Exploration Discovery Center — Attraction in Grover Beach

Living in the 5~cities area, I was unaware the Exploration Discovery center was here! We took our grandson (age 9) and we had a blast! There was so much to do! There is an electric train room, multiple labs and craft areas depending on what the subject is; an Australian room which displayed Australian culture. Crafts included making a boomerang, a rain maker, and more. What a great way for kids to learn about another country. There is an actual craft room with craft kits to make and a face painting station complete with paint, a sink and a large child sized mirror. Totally awesome. (That's where we got to take a little break and indulge in crafts while we rested). There's an earthquake machine, another lab with shells and fossils the kids can put under a large telescope and see them close up. The kids do all of this themselves. There is a large disect model of a frog, the human body and more! There is another lab filled with circuit boards and YES Legos! Lots and lots of Legos and plenty of room to build something! There is the largest children's kitchen and playhouse area which includes real metal tiny grocery carts and so many items to shop with. Dairy foods, vegetables, fruit. You name it. The kids can fill up their carts and go thru a real grocery line and there is an electrical scanner which makes scanning sounds as the items are placed over it! There is so much more. Then we went outside! Wow! A music hut full of guitars and drum kits. There is an electric drum set which sounds terrific. There are koi fish, turtles and a place to garden. There is an area which has small pebbles and not sand, where the kids can sit on a crane shovel and scoop up the gravel and just dig in a little! We loved the real airplane the kids can sit in and pretend they are flying There is a water machine where the water flows and the kids can safely play with boats, etc. The very nice woman who runs the place invited us in and so graciously showed us everything and turned all of the electrical items on for us to use. She locks the dead bolt safety door when she leaves her desk so kids cannot wander out. There are also every kid's vehicle to sit and they can ride them in a very large area. We spent a glorious 4 hours there and had a great and unforgettable time We are going to get the membership the next time we go because we know we will repeat visitors. Our grandson wants to go every Saturday now. This is a great place to take kids of all ages and a great wayto family-bond! Thank you for making this place so warm...

Today was our first time visiting and my ten-year-old son loved it. There are many different indoor and outdoor play areas for toddlers up through elementary age kiddos. My son has hearing sensitivities and I worried about it being too loud for him, but he was fine. The ceilings are high so the place doesn't echo too badly and the outdoor areas have no issues regarding that. The staff were nice and most of the people there were fairly inclusive. My son is ten (he is tall for his age so looks older) and just wants to have fun with the other kids, and I wish people in general were more accepting of that. Anyway, lots of fun stuff for kids to do. It's not as fancy as the SLO Children's Museum but there is more to do. My son highly recommends it and wants to...

Fun and educational place for the kids to learn and play through hands-on exhibits. Mellow atmosphere all on one floor, small cement outdoor area for chalk drawings and small basket ball hoop game. May be best for kids 4+, although my 2 1/2 yr old had fun. Kids under 3 are free and other rates are inexpensive. It's a shame we were there for almost 3 hours and no one else showed up. It's worth checking out! It was our first time and I'll be visiting again. It looks like they have various events and activities too. They open at 1pm Thurs-Sat, not 12pm. We showed up early and had to walk around until it opened. Ramona Garden Park has a nice grass area the kids enjoyed running around in, but it tends to be a bit of a...