Southern California
Things to do with kids in Southern California.
I'm Simir. I moved my family here from Chicago and started keeping a list. It's 774 spots now, sorted by how far they are from your door.
Prices shown are per person unless the listing says otherwise.
Just for parents
Popular guides near you
All guides →767 family spots across Southern California — add your zipto sort by what's closest
FreeOso Creek Trail & Mission Viejo Library
Mission Viejo · Parks & Hiking
A whimsical paved creek trail dotted with mosaics, gardens, and a koi pond — right next to the library's story-time programs.
Free
Pump It Up / Indoor Bounce
Lake Forest · Indoor Play
Wall-to-wall inflatables for open-jump sessions — the go-to when little ones need to burn energy and it's too hot outside.
Open-jump ~$12–$15
Color Me Mine Pottery Painting
Mission Viejo · Arts & Culture
Paint-your-own pottery studio — calm, creative, air-conditioned, and you leave with a keepsake. Great for a rainy afternoon.
Studio fee + piece ($15–$40)
FreeWhiting Ranch Wilderness Park
Lake Forest · Parks & Hiking
Shady creekside singletrack leads to Red Rock Canyon's mini badlands — a payoff hike that feels like a desert adventure for kids.
Free
Caspers Wilderness Park
San Juan Capistrano · Parks & Hiking
OC's biggest wilderness park: oak-lined trails, a nature center, and campgrounds where kids can spot deer, hawks, and roadrunners.
Parking ~$5/car
Laguna Niguel Regional Park
Laguna Niguel · Parks & Hiking
A big lake stocked for fishing, pedal boats, shaded playgrounds, and wide lawns for kites and frisbee — a low-key all-day park.
Parking $3–$5
Irvine Spectrum Center & Giant Wheel
Irvine · Shopping & Treats
An open-air center with a giant observation wheel, carousel, splash fountains, and a lawn — easy evening fun with dinner options.
Free entry; wheel/carousel ~$5
Great Park Ice Public Skate
Irvine · Indoor Play
The Ducks' practice facility opens its rinks for public skating — a cool, indoor energy-burner on a hot OC afternoon.
~$15 admission + skate rental
Wild Rivers Waterpark
Irvine · Theme Parks & Rides
Dozens of slides, a wave pool, and a sprawling kids' lagoon — the big summer splash-day splurge, open in the warm months.
~$50+/person (seasonal)
Hangar 244 Heritage & Aviation Exhibition
Irvine · Museums & Learning
A 10,000-square-foot former El Toro hangar showing historical photographs and a nine-minute archive film about the Marine air station that became…
Admission not published
Mission San Juan Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano · Arts & Culture
California's storybook mission with koi ponds, gardens, and the famous returning swallows — a calm, photogenic history lesson.
~$14 adult / $10 kid
Farm + Food Lab
Irvine · Animals & Nature
A free teaching garden at Great Park with themed beds, an orchard, a pollinator garden, an aquaponics demonstration, a seed library and free-range…
Free
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Taco Tour
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From our family to yours
A real family figuring out SoCal — and sharing what we find
We moved here from Chicago with our two girls, and somewhere between the winters we left and the ocean we found, this became home. I can count the weekends we still have all under one roof — so we built this to spend fewer of them deciding what to do, and more of them actually out exploring. Locals or brand-new, it's for you.
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All of Southern California — Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Inland Empire — plus day trips to the deserts, mountains, Santa Barbara, and Catalina.