Channel Islands Maritime Museum — Attraction in Oxnard

My three year old and I visit many local museums as part of the Passport 2 History program. They range in their interestingness, but the Channel Islands Maritime Museum is certainly one of the best! It's not huge on the level of a Natural History Museum or Getty... but it's larger than many of these one-room local history museums. There are two floors that each have a large room or two.

You'll see many ships and paintings of ships... but what makes this even more fun is that they have many things for children to do! They have a play mobile pirate ship for the kids to play with that kept my son's attention for a LONG time! They also have a selfie station where you take a picture in front of a cannon, complete with wigs, hats and costumes to try on! There was no one else in the museum when we went, so we could take our time and really have fun! Upstairs has other neat things to do, and even better... beautiful views of the water! They had a coloring station for kids that had a handful of plastic toy whales that kept my son's attention for a LONG time! They had special lighting that attempted to recreate and "under water" feel, and he had a great time playing with the toy whales there! They also had some whale bones, which I'm always fascinated by! Especially the size of a whale vertebrate!

While many of the Passport museums are free... this one is $7/adult. So that is probably why it's a bit cooler than many others. We had a great time. There is free parking, and not far from Ventura, so there are plenty of things to do around to make for a...

Do not take kids here! One old man violently pulled my daughter away from rining a bell....if kids are not to ring the damn bell rope it off or put it higher. The same man scolded another kid for looking at a VIEW MASTER. Yeah.. That pricless view master is at risk! My kids who have been to countless museums and have never touched or damaged anything were fallowed and harrased by the staff. Kids were not alowed to touch the "kid stuff". If they were trying to make this a more popular museum by trying to attract familys...YOU FAIL. Make a kids room of items they can touch and play with apart frim things to just look at. Get rid of that creepy old man befor you get sued. He put his hands on no less that 4 diffrent kids in an aggressive manner. If i got him on video Id take you to cort for how he yanked my daughter! If you love your kids do not go here. There are better things you can do with...

I was happy with the content of the museum but I was not happy with the way we were treated. If you have young kids expect to be yelled at the moment you enter the gift shop. My son wanted to buy a foam sword with his own money and the lady behind the desk yelled rudely several times "DONT TOUCH!" We will not be going back. The upper deck is kid friendly but the staff needs to lighten up and realize that if they want people to spend money at their establishment they need to be polite to customers. I understand not touching the paintings and models but non-breakable merchandise in the gift shop should not be off limits for kids. As far as what is inside the kid space, you'll find a model of a viking long boat, Columbus' ships, Cabrillo's ship and chumash models. It's a great place to bring history to life for your...