Tide pooling is one of our favorite winter adventures. Here in Southern California, December through early Spring is when we see the lowest low tides. These extra low tides are ideal for tide pooling. Creatures and their habitats are exposed during these low tide times that you wouldn’t ever even know existed the rest of the time. 

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Adventure to the Tide Pools

Tide pooling is a fun adventure for anyone, but being all about learning through experience and now a homeschooling mom, I like to tie our tide pooling adventures to curriculum and other learning to deepen our experience. 

That being said, if you have the opportunity to go tide pooling – GO! It’s super fun and often beautiful setting for an outdoor adventure. 

related curriculum or projects

• Ocean themes. My son is deep in a Marine Biology independent study. Tide pooling is perfect for extending this learning with hands on experience.
• Any animal unit. Although it doesn’t relate directly to giraffes or monkeys – tide pools are one example of an ecosystem, have various food webs contained in their pools, and can therefore be tied to other animal learning. 

Before You Go Tidepooling

Prep for your field trip by learning a little about tide pools. Books are a great place to start. THE TIDE POOL WAITS is one of my favorites.

Candace Fleming does a great job of describing tide pools with her beautiful words in this book. THE TIDE POOL WAITS is a delightful read aloud picture book about a tide pool. It is full of dynamic words, repetition, and fun creatures. The action packed, verb filled text and pleasant repeated phrases lend themselves well to reading aloud. The backmatter and careful inclusion of facts in the text offer plenty of information about tides and tide pools for young readers. A great nonfiction picture book that will get your adventurers excited about the tide pool.

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Beforehand it’s also helpful to explain expectations and gather supplies.

Tide pools are slippery, often large, often crowded, and of course near the ocean. Depending on the age of your child, you will want to think about how far you’re comfortable with them exploring away from you and communicate that with them beforehand. Other expectations like; no running, stay a certain distance from the water, and how to handle any creatures you might find with care could also be discussed. 

Things to Bring:

You don’t need much to explore a tide pool but a few things will make the experience more enjoyable. 

1. Waterproof shoes. Rocky, slippery surfaces aren’t ideal for bare feet or normal shoes. I recommend wearing shoes with some grip that will also keep your feet comfortable. My kids usually wear close toed sandals. These Merrells are our favorite tide pooling shoe. 
2. Clear buckets can be great for temporarily viewing tide pool animals. Everything must of course be handled with care and returned to their natural environment, but you can temporarily place octopus, starfish, sea slugs, etc in a clear bucket with water to get a better view. Anything plastic and clear works – we have something like this bucket. 
3. Warm layer depending on the weather. You’re right on the edge of the ocean so the weather is typically cooler and windier than wherever you are living or staying. Having layers to keep you warm enough to enjoy your adventure are important. 

When to go:

It is vital to check the tide chart for your area before you go. You can search “tide chart near me” to find your area’s high and low tides for the day. If you live in San Diego, this is where I usually check but it’s also in my weather app. You are looking for negative tides, preferably -1 or less. This is when the tide pools will be the most uncovered and you will have the most success seeing tide pool dwellers. In Southern California, these super negative tides during daylight hours happen the most in the winter months.

I recommend arriving about 30 minutes before the low tide point and planning to stay about an additional 30 minutes after the low tide point for about an hour total. 

Exploring Tide Pools

Tide pool explorations are open ended and unpredictable. You never know what you’re going to see and finding things often requires some patience.

Find slightly submerged pools and look closely in the crevices for any movement. 

Keep your eyes open. Watch your step. Pay attention to the changing tide and waves. 

Encourage your child to be very gentle with any touches. These are living creatures and we are invading their home. 

After Tidepooling

• Learn more about the creatures you found. Look them up in books, research more about them online. 
• Print pictures of what you saw for your child to draw or paint or study more closely. 
• Mark your calendar for the next low tide. 

Our Favorite San Diego Tide Pools

• Point Loma Tide Pools (located by Cabrillo National Monument)
• Tide Pools between False Point and Tourmaline Surf Park in Bird Rock. You can park in the lot at Tourmaline Surf Park and walk north on the beach.
• La Jolla Tide Pools in La Jolla

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Tucked into the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park is the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Don’t let the basement entrance fool you, at 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest such indoor model train exhibit in North America, and one of the largest in the world.

Trains have been an interest in our house for a long time. My son fell in love with Thomas the Tank engine when he was about two and from there he dove into all things trains. By 3 he could tell you not just the name and type of every engine on the island of Sodor, but also everything from how a diesel engine worked to how fast a bullet train could fly down it’s rails. Whether you have a Thomas the Tank engine fan or a grandparent with a lifelong love of model trains or someone somewhere in between, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum has something for everyone.

Also Read: In Depth Look at Balboa Park for Families

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

If you have a train fan in your family, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is not to be missed. It is wonderful for all ages – from toddlers all the way through grandparents. All train enthusiasts are welcome.

Basic Information:

San Diego Model Railroad Museum
1649 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101

Check the website for current hours and pricing. Right now (Summer 2021) they are only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 11am – 4pm. Note: there is a military discount and the SD Model Railroad Museum is included if you have the Balboa Explorer Pass.

Website: https://www.sdmrm.org/

Tips for Visiting with Kids

• Come early. Like all things, it is less crowded the earlier you go. There was a small line when we arrived shortly before opening but once inside, even on a summer day, it didn’t feel overly crowded.
• If you have kids over about 7 years old, I highly recommend the scavenger hunt. You can pick it up just inside the entrance, after you’ve paid. There is a little stand in front of the end of the first exhibit when printed scavenger hunts. It helped my kids slow down and really look at all the incredibly detailed miniature worlds.
• Bathrooms are located outside the entrance, down the hall from the Model Railroad Museum. I had my kids try before we entered.
• If you’re there with smaller kids who don’t have the attention span to check out every single inch of the museum, make sure you don’t miss the outside area with the tram and the toy train room. Both are at the back of the museum.
• In the toy train room Thomas runs around the bottom of one of the exhibits. He’s the perfect height for tots and there’s a button you can take turns pushing to make him go.
• The whole museum is very kid friendly with interactive elements and steps for kids to get up higher for a better view.

Trains of all sizes. Fantastic details in the scenes around them. Interactive elements. Enthusiastic employees and volunteers. It is a really fun place to visit.

Terrific Train Ideas for Kids Who Love Trains

When my son was a preschooler he could not get enough of trains. We read all the train books. We rode all the nearby trains. He toddled around in his Thomas the Tank Engine boots and train engineer hat everywhere we went. If you have a kid in this phase, then a visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is perfect, but what about when you get home? Here are some of our favorite ways to extend train play and learning after a fun field trip like visiting SDMRM.

Ideas from San Diego Model Railroad Museum

1. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has a special page on their website for kids. It has storytime videos you can watch, coloring pages to print and more.
2. Thomas Fans! There is also a Thomas Page on their website that allows you to explore the Island of Sodor and More.

Literacy Activities

3. Read books about trains. This Ultimate List of Picture Books about Trains from My Storytime Corner is a great place to start.

4. Alphabet Train from Teach Beside Me

5. Freight Train Name Craft from Clare’s Little Tots

6. DIY Foam Train for Easy Bathtime Fun and Learning from Bambini Travel (also works with numbers!)

Math Activities

7. Train Carriage Counting Game from Rainy Day Mum

8. Transportation I Spy and Graph Printable from School Time Snippets

9. Chocolate Train Cookies from Inspiration Laboratories

10. Geometric Shapes Train from Mama Smiles

11. Train Track Card Game for Preschoolers from Preschool Powol Packets

Science, Technology and Engineering Activities

12. Transportation Playdough Mat from The Moments at Home

13. Transportation Sand and Water Play from My Bored Toddler

14. Fingerprint Train Ornament for Kids from The Educators’ Spin On It

Art & Fine Motor Activities

15. Freight Train Drawing Prompts from My Storytime Corner

16. Painting with Trains on Canvas by Play Trains

17. Build a Train from School Time Snippets

18. Train-Themed Unwrapping by Craftulate

19. Transportation Connect the Dots by Craftulate

Movement Activities

20. Easy DIY Paper Train Table for Kids from Toddler Approved

21. Polar Express Storytime with Yoga Routine from My Storytime Corner

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50+ Kid Friendly Things to do in San Diego

When I think of a Children’s Museum the same things usually come to mind. A pretend play area. Maybe an art area. A pretend store. Usually some sort of water play. The New Children’s Museum will have you questioning all of those assumptions.

The New Children’s Museum is located in downtown San Diego. It is three stories of treehouses and creative spaces and little nooks. We have been to some pretty cool Children’s Museum but this is definitely one of the most inventive.

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When you enter you will see a huge open air space. The natural light throughout the museum is gorgeous, but that isn’t what your kids will appreciate.

They’ll love an enormous bed to jump on full of soft tires to stack and safe spaces to launch themselves onto a mattress. Have a kid who likes to jump on the bed or your couch? This is the room for them.

Outside on the patio there is a giant car with layers of paint. It’s simple, but genius. Who wants to come paint a car? Grab an art smock and brush.

Or feeling more like some small motor art? Try your hand at creating with clay.

Inside there is also an Innovator’s LAB. I should have started with this perhaps because you will want to pop in here and put your name to reserve a spot when you first arrive. On busy days you might have to wait an hour or two before you can get in. They have ever changing art activities and tinkering type activities led by one of their staff members.

You May Also Like: San Diego Model Railroad Museum

Or run up the stairs to the giant hammock or “whammock” – the most recent installation. This is where my kids always want to start and end.

Or have little ones there are also tot and preschooler designated spaces. Perfect for little ones and without the energy and size of big kids.

Honestly, that is just the start. There’s a cozy cool sand nook, there’s a huge treehouse like room, there are huge tracks where you can race cars and so much more. Something for everyone but all things that encourage open ended exploring, curiosity, creativity, and having fun.

Helpful Tips to Know Before You Go:

• They are open MWRFS 9:30-4 Closed Tuesday during the school year.
• There is a museum lot behind the museum. It isn’t large so it does fill up and you may have to find parking in one of the nearby lots – but take a lap even if there is a sign out front that says it’s full. Sometimes it’s not.
• There are great food options in their award winning cafe – they are also great with allergies.
• There are changing tables in the bathroom on each floor. There are also little bottom friendly toilets which is such a sweet little detail.
• There is a nursing space on the main floor as well.

More Kid Friendly San Diego Ideas!