4 Favorite Fun Southern California Places for Kids We Visited in Summer 2025
As the school year gets into full swing, I’ve been thinking back on some of our favorite adventures from Summer 2025 here in Southern California. Here are some of the best places we visited this summer as a family:
Central Park Playground in Huntington Beach
My family spent a full day here last year and went to the wonderful library and “secret garden” nearby. So this summer when we had dear friends visiting from out of state who were staying near Huntington Beach, this was the perfect spot to meet up! This time around, we stuck to the epic rope-ladder playground structure for a fun day with friends.
Flight Path LAX and the Proud Bird
My husband loves aviation so we had an awesome airplane-themed day trip around LAX for his birthday! We toured the Flight Path Museum, which is small but has plenty of info for aviation enthusiasts. It’s not meant specifically for kids, but mine enjoyed it - especially the room where you can watch fun in-flight safety videos (the Lego-movie-themed one was obviously a favorite!) Then we went to lunch at the Proud Bird, a local restaurant/food hall with a playground right next to the runways at LAX. An evening on the beach in Playa Del Rey finished off a lovely day!
Santa Barbara Getaway
We didn’t do a lot of travel this summer, but we did make a quick trip to Santa Barbara! Some highlights were the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the MOXI Museum (especially since our membership to the LA/OC Discovery Cube got us free admission to both!) We also loved getting McConnell’s ice cream on State Street, and playing at the beach! Unfortunately one of my kids got sick so we had to cut our trip short :( but we hope to head back there again soon!
Skirball Museum in LA
We kicked off the school year with a visit to the Skirball Cultural Center. It’s free on Thursdays! We loved their Noah’s Ark exhibit, which is super interactive for kids and makes use of recycled materials in the coolest ways (it’s pretty non-religious, fyi). Their outdoor archeological dig was so fun, and is what my kids are talking about weeks later, and we had fun exploring their temporary exhibit on Jack Kirby, who helped create the Avengers.
I’m so thankful for another fun summer!