Things To Do in LA With a Preschooler

This week marks the end of the summer session at my son's preschool. While he's only been going since the end of April, having him go twice a week for three hours at a time have been sanity savers. (I can finally do my groceries, Target runs, and even pedicures!)

The fall session doesn't start until the second week of September, so after this week, it's technically our "summer vacation." We're not planning on going anywhere (I've already taken him to New York in June), so I'm a bit anxious about what to do with him for the next several weeks. I'll miss my breaks, but I'm hoping our regular sitter can occasionally relieve me. After all, I've stayed home with him since he was born and before he started going to school — we can do it again! At least for a few weeks, right?

Thankfully, we still have some playdates with our moms group from Orange County (where we moved from last year). On top of that, he still has gym class and swim lessons Monday through Thursday afternoons. But what to do on those days he used to be in school and there aren't any playdates scheduled? Here's a list of my Top Things To Do in LA with a Preschooler:

1. Giggles N' Hugs at the Westfield Century City mall. It's $9 admission for each child, and they can play for as long as they please. Their indoor play area is great for kids my son's age (three and a half), because there's a slide, things to climb, a mini carousel, a play castle, video games, and more. Plus, they serve pretty good, mostly organic, food. (And now they even serve beer and wine!) My son also loves climbing the large "tree" right outside.
2. Family Fun days at Westfield Culver City. Totally free! These are on Tuesdays and Thursday each week, from 10am to 11am, at the Punctuation Station area right outside JC Penny. On Tuesdays, they usually have a guest performer who'll read stories, sing songs, and sometimes perform magic tricks. On Thursdays, it's story time followed by a craft activity. They also do raffle giveaways on both days for anything from free food to gifts from one of the mall shops. 
3. Aidan's Place Playground at the Westwood Park (1350 S. Sepulveda, just north of Ohio). Free! This is one of our favorite playgrounds because of the simple fact that, if you're like me and not a fan of kids covered in sand, it's mostly sand-free! There's actually a large sand area, but the play structures offers so many things for kids to do that I haven't had much trouble keeping my kid away from it.
4. Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier. Admission prices vary. This is a new discovery for us, but definitely thinking of hitting it up again before school starts. Thrill rides my son can go on that's just a few miles away? Yes, please! See my previous post about our trip there.
5. Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. Admission prices vary. I'm hoping that by the end of August and beginning of September, the crowds will die down a bit. My son loves it here, more than Disney, because there are just more "thrill" rides he can go on. His favorites? Timberline Twister, Charlie Brown's Speedway, Lucy's Tugboat, Balloon Race, Log Peeler, Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8, Rocky Road Trucking Company, Woodstock's Airmail, and Snoopy Bounce. We pretty much stay in Camp Snoopy, though we occasionally venture out to ride Hat Dance and Timber Mountain Log Ride. (All the other coasters are kind of a tease for my son; he so desperately wants to ride them, but I have to keep telling him that he needs to grow taller first.)
6. Zimmer Children's Museum at the ground floor of the Goldsmith Jewish Federation Center (6505 Wilshire Blvd.). Adult admission is $8, and $5 for kids 2-17; kids under 2 are free. Closed Mondays and Saturdays. This is also a recent discovery that my son loved. It's not a big place, especially when you're used to places like Pretend City in Irvine, but there's more than enough things to keep my son occupied. What I love about children's museums are all the hands-on and pretend play activities. At Zimmer, my son just loved the Corner Store and Cafe, as well as the water table, all on the lower level. On the ground floor, he definitely loved the Discovery Airplane; so much that he had a very hard time leaving it when it was time to go. 
7. Last, but not least, there's ... our pool. ;)

Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier

After our horrible evening last night, I felt like I needed to do something fun with my son today. He's a thrill ride enthusiast (at the tender age of three and a half), so I figured we could finally check out Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier.

We got there around 11:30am; enough time to go on a few rides before lunch. I parked right at the pier ($8 cash), then it was a short walk to the entrance to the park. I had purchased our tickets online before we left the house, but we still had to wait in line to pick up our wristbands. I highly recommend buying online before you go since they offer a discount; I paid $18.95 for an unlimited rides wristband for me (ages eight and over, $21.95 at the park), and $13.95 for another one for my son (ages seven and under, $15.95 at the park). Having never gone on the rides there before, at first I wasn't sure how many of the rides my son would actually be able to go on, but again, their web site provided some rides and height requirements information that I checked out beforehand. Alternatively, you can pay in cash as you go; each ride is either $5 or $3.

The main ticket booth was right next to the entrance to the West Coaster roller coaster, so of course my son wanted to jump on it first. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite meet the minimum height requirement yet, so we ended up on Sea Dragon, which was also right there. Needless to say, my son loved it! From there, we hit up Frog Hopper, Inkie's Wave Jumper, Sea Planes, Inkie's Pirate Ship, then Pacific Plunge before breaking for lunch. We walked over to the Pier and got some grub, and I was reminded of how aggressive the pigeons and sea gulls would get around food dropped on the floor. (A seagull almost crashed into teen a couple of tables away from us as it flew off with some prized crumbs.)

After lunch, I let my son go on the Sig Alert EV bumper cars ride. He had a blast trying to maneuver his car around; the round cars are controlled by two levers for each hand, without any pedals. Afterwards, we hopped on the solar-powered Pacific Wheel ferris wheel. That thing was huge! And it went way, way up into the air; half-way up, I was reminded of how I'm not really fond of ferris wheels. (I don't really mind heights, but stopping at 130 feet up while sitting in a slowly swaying car is a little unnerving for me.) You get some great views from up there though!

Next up was Inkie's Air Lift, followed by Inkie's Scrambler. I told my son that Scrambler was like Log Peeler at Knott's (which he loves), but bigger and faster. (I recommend that adults sit closest to the door; that way, the smaller rider smooshes into you, and not the other way around.) On our way out, we hit up Crazy Submarine, then finally Eurobungy (which was an additional $5 cash since it's not included in the unlimited rides wristband).

All in all, it was a fun outing. Including time for lunch and absolutely no games, we were out of there by 3:30pm, and the only ride we didn't go on was the roller coaster. We'll definitely visit again!

Check out their Facebook page for more information and chances to win free wristbands! And if you're on Twitter, you can also follow them @pacpark.