Randall Junior Museum

San Francisco

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While adults are asleep downhill, eight-year-olds are making scientific discoveries atop Corona Heights Park. After Josephine Randall became a pioneering Stanford zoologist in 1910, she turned a jail into a kids' science and arts center as San Francisco's first Rec & Parks Superintendent. Today the kids' museum named after her features state-of-the-art science and tech labs, woodworking and ceramics studios. Highlights include a habitat for 100 stray and wounded animals, plus Lionel trains chugging along the Golden Gate Model Railroad.

Check the website for wonder-inspiring hands-on workshops, often available on a walk-in basis.

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