A Fun-filled Day at Kidspace Pasadena

When I was in grade school I was lucky enough to go on a field trip to the (now defunct) Children’s Museum of Los Angeles. For an entire day my best friend and I had a ball dressing up, making arts and crafts and using the best of our imaginations. All these years later I look on that visit fondly and know how important it is to give kids a place to run wild and enjoy playing (and learning!) to their hearts content. One place that does just that is Kidspace in Pasadena and, recently, I grabbed my favorite foursome and headed over for a day of adventure.

Kidspace is located right by the Rose Bowl and this year is celebrating its 40th anniversary. For four decades it’s been a place of fun and learning for countless area children ages 10 and under. My four buddies (ages 1, 3, 6 and 8) are the perfect age for the museum and I was eager to take them for their debut visit.

Kidspace is largely an outdoor museum with various designated play areas. We decided to start in the Galvin Physics Forest which offers an array of hands on scientific experiments that show kids just how fun learning can be.

In the area kids can launch a bottle rocket, operate a giant lever, build their own roller-coaster and more. The three older kids loved this area and spent a good deal of time trying all the experiments – it was awesome to see them having a blast while learning. After a good hour we decided to move on and headed to Wisteria Courtyard for some more fun.

The boys loved the Trike Track where they peddled along a winding roadway while the girls had a ball in Kirby’s Kids Korner a playground for those 4 and under.

I must admit, prior to visiting I figured there wouldn’t be much for the 1 year old to do while her siblings played so I was happy to find an area specifically designed for her. She love crawling around exploring all the activities, especially the water table where she splashed around to her heart’s content.

Speaking of splashing…soon we headed to the ultimate play area – Arroyo Adventure. The museum advises bringing a change of clothes for each kid and here we learned why. There was water, there was mud, there was clay and every other outdoor activity that every kid loves.

I;m not exaggerating when I say that Arroyo Adventure is a children’s paradise. Heck, I even wanted to take my shoes off and go wading in the creek! This was an area that all four kids (even the 1 year old) absolutely loved.

They played music. They built forts. They climbed towers and waded streams, made mud pies and clay figures, climbed walls and dug in the sand. In other words they had pure unadulterated fun. It was such a joy to watch them run around and have a blast. Did they get dirty? You bet so we had a quick change of clothes before heading to the indoor part of the museum.

The indoor space is much smaller but it sure packs a punch. Here there are arts and crafts to make, insects and reptiles to visit and dinosaur bones to dig up.

There’s also the S. Mark Taper Foundation Climbing Towers that offer kids a safe way to climb high.

Here they continued to explore until the day started to wind down and they found themselves tuckered out. We stopped for a quick snack at the Bean Sprouts Cafe which offers healthy, kid friendly options before heading home.

I’ve enjoyed taking my favorite foursome on various adventures around the area and never before have I seen them filled with such unabashed joy. I’m pretty sure Kidpsace is now their new favorite spot. In fact, as we were leaving they were already asking when they could come back! Congrats to Kidspace on 40 years of making kids happy. Here’s to 40 more!