Water play

* Kids' pool at Rinconada Pool in Palo Alto — fountains, slides, sprinklers, etc. 
* Splash fountains (and play structures) at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto 
* Wading pool at Rengstorff Pool

Reading, art, music

* Community School of Music & Arts has terrific toddler/mommy music classes; I can’t speak highly enough of teacher Deborah Soule—they have a website and you can probably pick up a hard copy of the schedule there or at library—this is a 10 min. walk away 
The website is www.arts4all.org. My 2 year old son and I took an art and a music class. Both were great and the teachers were wonderful! I thought the cost was very reasonable. 
* Linden Tree Books in dt los altos - wonderful children's bookstore. During the summer they also have weekly performances for kids (clowns, singing etc.), cost of admission is donation of a new book to a reading program they support. 
* Mountain View Library programs 
* The library next to Mitchell Park has a detailed schedule of reading hours (geared toward specific age groups). They also will issue your child his/her own library card, no matter how young. See PA Library Kids Event Pages. 
* Luane's Little Explorers through the city of Palo Alto is great if you can do something during the week, though it's more of a time commitment than a music class (2hrs 2x a week). It starts at 18 months. 
* City-specific concerts-in-the-park series (see city web sites, typically in summer)

Active, animals

* The Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, a small, less exotic zoo (raccoons, ferrets, bats, ducks, etc.). Perfect for toddlers, and also with fun, hands-on displays inside the museum. And a great, relatively quick activity to do when you just need to get out of the house. Hard part is getting your child to leave. 
* Rancho San Antonio and Deer Hollow Farm 
* Hidden Villa Ranch 
* Visiting the donkey in Bol Park 
* Shoup Park in Los Altos has a creek that is great for hot days - shady, shallow area to wade in. Plus the park itself is great fun. 
* The duck pond in Palo Alto is good for a short outing (all the way to the east end of Embarcadero and take a left) 
* Looking at birds at the Baylands (end of San Antonio) 
* There is a fish store on Castro that holds endless fascination for little ones, and is very tolerant of browsers. They also have various reptiles. (Hours are a little strange, though...they don't open until 11:30 AM, and then are open late) 
* Webb Ranch in Portola Valley has berry-picking, which can be messy and chaotic depending on your child's personality, but can also be fun. Next picking season begins June 1, 2007. Hay rides and pony rides also available. 
* Parent-child swim classes at C.A.R. Pool in Palo Alto (see yellow pages under “Betty Wright Swim Center”) (The Betty Wright Swim Center @ C.A.R is now Abilities United Aquatic Services) AND at the YMCA on Ross Road.

Misc

* MV farmers market on Sunday (especially the balloon guy!) 
* Going to picnics at Gamble Gardens in Palo Alto. Also sponsors children's programs. 
* Riding the Caltrain anywhere is always a hit, we either do downtown PA or Burlingame (there's a nice park about a block from the burlingame train station)

Resources

* "GoCityKids: The City Guide for Parents", http://www.gocitykids.com/?area=199. 
* "Bay Area Kid Fun", http://www.bayareakidfun.com/ 
* "BirthdayMasters", BirthdayMasters.com lists kids' birthday party places and entertainers
* "Las Madres Neighborhood Playgroups", http://www.lasmadres.org/ 
* The funtips mailing list, although usually geared towards older kids, does have some great ideas for toddlers from time to time. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funtips/ 
* "10 Things To Do With Kids: The Weekly Weekend Go-List for South Bay Families", http://www.10thingswithkids.com/; last checked, this list was "on vacation" 
* Palo Alto Menlo Park mother's club organizes playgroups by age 
* Mtn View Parks: http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/citydepts/cs/parks.htm 
* Palo Alto Parks: http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/community-services/pk-parklocator.html 
* Sunnyvale Parks: http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/Parks+and+Recreation/Parks/Park+sites.htm

Not quite local

* The Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose has to be mentioned....it has a great toddler section, and the whole museum is just wonderful. http://www.cdm.org 
* Happy Hollow Park and Zoo is really fun in San Jose, they have a great petting zoo and a carousel that young kids just love. 
* Cupertino Public Library has a fantastic fishtank that is floor to ceiling at the entrance to the kids section, and also has outdoor splash fountains (less baby friendly than Mitchell Park, but still a hit!) 
* Hiller Aviation Museum, San Mateo. Next to 101, driving north you'll see it on your right, there's a funny looking plane on top of the building. Great museum (sit in a real 747 Cockpit!). 
* Bay Area Discovery Museum (in Sausalito) 
* SF Zoo 
* Oakland Zoo 
* Gilroy Family Gardens (formerly Bonfante Gardens) in Gilroy 
* San Jose Giants 
* Ardenwood Farm 
* Billy "Wildcat" Jones Railroad is a miniature kids railroad in Oak Meadow Park (next to Vasona Park) in Los Gatos. They also have a great carousel and play structures. 
* Coyote Point - the museum is great and hands on, it's also fun to go to one of the little beaches out at coyote point and watch the planes land. 
* Japanese Tea Garden in San Mateo has a great koi pond. You can couple this with a trip to Talbot's toy store in San Mateo, which is like PA Toy and Sport but bigger. 
* San Mateo has a nice little beach that is suitable for toddler wading (very warm and calm), and there's a playground there too. Parkside Aquatic Center 
* The Heritage Museum in the old city hall of Redwood City is actually very kid-friendly (lots of hands on things), maybe a little better for preschool age. 
* Washington Park in Sunnyvale also has great toddler water area; do bring a change of clothes—great place to go with a girlfriend so you can chat while they play 
* Fairy Land in Oakland near Lake Merritt/Grand Avenue is a wonderful excursion with toddlers. If you haven't gone, it's worthwhile. Most of our fairy tales are presented in 3D. The child gets a key to turn the story box on at each fairy tale to hear the story. They have a puppet show and some magic shows. It's perfect for the much younger child.