Coming Up: Lunar New Year at the Asian Art Museum

Welcome the Year of the Dog with acrobatics, art, drumming and stories! The Asian Art Museum has a big celebration planned:

--Red Panda Acrobats for an afternoon of circus arts and tumbling
--End the day with Lion Dance Drumming, believed to scare away evil spirits and ensure a bright beginning to the year.
--Storytelling with author Oliver Chin, reading his story about Chinese zodiac animals’ characteristics
--Have your name written in Chinese calligraphy
--Make art projects to bring you prosperity in the Year of the Dog.

Where: Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin, SF
When: Sunday, February 18 from 10:30-4
Cost: Free with admission. Always free for kids 12 and under

Bay Area Tree Lighting Ceremonies 2016

It's more exciting to watch a giant tree get lit up, than watch your own. So head to these tree lightings for some holiday fun.

SAN FRANCISCO
What: Rec and Park's 87th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting
When: Thursday, December 1, 4-8
Where: McLaren Lodge, Golden Gate Park
Activities: Music performances, snow play, holiday train rides, carnival rides, cookies and Santa visits.

What: Union Square, Macy's 27th annual tree lighting
When: Friday, November 25, 2016 at 6 p.m. for the ceremony, actual tree lighting at 6:40
Where: Union Square
Activities: entertainment by Aloe Blacc; it gets crowded so arrive early

What: Ghirardelli Square Tree Lighting
When: Friday, November 25, 2016 (activities 4-9)
Where; Ghirardelli Square
Activities: live music, kids' entertainment, Santa visit, food and gifts to purchase

Coming Up: Bay Area Science Festival

10 days - 50 events. You're bound to find something you like! And most events are free.

The Bay Area Science Festival starts tomorrow, October 27, with Explorer Days events all around the San Francisco Bay. Some activities are adults-only, and others welcome kids. Go through the schedule and see what interests you.

Here are two geared at families on Saturday.  Head to Concord for Contra Costa Discovery Day. They'll have 20+ hands-on science booths for kids 5-14, and a STEM mentorship program for high school students. There's also a program at the Sonoma County Fairground, from 10-4 on Saturday. They'll be dissecting a squid and will have a space station museum. They'll have 100+ hands-on exhibits.

The festival concludes on November 5 at AT&T Park with a Discovery Day geared toward families, with kids up to age 14, It's free, no tickets needed. They'll have  for a free science extravaganza from 10-4. They'll have 150 experiments, shows, games and more. It includes robots, STEM programs, life sciences, marine science, and chances to meet scientists and engineers. They expect 30,000 people to attend!

Coming Up: Eat Real Festival

If you like food, you'll want to go to the 8th annual Eat Real Festival in Oakland. This food festival will attract upwards of 150,000 at Jack London Square, with activities, demos and fun educational guides on how to eat well.

What to expect:

Cookbook Cook-off: Friday night live cooking demonstrations featuring food from new cookbooks. Look for local chefs like Anya Fernald (Home Cooked), Russ Moore (Camino), and more.

Drink Real: Sample tasting flights and engage in sommelier demos, 'meet the brewer' panels, alcohol pairings, the return of the Jam Bar for craft cocktails and the popular Beer Shed, with over 20 taps of local craft brews flowing. Those happen all weekend.

Urban County Fair: The place the kids will love. Look for DIY in the pavillion, which showcases the how-tos of the sustainable urban home and garden, with especial focus this year on reducing food waste. They'll talk about surplus produce, backyard bees and lowering your carbon footprint.

Eat Real Main Stage: Enjoy live bands, chef demos, an all-female butcher showdown and more, with various pop-up entertainment venues throughout festival grounds.

Bring lots of cash, as not all vendors accept credit cards. They'll have ATM booths there as well.

When: September 23-25
Where: Oakland, Jack London Square
Cost: Free (though you'll pay to eat)

Coming Up: STEAM Carnival in San Francisco

For kids interested in science and engineering, this event looks like fun! It's a STEAM Carnival, the first in the Bay Area. It's run by Two Bit Circus, an engineering entertainment company that is trying to re-imagine the world of play. They call it a "high­ impact, high ­voltage entertainment showcase fun for all ages." STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

They'll have technology-infused games, attractions and immersive hands-on experiences, including high-tech games including:
-rooms of lasers
-walls of buttons and backyard classics made HUGE
-mad science demos
-circus acrobats, aerialists and fire breathers
-VR (virtual reality) lounge
-Trash for Teaching

Plus food, stage shows, lab demos and artists. See the preview video here.

When: November 6-8, 2015 (10-5 Friday, 10-6 Saturday and Sunday)
Where: Pier 48 at AT andT Park in San Francisco
Tickets: $20-30 online - buy them here.

What to do Columbus Day weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area

What to do on Columbus Day weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area? Here are some ideas:

-Check out Art SV/SF, an international contemporary and modern art fair at the San Mateo County Event Center October 8-11. They'll have more than 70 international art galleries and artists, and the fair is for all ages. There's a Kids' Center, a supervised playroom on-site for kids ages 3-13, where they'll be introduced to art and can participate in art explorations, games, puzzles and storytelling. High school/college and art students can attend panels and discussions about art (GoPro’s President Tony Bates will be on the Architecture, Art and Interior Design panel). It's a big fair, with more than 12,500 attendees, collectors and buyers last year, including George Lucas!

-Jack of All Trades Market, with 90+ local artists, collectors, makers and more, plus games, live music and workshops for all ages. It's at Historic Jack London Square in  Oakland on Saturday from 11 to 5. It's free and pet friendly.

Coming Up: Glass Pumpkin Patches in the Bay Area

Glass pumpkin by Upupa4me/Flickr.

I already have a full patch of glass pumpkins in my house (plus a glass-blown apple) but I'm always tempted to add more. Here are several places to get some pumpkins that won't rot!

Palo Alto
What: Great Glass Pumpkin Patch
Where: Palo Alto Art Center (1313 Newell Road)
When: Exhibition: September 29-October 2 (10-7 or 10-5), Sales October 3-4 (10-5)
Details: After several days of previews, you can purchase pumpkins! This is the largest glass pumpkin patch in California, with more than 10,000 hand-blown pumpkins for sale by 29 artists.

San Jose
What: Glass Pumpkin Festival at Santana Row
Where: Santana Row Park, across from Left Bank Brasserie
When: Saturday and Sunday, October 10 (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and October 11 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
Details: Stroll through thousands of hand-blown glass pumpkins crafted by BAGI (Bay Area Glass Institute) artists and renowned glass artisans from around the country. The pumpkins will be available in an assortment of colors, sizes and a range of prices.

Half Moon Bay
What: Hand blown art glass pumpkin patch
Where: La Nebbia Winery, 12341 San Mateo Road on Highway 92
When: October 10-11 (10-5)
Details: Hundreds of hand blown pumpkins by artist Douglass C. Brown

Coming Up: Off Broadway Summer Pop Up Festival

Check out the free family festival coming up, the Off Broadway Summer Pop Up. It's to celebrate San Francisco’s Broadway District by featuring more than 100 artists, makers, designers, antique collectors, live music, food and more. It's curated by the folks who bring you Treasure Island Flea and Jack of All Trades Market.

They'll have DIY activities, art stations for kids, community games like corn hole and giant Jenga.

When: August 15, noon to 6
Where: Kearny Street and Pacific Avenue, San Francisco
Cost: Free

Coming Up: Jack of All Trades Market

This weekend, head to Jack London Square for their Jack of All Trades Market. The fun includes about 100 vendors, food trucks, live music, DIY workshops and kids' activities. The kids' activities are run by Planet Xone and are free before noon. Look for giant sumo wrestling and Nerf gun tag.

Where: Jack London Square, Oakland
When: Saturday, August 8 from 11-5
Cost: free

Coming Up: Green Festival

Are you green? Do you want to be green? If so, head to the Green Festival today through Sunday at Fort Mason. You'll find vegan/vegetarian cooking demonstrations, educational activities for families/kids, music, entertainment, and 250 green businesses, including our friends from Schoola, plus clothing, jewelry, care products and artisan foods.

When: Friday from 12-6, Saturday and Sunday from 10-6
Where: Fort Mason (you can get shuttles from public transit)
Cost: $15/ticket at the door, but kids 16 and under are free. Get in free by bike, or if you're a member of Sierra Club, Global Exchange or Green America. Several other options for discounted tickets - details here.

Coming Up: Patchwork Show - Handmade Goods - Free

Start your holiday shopping, if you haven't already, at the Patchwork Show: Modern Makers Festival, at Jack London Square. It's their largest indoor festival showcasing an eclectic mix of handmade goods from local emerging artists, crafters and designers. From avid knitters to aspiring makers, you'll find more than 100 local independent vendors featuring art, knits, clothing, ceramics, garden finds, paper goods, pet gear, body goodies, housewares, and more.

In addition, the event has curated food trucks, DIY craft workshops, food artisans, live music and DJs. The weekly farmer’s market will also be taking place on the waterfront.

When: November 16, from 11-5
Where: Jack London Square, 55 Harrison Street, Oakland
Cost: Free

Coming Up: Bay Area Science Festival

10 days - 50 events. You're bound to find something you like! And most events are free.

"The Bay Area will come alive with science and technology activities – lectures, debates, exhibitions, concerts, plays, workshops, and more. This ambitious collaborative public education initiative brings together our leading academic, scientific, corporate, and non-profit institutions to showcase the region as an international leader in innovation. Science happens all around us and directly impacts our daily lives – are you ready to unleash your inner scientist?"

Explorer Days are the family events, and you can find them in green on this schedule. They also have teen events in blue. The hands-on family Explorer Days include events like Marin Headlands Native Plant Science, Hawk Talk and Banding Demo, BioBlitzing at Muir Woods, Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour, Wonders of the Parasite World, and Paleontology and Geology at Brighton State Beach. As you can see, the events are all over the Bay Area. They have adult events too, in case you want a romantic night out.

The festival concludes at AT&T Park for a Discovery Day on November 1, for a free science extravaganza from 11-4. They'll have 150 experiments, shows, games and more. It includes robots, STEM programs, life sciences, marine science, and chances to meet scientists and engineers. They expect 30,000 people to attend!

When: October 23-November 1, 2014
Info: Bay Area Science Festival

Coming Up: Jack London Sustainability Farm Festival - Free

A Sustainability Festival doesn't sound inherently fun to me, but after reading the description, I got a lot more interested. The Jack London Sustainability Farm Festival will highlight Jack London’s legacy as a farming pioneer and connect with today's innovators and their vision to preserve the land for tomorrow. This is crucial in Sonoma County, where the park is, and practiced today.

The park used to be famous writer Jack London's “Beauty Ranch,” where he experimented with many of these same sustainable farming ideas, which weren't common then.

The free family-friendly festival brings together the today’s sustainable farming culture to share ideas and celebrate good farming and food. The festival includes music, food, “DIY fun learning” activities for kids and adults, plus information stations staffed by park docents explaining Jack’s early farming techniques. It will be a time capsule-like experience. In 1915, Jack London experimented with groundbreaking methods of farming, along with more humane methods of dealing with farm livestock. A recent Modern Farming article said that “Jack London has been called many things throughout history, among them, an author, explorer, visionary and a socialist. He has even been called the greatest romantic of his time. However, above all these fancy titles, he was a farmer – and an inventive one at that.”

If you want to see rare footage of Jack London working with his farm animals a few days before he died, check out this YouTube video.

Schedule highlights:
11 a.m. “Autumn Farm Forum,” about food and farming in Sonoma County, presented by Marcy Smothers and Clark Wolf.
12 noon - Information stations open. Participants include Benziger Family Winery, Fiber Arts, Luther Burbank Experimental Gardens, Nana Maes Organics, Oak Hill Farms, Quarryhill Botanical Gardens, Quarter Acre Farms, Sonoma County Beekeepers Association, Sonoma County Waste Management, Sonoma Water Agency, The Green Team – Sonoma Valley High School Wolf Pack Recycling Team, Two Moon Farm as well as Breck Parkman, Senior Archaeologist California State Parks, Jack London State Historic Park Master Gardner, and other current local innovators in the sustainability movement.

What: Jack London Park Sustainability Farm Festival
Where: Jack London State Historic Park, 2400 London Ranch Road in Glen Ellen
When: Sunday, October 5 from 11-4
Cost: Free (except for $10 per car parking fee)
More info: website or call (707) 938-5216

Coming Up: Lift Off Festival - CuriOdyssey

CuriOdyssey is hosting it's first Lift Off Festival on Saturday, October 4, where families can see firing rockets, flying discs, floating bubbles, soaring falcons, and other things that go up in the air.

View demonstrations of “lift” by the San Jose Spiders Ultimate (Frisbee) Team, Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company (ribbon dancing), and Rebels Elite cheer team. You can also see new CuriOdysssey exhibits, including a Pneumatic Ball Launcher, which allows visitors to explore air pressure by launching a ping-pong ball high into the air. And also their massive pinwheel installation of more than 100 weather vanes, that highlights the chaotic wind patterns present on the San Francisco Bay.

What: Lift Off Festival
Where: CuriOdyssey - 1651 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo
When: Saturday, October 4 from 10-5
Cost: Free with admission ($9/adult, $6/kids 2-12, $7/kids 13-17 and seniors

Coming Up: Diwali Festival at Santana Row

Celebrate Diwali,  “the Festival of Lights” at Santana Row Park. This ancient Hindu festival is celebrated on October 4, signifying the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil and hope over despair. It's presented by WomenNow. Diwali Utsav 2014 will be the first Diwali carnival at Santana Row and will feature Indian cultural
 activities for all ages. The entertainment program includes chef demonstrations by Amber India, Bollywood dances and dramatic performances depicting the significance of Diwali.

When: Saturday, October 4, noon to 7 p.m
Where: Santana Row Park
Cost: free

Coming Up: Sunday Streets In Excelsior/Mission District

The next San Francisco's Sunday Streets is in the Excelsior district (Mission). Are you going?

Sunday Streets is a "a safe, fun, car-free place for people to get out and get active in San Francisco neighborhoods." In addition to the regular fun stuff (dance performances, climbing wall, live music, free bike rentals, yoga, pilates, arts/crafts), there's a Tricycle Music Festival event at the library there. 

It's this Sunday, September 28, Avalon to Geneva on Mission, from 11-4. Details and map here.

Coming Up: Eat Real Festival in Oakland - Free

If you like food, you'll want to go to the 6th annual Eat Real Festival in Oakland. This food festival will attract upwards of 150,000 at Jack London Square. They call is a combination of street festival, block party and state fair - all celebrating good food.

They'll have demonstrations, DIY areas, markets, food trucks, tastings, drinks, contests and more. It's family-friendly and has a Kid Zone, with activities, demos and fun educational guides on how to eat well.

What to expect:

Kids' Zone: They'll have a Kids' Zone, and the kids can participate in interactive activities like making ice cream by hand (and crank) and pickling.

Blender Battle: hosted by Sprouts Cooking Club Sunday from 12-1, 3 young audience members will battle 3 young Sprouts members to make smoothies and ice cream.

Oyster Shuck-Off: who can shuck the most oysters in 5 minutes?

Booths/demonstrations on: Fermentation, FarmCraft, Grains and Milling, Confections, Meat and Butchery, Preserves and Sauces and Craft Beverages.

Food and drinks are for sale.

When: September 19-21
Friday September 19 from 1-9
Saturday, September 20 from 10:30-9
Sunday, September 21 from 10:30-5
Where: Oakland, Jack London Square
Cost: Free (though you'll pay to eat); some events require tickets

Coming Up: Sunday Streets in the Richmond

The next San Francisco's Sunday Streets is in the Richmond. Are you going?

Sunday Streets is a "a safe, fun, car-free place for people to get out and get active in San Francisco neighborhoods." In addition to the regular fun stuff (dance performances, climbing wall, live music, free bike rentals, yoga, pilates, arts/crafts), there's a nearby farmer's market, Presidio Family Fun festival, and the Off the Grid picnic at the Presidio Main Post (free shuttle). 

It's this Sunday, July 13th, Arguello from Sacramento to Fulton, from 11-4. Details and map here.

Where to watch the fireworks with kids this July 4 in the San Francisco Bay Area

There's nothing better than a great July 4th fireworks show. Well, if you're eating ice cream during the blast, that makes it better. Here are great spots to view the pyrotechnics with the kids in the Bay Area this year.

San Francisco

Watch from a boat - the Jeremiah O'Brien on Pier 45 offers deck-top viewing with admission starting at 7:30. Tickets are $30/adult, $20/senior, $15/children (ages 6-12), or $70 for a family (2 adults, 2 kids). The fireworks go from Aquatic Park to Pier 39, so you'd be in prime viewing location.

For no cost, though, get to Fisherman's Wharf early to snag a spot along the waterfront, and further southeast along the Embarcadero, for a good view.

Stern Grove - Guide for Taking Families

I have many happy memories bring a picnic blanket and basket to Stern Grove on summer Sundays, for a free concert with friends. Somehow the weather always seemed perfect as we walked down the entrance ramp into the grassy grove. I wondered how that would change when I had kids.

Fast forward to now. I have kids. And the Stern Grove Festival has a ton of activities for families to enjoy. Here’s how to take advantage:

Kids Days