UC Botanical Garden

My 10 yr. old grandkid just had their birthday party at UC Botanical Garden with a few friends and loved it.  It's beautiful, interesting and they can roam around.  Another idea, indoors or out, is a home party with a project - tie dyeing, shrinky dinks, jewelry/backpack charms making, etc.

The concerts at the UC Botanical Garden are great! Lots of kids!

http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/summer-concerts-2018

Restaurants are good, too. I recently heard some nice harp music at Brezo in Richmond. 

https://brezorestaurant.com/

We have a Family-Plus membership to the UC Botanical Garden ($125/year), and it comes with really good reciprocal benefits - not just to gardens (get in free to SF Botanical Garden, Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, etc.) but also free/discounted admission to lots of museums around the country, including the Oakland Museum, De Young and many SF museums, Southern California museums, etc. Plus you get discounts at local nurseries. It's mostly not kid-focused places like Chabot and LHS, but for general museum/garden access it's the best I've found.  See all the details here: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/reciprocal/

Also, if you have an Oakland Public Library card, you can "check out" free passes to LHS, Discovery Museum and lots of other local attractions and museums with your library card through their Discover & Go program. (I'm not sure about other local library systems, but I think they participate, too.)  Details: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/services/discover-go-visit-museums-more-f…