🌟Local Kiddo SF

Your weekend plans, handled.

Author

Jasmine Alves
September 12, 2025

📆Issue No. 33 - September 13-14, 2025

Happy Friday, friends! This weekend blooms with the perfect harmony of music, art, and community celebration that makes San Francisco so magical. From pianos nestled among nature in Golden Gate Park to hands-on truck exploration, jazz matinees, and milestone anniversary parties, plus a beloved alligator's birthday celebration, we've curated experiences that celebrate both the city's creative spirit and its incredible community bonds. Whether your crew is ready to tickle the ivories surrounded by blooms, climb into big trucks, dance to live jazz, create art, or sing happy birthday to Claude, the albino alligator, you'll find the perfect way to play, explore, and celebrate in this issue.

⚡ TLDR: Weekend Gameplan

Saturday:

Sunday:

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Weekend Highlight

🎹 Flower Piano Lounge

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved San Francisco tradition as Flower Piano returns to the Botanical Garden for 10 magical days! Discover 12 pianos nestled among stunning flora, with over 100 performances, family-friendly activities, and the second annual Flower Piano Fashion Show.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Saturday, September 13, 12:00pm-7:30pm

  • Sunday, September 14, 12:00pm-7:30pm 

  • SF Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park

  • Free with admission to the Botanical Garden

  • Upgrade to a Lounge Ticket to experience the performances

  • Saturday

    • 1:00pm-2:30pm - Mariah Parker’s Indo Latin Jazz Ensemble

    • 3:00pm-4:20pm - Sixth Station Trio

    • 5:00pm-7:00pm - Dred Scott & Cali Mambo

  • Sunday Performances

    • 1:00pm-2:30pm - The Lee Boero Tango Duo

    • 3:00pm-4:20pm - Drummer Fabio Reiss and The Orange Sunshine Experience

    • 5:00pm-7:00pm - John Brothers Piano Company

Saturday Highlight

Get hands-on with big vehicles at an amazing touch-a-truck fundraising event! Kids can climb, explore, and discover the fascinating world of trucks, emergency vehicles, and construction equipment.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Saturday, September 13, 9:00am-1:00pm

  • 925 Chenery St

  • Free-$20

  • Perfect for kiddos who love big vehicles and machinery

  • Hands-on exploration and learning opportunities

  • Enjoy food, coffee and donuts while the kiddos explore

  • Vehicles include:

    • Kei fire truck aka Teeny tiny fire truck!

    • SFPD K9 Unit

    • Gorman's Mini excavator

    • Cement trucks (Bauman Redi-Mix and another cement mixer)

    • International LT Semi Tractor (aka big rig!)

    • And much more!

Introduce your family to the smooth sounds of jazz with this special family matinee featuring the incredible Tiffany Austin. This performance makes jazz accessible and engaging for listeners of all ages.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Saturday, September 13, 11:00am

  • SFJazz, 201 Franklin Street

  • $10-$20

  • Family-focused jazz performance

  • Perfect introduction to jazz for kids

  • Professional performance in an intimate setting

  • Great way to expose kiddos to live music

Celebrate 125 years of this beloved neighborhood park with a community party that honors the past while looking toward the future. This milestone celebration brings neighbors together for activities, history, and fun.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Saturday, September 13, 11:00am-4:00pm

  • Duboce Park

  • Free

  • 125th anniversary milestone celebration

  • Community-focused activities and programming

  • Great opportunity to meet local families

  • Activities include:

    • Arts and crafts (feat. Scrap SF)

    • Bubbles

    • Dog adoption (feat. Muttville)

    • Dogeball tournament

    • Face painting

    • Fire engine

    • And much more!

Sunday Highlights

Kick off fall programming with a special Free Family Day celebrating People Make This Place: SFAI Stories, honoring the West Coast's oldest fine art school. Explore this unique exhibition through hands-on art making, activities, and storytelling that brings the creative legacy to life.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Sunday, September 14, 10:00am-4:00pm

  • SFMoMA, 151 3rd Street

  • Free admission for families, but reserve your ticket here

  • Celebrates the legacy of San Francisco Art Institute (closed 2022)

  • Perfect introduction to contemporary art

  • Activities throughout the museum:

    • Floor 1: Welcome table with giveaway kits, stroller parking

    • Floor 2: Grab It game, book raffle, zine-making with SCRAP, scavenger hunt prize pickup Exhibition Floor: Scavenger hunt through People Make This Place: SFAI Stories

    • Floor 4: "What is art?" collaborative floor-drawing activity

  • Storytime with SFPL: 11:00am-11:30am and 1:00-1:30pm (Phyllis Wattis Theater)

Join the California Academy of Sciences in celebrating Claude’s (the albino alligator) 30th birthday! This beloved member of the Academy's reptile family gets a birthday party complete with special activities and alligator-focused programming.

Worth Knowing: 

  • Sunday, September 14, 11:00am-5:00pm

  • California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive

  • Children (3-12): $39, Youth (13-18): $45, and Adults (19+): $49

  • Claude-themed sticker giveaway

  • 11:00am - Swamp exhibit: Start your day at a very special Swamp Talk! Biologists will present Claude with a mouth-watering trout cake as humans enjoy non-trout cupcakes (first-come, first-served while supplies last) and everyone joins in a hatchday singalong.

    1:00pm - Science Today: You can’t hug Claude, but you’ll be able to snap a selfie with the Claude mascot

  • 3:30pm - Swamp exhibit: Learn all about Claude and the southeastern swamp ecosystems alligators call home at the fact-filled Swamp Talk program.

  • All day:

    • Piazza: Contribute to a collaborative Claude sculpture with artist Nigel Sussman.

    • Aquarium stairs: Unleash your creativity at our Claude Crafts station.

✨Full List of What’s Good This Weekend✨

Ongoing:

Saturday, 9/13: 

Sunday, 9/14:

🔭 On Our Radar

Enjoy Gabby’s Dollhouse Live! with your cat loving kiddos. (September 21)

Learn about and get involved with climate justice at the 6th Annual Bay Area Youth Climate Summit. (September 21)

Learn about early care resources and enjoy games and entertainment at City Kids Family Fair. (September 27)

Enjoy Wonder Funday, exploring science, technology, engineering, art and math at the Exploratorium. (October 5)

Share the excitement of live classical music with the kiddos and SF Symphony at Around the World Through Dance. (October 11)

Found a spot that works for both you and the kiddos? Tell us – we read everything.

Until next week,

Jasmine @Local Kiddo — Because good taste doesn’t end at parenthood.

P.S. Forward this to a parent who is still trying to figure out what to do during their kiddo’s wake window.

P.P.S. Want to partner with us? Have an event we should highlight? We work with brands that parents actually want in their lives (you know, the ones that don't make us choose between "kid-friendly" and "still cool"). Email us at [email protected] if that sounds like you.

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