Classes

It’s possible to make a perfectly good gingerbread house out of a foil-covered milk carton, some frosting, some candy, and some well-positioned graham crackers. But sometimes you want a gingerbread extravaganza that draws a “Wow!” from every kid who sees it.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum’s extremely popular Gingerbread Architecture parties will give you the candy house of your dreams. For $25 per gingerbread house kit, the Discovery Museum hands out real gingerbread (not graham crackers!), frosting, a rainbow of candy, and a space to craft your masterpiece in. The room smells of frosting and sugar, and rings with the happy laughter of children alternately eating and glueing on candy onto their house. While it’s drying, kids and parents play at the museum; by the time they’re ready to head home, their masterpiece is ready.

Gingerbread Architecture sells out early every year; make your reservations early by visiting baykidsmuseum.org. The Bay Area Discovery Museum is located at 557 McReynolds Road (at Fort Baker), Sausalito; call 415-339-3900.

The kids are back at school, hurray! Celebrate the absence that’s made you grow fonder with a weekend full of fun.

Saturday Morning Rock Out’s Fall Session

Little kids learn to bang on an instrument, write songs, appreciate music, and jam at this multi-week course that ends in a performance and a CD release party.

When: Saturdays, 9/5-10/10; Early class 9:30am-11am, Late class 11:30am-1pm; Age 4-7; $225.

Where: Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street (at Potrero Avenue), San Francisco; 415-861-9199; owies.org.

Great Train Robberies

Hail back to the days of train bandits and lawmen at this annual ride-on spectacle.

When: Sat. & Sun., 9/5-6; See website for times; Age 4+; $20.

Where: Roaring Camp Railroad, Graham Hill Road (at Mt. Hermon Road), Felton; 866-468-3399; roaringcamprr.com.

Sunday Streets

The last Sunday Streets of the year! Streets from Golden Gate Park to the zoo are closed to traffic, and fitness activities from skating to cycling to yoga are offered free along the route.

When: Sun., 9/6, 10am-2pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Great Highway between Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo, JFK between Great Highway and Stanyan Street, San Francisco; sundaystreetssf.com.

Does school really start in just over a week? Hurry, hurry, get your summer fun before it’s too late.

Destination Fort Mason Center

Every Saturday through September 12, Fort Mason Center brings on the fun with a diverse lineup of local organizations: performances from the New Pickle Circus and Bay Area Theatresports, art with SCRAP, music from the Blue Bear School of Music. Attendees will get the chance to make art projects and try their own hand at performing.

When: Sat., 8/15 (and continuing each Saturday through 9/12), Age 3+; 10am-4pm; Free.

Where: Fort Mason, Marina Boulevard (at Buchanan Street), San Francisco; 415-345-7500; fortmason.org.

Learning Days at Yerba Buena Children’s Learning Garden

Explore the learning garden and learn how to care for plants through music, art, and hands-on garden sessions.

When: Sat., 8/16, 11am-4pm; Age 3-6; Free.

Where: Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Learning Garden, 760 Howard Street (between Third and Fourth streets), San Francisco; 415-543-1718; ybgf.org.

Marin Family Well-Being and Safety Fair

Learn how to spot the common signs of allergies and developmental disorders, get your kid fingerprinted, or sample nutritious toddler-friendly snacks at this fiesta of safety/health information for parents.

When: Friday, 8/14, 10am-3pm; Age 2+; Free (RSVP required).

Where: Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto (at E. Blithedale Avenue), Mill Valley; 415-383-1370‎; elainaserotte.com.

Stories from the Past: Toy Boats

Read a story about traveling the seven seas with a reading of the story Toy Boat. Then walk through the history museum to learn about the magnificent ships that have sailed the San Francisco Bay.

When: Fri., 8/14, 11am-noon; Age 2-6; Free with admission ($2-4 adults, free for kids under 5).

Where: San Mateo County History Museum’s Wells Fargo Learning Center, 2200 Broadway Street (at Middlefield Road), Redwood City; 650-299-0104; historysmc.org.

Taking a CPR/emergency class for infants and children is such a pain…but not as big a pain as helplessly watching a child choke or stop breathing in front of you. CPR classes are offered daily all over the Bay Area, and many organizations will give lessons free to a group of parents. Make learning CPR the focus of your next mommy-get-together, or contact one of these fine civic organizations:

DayOne: This San Francisco parenting support organization offers several classes monthly for $45.

CPR Family: Classes in San Rafael and San Francisco run $35-75; pre-crawling babies are welcome.

American Red Cross: The paterfamilias of lifesaving organizations offers classes in most communities for around $50. Type in your ZIP code to find the location nearest you.

SafetyMax: Will give seminars for groups of 12 (minimum) in your Bay Area home or office.

CPR Education Seminars: Teaches safety classes all over the North and South Bay as well as in San Francisco.

A kid who’s using his arms to act out (hitting his little sister, say), obviously needs something else to do with those arms. Scaling the heights at an indoor rock-climbing gym is an excellent way to exhaust those little arms. Every Bay Area gym owned by Touchstone Climbing (and there are Touchstone gyms in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, amongst other cities) has programs for kids.

During the school year there are ten-week climbing camps for ages 6-14, usually on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to 6pm, wherein instructors teach school-age kids the basics of climbing. And in the summertime there are week-long and multi-week camps; lucky Berkeley kids get to meet their instructors at Cragmont Rock Park for a day of outdoors rock climbing. And at all Touchstone camps, parents can join the kids each Friday to climb alongside them.

Call the gym nearest you for dates and pricing but the ten-week sessions run about $200-250, while camps are about the same amount each week.

Mission Cliffs Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness, 2295 Harrison Street, San Francisco, 415-550-0515; Class 5 Fitness Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness Gym, 25-B Dodie Street, San Rafael, 415-485-6931; Berkeley IronWorks Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness, 800 Potter Street, Berkeley, 510-981-9900; Great Western Power Co., 520 20th Street, Oakland, 510-452-2022. All Touchstone gyms can be found at touchstoneclimbing.com.

The East Bay looks like the place to be this weekend, with a bike tour, the Fire Arts festival, and a Shabbat party.

The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival

A spectacular open-air party in a new, larger location for the metalworking collective, with live music and performance and all manner of items that glow, burn, spit fire, or immolate themselves. One look at this stuff and your kid’s going to want to sign up for welding, like, yesterday.

When: Wed.-Sat., 7/15-18; Age 6+; $35-95.

Where: Fire Arts Arena, West Grand Avenue (at Maritime Street), Oakland; 510-444-0919; thecrucible.org.

Chocolate Chip Challah

Join other families with children aged 0-5 at this event meant to spark ideas about making Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) a special family time. Kids and parents will decorate and bake their own challah bread.

When: Sat., 7/18, 10:30-noon; Age 0-5; Free for first-time visitors to Jewish Gateways, $5 for return visitors.

Where: Jewish Gateways, 409 Liberty Street (at Fairmount Avenue), El Cerrito; 510-559-8140; jewishgateways.org; rabbibridget@jewishgateways.org (RSVP required).

Oakland on Two Wheels

Every third Sunday of the month this free all-ages bike tour pedals on a looping course through downtown, Fruitvale, West Oakland, the Port of Oakland, Lake Merritt or other scenic spots.

When: Sun., 7/19, (and every third Sunday thereafter) 10am; All Ages; Free.

Where: Meet at the 10th Street entrance at the Oakland Museum; 510-28-3514; mueseumca.org.

Sunday Streets

Traffic is banned from big swathes of the Mission and replaced with stations manned by local fitness organizations that encourage and equip the strolling masses to try out roller skating, bike riding, yoga, dancing, tai chi and more.

When: Sun., 7/19 (also Sun. 8/6 and 9/6 on the Great Highway); 10am-2pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Various locations in San Francisco’s Mission District, centering in Garfield Square Park, 26th & Harrison Streets; sundaystreetssf.com.

Not only does the Stern Grove Festival offer KidStage special events before each free Sunday summertime outdoor concert, it also has Kids Days, three weeks of special events linked to that week’s performer. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from July 14 to August 16, Stern Grove staffers lead free special workshops on dance and music for kids aged 4-13.

The Kids Day sessions are so popular that pre-registration is essential, and unless you sign up weeks in ahead, they’re already filled up. For instance, this week’s teach-in with percussionist James Henry is already waitlisted, as is next week’s hip hop dance workshop. But there are still spaces in the last two offerings, Bhangra dance (July 28-30) , and capoeira mandinga, Brazilian dance (August 4-6). One nice touch is that the Kids Day workshops precede the concerts they echo. Wouldn’t it be awesome to know some Brazilian dance for the Toto La Momposina show on August 9?

Visit sterngrove.org to pre-register.

Summertime fun including movies, music, a paddle in the ocean and a morning jazz show.

Pick Up and Paddle

Learn the basics of kayaking or practice your strokes at this inexpensive UCSF-sponsored family activity. Kayaks are extra-stable sit-on models, and staff are ready to help you navigate Mission Creek’s calm, sheltered waters.

When: Sat., 7/11, 10am-noon; Age 8+; $25-35.

Where: Mission Creek, 401 Berry Street (at Seventh Street), San Francisco; 415-476-2078; campuslifeservices.ucsf.edu.

Early Bird Jazz: Woodwinds & Strings

Introduce the kids to jazz at this concert, which focuses on exploring the use of woodwinds and stringed instruments for young audiences.

When: Sat., 7/11, 10am (Kids 5 and under) and 11am (Kids 6 and over); Free.

When: Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Campus Drive (at Mayfield Avenue), Stanford; stanfordjazz.org. 

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Oswald, the original Mickey Mouse, was the star of a horde of charming black-and-white cartoons, which unspool at this film festival introduced by special guest Leonard Maltin and accompanied by live piano music.

When: Sun., 7/12; 10:30am; Age 4+; $12-14.

Where: The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street (at Market Street), San Francisco; 800-838-3006; silentfilm.org.

Youth Manners & Etiquette Class

Pre-teens learn the basics of polite public dining at a three-course instructive lunch.

When: Sat., 7/11 (and also 10/17), 10am-1pm; Age 9-13; $108.

Where: The Warwick Regis Hotel, 490 Geary Street (at Taylor Street), San Francisco; 415-346-3665; AdvancedEtiquette.com.

Lifeguarding isn’t all running down the beach with breasts akimbo, the way they show it on Baywatch. Learn how to recognize the signs of someone in distress and give them first aid at Junior Lifeguard Camp, a weeklong lesson in life-saving for boys and girls age 11-14. Junior life guards will play games, have swimming drills, be bonded in team-building exercises, and, most of all, will learn the basic first aid for distressed swimmers. They will also participate in the swim lesson program, teaching young children how to swim.

Bring a swimsuit, towel, bag lunch, change of clothes, sunscreen, tennis shoes, and altruistic leanings.

When: Mon.-Fri., 6/22-26; 9am-3pm; Age 11-14; $110-115.

Where: Terra Linda Community Center, 670 De Ganado Road (at Freitas Parkway), San Rafael, contact Kat Reisinger, 415-485-3444; cityofsanrafel.org.

Do you have a budding Broadway baby? San Francisco performance company Musical Theatre Works has been holding classes and mounting shows for 12 years, providing a venue for theater-loving kids to get out there and show them what they’ve got. Younger kids (kindergarten and first grade) start out with theater games and songs; kids in grades 2-6 move into stagecraft and improv, and motivated kids aged 8-18 can audition for a space in the Main Stage Performance Company, which puts on several full-scale musicals yearly.

This fall, the little kids will be working on songs and dances from Mary Poppins, the medium-size kids are taking on Wicked, and the performance company will be putting its spin on the Wizard of Oz. Those classes start in September. There’s also a Theatre Works summer program, three three-week sessions in June, July, and August, for kids aged kindergarten to tenth grade.

All classes and performances are held at the Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way (at Roosevelt) in San Francisco. Call 415-641-5988 or visit musicaltheatreworks.org.