How families can spend the summer in The City

San Francisco might take more pride in its fog than its sunshine, but a wealth of uniquely local summer options for kids make “staycations” ideal for families.

The City is home to some of the best-known fine-arts institutions in the world, many of which offer free or discounted summer programs and events for children. Science museums — including the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium — are well worth a visit, too, especially for residents of the nation’s de facto tech and innovation capital.

A visit to or through one of The City’s many public parks is an easy and free summer activity. The Recreation and Park Department maintains an expansive and accessible park system ensuring all residents live within a 10-minute walk of green space — with more than 170 playgrounds and play spaces.

Here are more kid-friendly summer activities you don’t need to leave The City to enjoy.

Saturday drop-in activities at Randall Museum

Randall Museum’s popular summer camps are all booked up, but you can still visit the museum any Saturday in summer for an abundance of always-free activities for kids:

Saturday Science (10:30 a.m.) is a drop-in workshop where kids can join in simple science exploration, and most classes produce a fun project to take home to continue discoveries.

Meet the Animal Keeper (11:30 a.m.) invites visitors into the live animal exhibit to meet a museum staff member who takes care of the animals. Families can learn about the resident critters and how they live in the wild.

Afternoon Art (1 p.m. to 4 p.m.) is a creative workshop held in Randall Museum’s designated art room every Saturday afternoon. Instructors lead a different art activity every week.

Learn cartooning at the Cartoon Art Museum

Kids of all ages and skill levels can join cartooning workshops at Cartoon Art Museum, the oldest such museum on the West Coast. First Tuesdays of each month are pay-what-you-wish days at the museum, which houses 7,000 original pieces in its permanent collection.

To request a workshop, visit www.cartoonart.org or email office@cartoonart.org. The Cartoon Art Museum is located at 781 Beach St. next to Ghirardelli Square.

Storytime at the Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is hosting weekend storytime sessions every Saturday and Sunday at noon and 2 p.m. from June through August. Each storybook read-aloud is followed by a kid-friendly science demonstration, with a rotating list of books, speakers and science experiments. Storytime is free with museum admission and recommended for families with kids age 4 to 7.

Free family day at SFMOMA

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s next free family day is Sunday, June 9, in conjunction with the museum’s newest exhibition, “ Art of Noise .” The program features over 800 artworks drawn largely from the SFMOMA collection — including 550 posters, 150 album covers, 100 design objects and four large-scale installations that marry design and audio.

Between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., families can explore the ways music and visual art come together with interactive art activities, a sound-based scavenger hunt, and performances and story time with the San Francisco Public Library. Up to four adults get in free when accompanied by a child.

Summer camp in the Western Addition

Magic Zone, run by Collective Impact, offers after-school and summer programming for students, with slots still open for students in third grade through eighth. Collective Impact, which operates the camp out of two sites in the Western Addition, partners with USF’s summer reading program , the Recreation and Park Department, museums and community gardens to host a range of field trips throughout the summer.

Visit a San Francisco playground

A summer day in San Francisco isn’t complete without a trip to one of The City’s many parks and playgrounds. Tunnel Tops, the nature-based playground near Crissy Field in the Presidio, offers large climbing structures, water features, and a unique swing made of wood. Adjacent to the playground is a “field station” inspired by base camps where scientists conduct research on animal specimens and historical artifacts.

Tunnel Tops is The City’s newest playground, but every neighborhood houses a unique and entertaining playscape, including North Beach’s Joe Dimaggio Playground , Pacific Heights’ Alta Plaza Playground , the Willie “Woo Woo” Wong playground in Chinatown, and, of course, San Francisco’s oldest playground (and carousel) in Golden Gate Park .

Family days at San Francisco Botanical Garden

The San Francisco Botanical Garden hosts Children’s Garden for Bean Sprouts Family Days on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for kids who prefer to play in nature. The space is suited for children of all ages and complete with a range of sensory-friendly, nature-based activities. Visit the Botanical Garden on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the Botanical Garden is free for San Francisco residents.