of the exhibits in the museum, and it's not really "for" adults, so it's not like my husband and I could have really played with everything on our own. I think there should be a discounted rate for kids under 2, based solely upon the amount of exhibits they can't interact with. Perhaps they might consider offering a 'toddler room only' ticket at a reduced rate. I realize this would be hard to enforce, though. Honestly, we'd go here all the time if it weren't so expensive, but at this price, every few months is all we can really afford, which is a shame. Maybe when she's bigger and can get more out of the museum it'll be a better value, but for now I'll stick to Gymboree. At least they don't charge for parents.
This was on my list of places to go after my horribly disappointing trip to Children's Fairyland in Oakland... ugh.
I brought my 2 year old niece here and immediately upon entering was greeted by a young man inviting us to a puppet show (visions of getting boxed in at Fairyland's puppet show with no escape blasted to mind) OH PLEASE NO, not another puppet show! I just got here. Let us please have some fun first! OK, not wanting to be rude, we went in and I have to say my niece may have had the most fun in that room with the three story tellers that were extremely patient dealing with kids from infants to 6 year olds. There was a lot of interaction with the kids that included dancing, singing and story telling. I was entertained as well watching all the kids having so much fun.
Somehow I missed the Water Ways but I'll definitely return to look for it. For a 2 year old, the pizza parlor, face painting, bubble room and Alice in Wonderland seemed to be where we spent alot of our time.
Parking wasn't bad but we arrived shortly after the CDM opened around 10:15. Even though it was a Saturday the crowd inside never seemed to get too crazy. We were able to walk up to just about any exhibit and play. Maybe it was an off day but either way, we had a blast and will be back very soon in search of the Water Ways!
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Fun for the entire family. My 3 year old loved this place, she is already asking to return. The Alice in Wonderland exhibit was really neat, we all enjoyed that part. I'd recommend checking that out before its gone! First we painted our faces in the special face paint room. Kids paint their own faces with easy to wash off face paint. We had so much fun climbing in the fire truck,ambulance,stage coach and circle boat. The bubble area was also very fun and there was plenty of stations so the children weren't fighting for a turn. The water play area is so great. A special 4 and under area and an area for older kids. They provide smocks to stay dry too! Every area is interactive,educational and just plain FUN.
They had plenty of staff around and it was so nice to see that. Everyone was so helpful,fun and ready to answer any question. They were really put to the test when my daughter split her lip open on a chair. We found somebody, and within seconds were were escorted to the first-aid room. Lucky for us she wasn't hurt that bad, but the friendly and concerned floor manager provided us with icepacks and waited patiently while our daughter calmed down. Even with a fat lip my daughter still wanted to stay at the museum and play more!
We will defiantly be going back again sometime soon. 5 stars all the way!
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I went there about six months ago, but since I just went to Habitot this past weekend, I felt compelled to write a review for the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum.
This place is huge with lots of open space and it's great. The building has three (or maybe four) floors of activities for kids to enjoy. There is even a full size traffic signal inside the building so kids can learn to cross the street! We easily spent 4 hours here painting, playing at the pizza parlor, playing with clay, making corn husk dolls, making giant bubbles, and much much more .
There is also a food area inside, so we didn't have to go anywhere when the kids got hungry. Overall, it is a fun place for kids to play, to explore and to learn.
I love to take the nephews and nieces here because they always seem to have a great time, and they get to be as crazy as they want without the judgment. The last time I went was when my niece was around 6 years old - she's 14 now. My sister (a member) invited me and our parents to join her and her family last Friday. She said there was a new exhibit opening and this was preview night. My 2-year-old nephew had a blast playing with everything it had to offer. I got the grand tour from my 7-year-old nephew, and I have to say that I love the bubble station downstairs the best!
It pays to get a membership because you can park in the 30 minute parking right in front of the museum, play for 30 minutes, then leave. That's more than enough time for the kids to get their fix and for you to recover from all the excitement.
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Still five stars because my children love love LOVE it here! I literally have to drag my daughter out kicking and crying. She does not want to leave. My children enjoy all the educational hands on activities. My daughter enjoys climbing in and out of the firetruck, ambulance, and stagecoach. She loves playing with the balls, turning wheels, playing pretend, and the list goes on...! They love the tot place upstairs with story time and arts and crafts. Both my daughter and son love the bubble floor and they can stay at the waterworks area forever. Great place to spend a Friday afternoon, but what a mess trying to leave!
Their cafe is small, but clean and the food is okay. The staff is most helpful and friendly. Parking is across the street and costs five buckaroos. My son still gets in for free since he is under a year old. This is definitely a place the fam will frequent.
Come bring the whole family along! It sure is a blast!
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/2/2008
This place is phenomenal. My daughter loved every little inch of this facility.
Baby's crying...will… Read more »
Although I volunteered here for about two years, I promise my review will not be be biased.
This is definitely a great place for kids! Parents, if you have never been here before, this is definitely a fine place for children under 12 years of age. Although it does get crowded around noon on weekends, children can enjoy interacting with other children and participating with one another at the many stations located around the museum. Every month there are new attractions available so everything doesn't become that repetitive. I remember I had to dress up once as "Roxy the Fox", a friend of Smokey the Bear and the kids absolutely loved it; everyone wanted to give me a hug (except for that one boy who kept trying to punch me).
Basically, this is a great place to take your kids; enjoy a weekend with them and possibly have lunch/dinner afterwards since you're already downtown.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
OMD. As i kid i loved going here. there was alwasy somethign to do. I went here on field trips all the time. Like every year in elementary school. Its pretty fun. Theres that one wall where where you can put your handprints on. Everyone knows about that. And that little bubble area. This place has it all. The food court is whack but everything else is awesome. I need to go here again sometime.
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My nephew absolutely loved this place. He wasn't interested much on the silly sayings they have everywhere trying to connect the machines to science ("Does the machine make you hot or cool?" - he just enjoyed pulling the pulley!) As for the adults, I wish there were more seats for adults to sit and watch the kids run around. I'm definitely not in as much "kid-shape" as my sister is and standing for hours watching the kid just got tiring!
Best exhibit while we were there was the giant tennis-ball machine; cute watching the little ones figuring how to work together in order to get everything to work!
Cafe was surprisingly good: freshly fried corndogs for the kids, spinach wraps with turkey and aioli for the adults, and a lot of other choices as well.
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Man, a lot of people have YELP reviewed this place before me. I guess it's because nearly every kid in San Jose has been to Woz Way at one time or another either through the parents or their school. It's a San Jose kid magnet with no bums hanging around right outside by the front door to frighten the little tykes like there are at the Main library. That's one spooky place my friends. BOO!. Or, "Can I borrow a dime?" What kid is gonna refuse a homeless man's request for cash? None. And what bum is going to take a kid's lunch money?
The face painting at CDM is a key spot and also has so many other interesting and cool things to see like the Zoom Zone for one. That's always a packed area full of screaming little blessings full of joy and energy, blowing out eardrums right and left. Wear earplugs in the location if at all possible.
But seriously, I was really impressed with all of the activities for children of all ages, especially the toddler room that was a separate room with a door that was very safe, clean and with a friendly crew looking over things.
All in all, it is a place for fun for everyone in the family. They will love the bubble room and the fire truck and the ambulance and if you have a very little one, they will especially love it and cry to return.
Went yesterday with hubby and kiddo who is 2.5 years old. Had a BLAST! Kiddo ran his butt off and had the time of his life. Word of warning...bring a spare set of clothing for the kids. They have an awesome water play area and though they provide smocks, your kid is still going to get soaked! My only complaint and the reason I didn't give it a 5 is that the food in the cafe wasn't very good at all! Now that I know I'll pack our lunch next time. Wish it was closer, we'd go once a week!
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GREAT place for kids. We came here for a field trip many years ago, and I remember having a blast, but sad that we didn't have more time to explore the exhibits. Pretty much everything is hands on, which is why it's so great for kids, very experiential and not boring to just look at. I made a corn husk doll, there was some climbing things...vacuum tubes, and I'm sure some rotating exhibits as well.
I also remember scaling the triangle side of the building at lunch, that was fun, even if I wasn't supposed to.
I will definitely take my kids here when I have some.
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