North Bay

Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival

Acres and acres of fall fun, with horsey rides, pumpkin-carving contests, pie-eating contests, and delicious things to eat. The traffic is a mess; leave time before and after the event to deal with it.

When: Sat. 10/17-18, 9am-5pm; All Ages; Free.

Where: Main Street between Miramonte and Spruce Streets, Half Moon Bay, 650-726-9652, miramarevents.com.

Goblin Jamboree

The super-cool kids’ museum dresses up for the holidays and throws a party with a train ride, live performers, pony rides, and a petting zoo.

When: Sat. & Sun., 10/17-18, 10am-4pm; All ages; $12-14 (Free for kids under 1).

Where: Bay Area Discovery Museum, 557 McReynolds Road (at Fort Baker), Sausalito, 415-339-3900, baykidsmuseum.org.

Outrageous Outgrowns

A vast money-saving fiesta of tens of thousands of gently used clothes, shoes, toys, books, strollers, cribs, and other baby gear.

When: Fri.-Sun. 10/16-18; 9am-5pm; Age 5+; Free.

Where: Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, 344 Tully Road (at Old Tully Road), San Jose; outrageousoutgrowns.com.

San Francisco Symphony Celebrates Disney

The symphony marks the opening of the Presidio’s Walt Disney Family Museum with a concert with songs from Cinderella, Pinocchio, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

When: Fri., 10/16, 8pm; Age 7+; $15-70.

Where: Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue (at Turk Street), San Francisco, 415-864-6000; sfsymphony.org.

Three sweet ways to enjoy life with the kiddies this weekend.

Strega Nona

Strega Nona tells Big Anthony to lay off her pasta pot. Big Anthony doesn’t listen in this Commedia dell’arte-style adaptation of Tommie DePaola’s classic children’s tale.

When: Sat. & Sun. 9/19-10/4 (the production also runs in San Ramon 10/10-18), check website for times; Age 2+; $18 adults, $14 children.

Where: Julia Morgan Center, 2460 College Avenue (at Claremont Avenue), Berkeley; 510-296-4433; activeartstheatre.org.

International Coastal Cleanup Day

Spend a day cleaning up the coast, and empower a generation of non-litterbugs.

When: Sat., 9/19, Age 2+; Free.

Where: Various coastal sites in the Bay Area, see website for locations including Ocean Beach and Candlestick Point in San Francisco and the Port of Oakland Estuary.

Film Night in the Park: The Dark Knight in Dolores Park

Take advantage of what’s supposed to be a pleasant evening in the warmest part of San Francisco and watch this gripping update of the Batman tale.

When: Sat., 9/19, 8pm; Age 8+; $6 adults, $3 children.

Where: Dolores Park, Dolores Street (at 20th Street), San Francisco, filmnight.org.

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.

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.

It’s Daddy’s weekend. Make sure he enjoys it.

Fee-Free Weekend at National Parks

National parks waive fees for the weekend (and two more in the summer: July 18-19 and August 15-16). Stay local and go to Muir Woods or the gorgeous San Francisco Maritime museum at Fort Mason, or range afield and hit Joshua Tree or Death Valley.

When: Sat. & Sun., 6/20-21, check website for opening/closing times; All ages; Free.

Where: Various locations, see nps.gov.

KidStage at the Stern Grove Festival

The free summertime music festival is back, and before each weekly show kids can meet in the West Meadow for activities in the theme of that week’s performers. Dance lessons, drumming, crafts, singing, and more. This week: Roberta Flack kills you softly with her smooth soul tones and Precita Eyes shows kids how to paint a mural.

When: Sun., 6/21 (shows run through 8/23); Noon-1pm (concerts start at 2pm); Age 3+; Free.

Where: Sigmund Stern Grove, Sloat Avenue (at 19th Avenue), San Francisco; 415-252-6252; sterngrove.org.

Northern California Pirate Festival

Eye patches and shoulder parrots are de rigeur at this yearly celebration of swashbuckling that features pirate demos and performers, swordfighting, ye olde crafts, and costumed performers galore.

When: Sat. & Sun., 6/20-21; Sat., 10am-sunset; Sun., 10am-6pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Vallejo Waterfront, 401 Mare Island Way (at Capitol St.), norcalpiratefestival.com.

Father’s Day Solar Car Challenge

Dad doesn’t want a tie or breakfast in bed. He wants an excuse to play with Legos. Here’s a good one: kids and Dads team up to design, build, and race Solar Lego cars.

When: Sun., 6/21, 1pm; Age 5+; $5 plus admission.

Where: Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Boulevard (at Joaquin Miller Road), Oakland, 510-336-7373; chabotspace.org.

If you’re not out at the Maker Faire (why aren’t you out at the Maker Faire?), you can sleep on a ship, help build a barge out of bottles,

Maker Faire

Make magazine’s Maker Faire is ground zero for the Bay Area’s crafters, robotics nerds, furniture makers, and other creatives, who get together each year for a two-day expo and party. Don’t miss the kid-friendly activities, and watch out for the cupcake cars (pictured.

When: Sat., 5/29, 10am-8pm; Sun., 5/30, 10am-6pm; All ages; Free-$25 daily.

Where: San Mateo Event Center & Expo Address, 2495 South Delaware Street (at Concar), San Mateo, makerfaire.com.

Family Overnight on the USS Hornet

Spend the night on this retired aircraft carrier, which houses vintage airplanes. Eat, sleep, and float around like a WWII Navy guy.

When: Fri., 5/29 5pm-10am; Age 5+; $100 per person.

Where: USS Hornet, 707 West Hornet Avenue, Pier 3, Alameda, 510-521-8448; uss-hornet.org.

Our Plastic Oceans

Our beautiful, sparkling Bay is contaminated by plastics. Find out how they enter the Bay with hands-on activities like an albatross bolus dissection, plankton examination, and the building of a plastic bottle barge. Bring one or more plastic bottles from your recycling to help us build the barge!

When: Sat., 5/30, 1-4pm; Age 3+; Free.

Where: Richardson Bay Center & Sanctuary, 376 Greenwood Beach Road (at Tiburon Boulevard), Tiburon, 415-388-2524; tiburonaudubon.org.

JAMband Family Concert

The lively, happy, kids band, fronted by effervescent movement coach Charity Kahn, gives a free morning concert in Dolores Park.

When: Sat., 5/30, 11am; All ages; Free.

Where: Dolores Park Playground, 20th and Dolores Streets, 415-425-0372; jamjamjam.com.

But you’re not going to buy those hard, yucky, white-inside berries from the grocery store, are you? Get the very best berries, and teach your children a lesson about nature at the same time, with a trip to a local farmers’ market. The produce in Northern California is some of the best in the country, and the farmers’ markets are thus bursting with stalls selling fruits and vegetables so fine they’re the stuff of fever dreams. Carrots as sweet as apples! Peaches with juice that runs down your face and you don’t even care!

Picking through piles of produce can also help introduce kids to new fruits and vegetables. The delicate swirls of sweet pea shoots and mounds of emerald kale and mustard green are so beautiful, they must be tasty too, right, kids?

Some markets have prepared-food stalls too: honey, dips and jams, nuts, ethnic food. Or there are fish, egg, or fresh-poultry sellers, it’s not all about produce. But it is about buying food that’s as beautiful as it is healthy. To find out what markets are near you, visit localharvest.org.

If you don’t have plans for Memorial Day Weekend, well, now you do.

Carnaval San Francisco

The two-day-long party is a bit raucous and boob-centric for some parents, but it’s still a vibrant street festival with food, music, dancing, a parade, and colorful costumes.

When: Sat. & Sun., 5/23-24, 10am-6pm Sat., 9:30am-6pm Sun., Age 4+; Free.

Where: Festival is on Harrison Street (at 24th Street), San Francisco; Parade begins 9:30am Sunday and runs along 24th and Mission Streets; carnavalsf.com.

San Ramon Art & Wind Festival

Pretty things in the sky to look at, fun things on the ground to do. Food, entertainment on three stages, and kites, kites, kites.

When: Sat. & Sun., 10am-5pm, All Ages; Free.

Where: San Ramon Central Park, 12501 Alcosta Boulevard (at Bollinger Canyon Road), San Ramon; ci.san-ramon.ca.us.

“Curious George, Let’s Get Curious” opens at Children’s Discovery Museum

What kid doesn’t love a monkey? The Curious George exhibit drives home the show’s science focus with hands-on activities like weighing fruits and vegetables at the produce stand and operating wheels to help George climb a building.

When: Opens Sat., 5/23, 10am-5pm, All ages; Free-$8.

Where: Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, 180 Woz Way (at Auzerais Street), San Jose, 408-298-5437;  cdm.org.

Octopretzel

Part of perennial family favorite Ashkenaz’s May/June “Silly Sundays” series, this band’s get-up-and-dance show for kids features puppets, and songs with strings.

When: Sun., 5/24, Doors 2:30pm, show 3-4:30pm; Age 2+; $4-6.

Where: Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Avenue (at Gilman Street), Berkeley; 510-525-5054; ashkenaz.com.