MOXI in Santa Barbara, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation
Posted by San Luis Obispo Mom on Sunday, March 20, 2022 Under: Santa Barbara
Lucky for us, Santa Barbara is only an hour and fifteen minute drive south from our area as it's only the next county over from San Luis Obispo County.
We've learned more about MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, from Blippi, the clown from YouTube! We really wanted to encourage the kids to visit a museum again, now that the mask mandate has been lifted and things are getting back to a more normal. At first, the kids were not up for a drive so I showed a video of MOXI from Blippi's video of his visit there and after about halfway through watching, they were ready to change clothes and get ready for it!
There are many kid activities at MOXI. It only took us about 2 hours to visit all three stories of MOXI but we could have easily stayed longer and revisit the floors again. Daddy got hungry and there were a lot of restaurants to pick from right outside luring us to shorten our visit to enjoy a nice, big lunch.
Rooftop at MOXI
There is a rooftop (3rd story) at MOXI that has fun exploration activities and a great view of the pier, ocean and the mountains of Santa Barbara. I really enjoyed coming up there! MOXI was going to close off the rooftop for a special event at 2PM for a private party so we made sure to visit the rooftop earlier on during our visit before they closed that part. I'm glad the front desk told us that as we were paying for our tickets to get in.
There's a lot of sections for kids to create crafts and build things, along with interactive play. Coming out of our area and into a public space again reminded me that there is some catching up to do as far as lessons to remind the kids about, such as how to appropriately share and behave politely when we're in public. The way they sometimes behave at home, like being loud and rambunctious, is not okay when there are other kids, especially those with sensory processing disorders, and other adults in the same room.
Outside Snacks Can Only Be Eaten on the Second Story at Mountain View Terrace
For any drive beyond 30 minutes, I usually try to pack snacks for the kids and bring them with us in my bag. I'm so glad I did this for our visit to MOXI because after a 1 hour and 15 minute drive and an hour of play at MOXI, one of my sons got hungry. We found a sign that said snacks can only be eaten at their Mountain View Terrace. It's located on the second story. You'll find a door that takes you outside to the terrace, near the race car tracks. The Mountain View Terrace had two benches to sit. We sat on one of their orange benches and my sons were able to fuel up with our snacks and breathe in some fresh air. They don't sell snacks or drinks there at MOXI so bringing snacks with us was a life-saver. It was quite busy at MOXI so navigating around the crowd and playing with the kids meant no free hands to take a lot of pictures of our visit. However, you can find pictures of MOXI and their current prices from their website: https://www.moxi.org/visit-and-learn/hours-admission. Kids under 2 are free and EBT cardholders only have to pay a minimal fee compared to regular admission.
(Another view of Santa Barbara from MOXI's rooftop)
All photos at MOXI on this blog post were taken by SanLuisObispoMom.com.
See family-friendly things to do in San Luis Obispo County.
We've learned more about MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, from Blippi, the clown from YouTube! We really wanted to encourage the kids to visit a museum again, now that the mask mandate has been lifted and things are getting back to a more normal. At first, the kids were not up for a drive so I showed a video of MOXI from Blippi's video of his visit there and after about halfway through watching, they were ready to change clothes and get ready for it!
There are many kid activities at MOXI. It only took us about 2 hours to visit all three stories of MOXI but we could have easily stayed longer and revisit the floors again. Daddy got hungry and there were a lot of restaurants to pick from right outside luring us to shorten our visit to enjoy a nice, big lunch.
Rooftop at MOXI
There is a rooftop (3rd story) at MOXI that has fun exploration activities and a great view of the pier, ocean and the mountains of Santa Barbara. I really enjoyed coming up there! MOXI was going to close off the rooftop for a special event at 2PM for a private party so we made sure to visit the rooftop earlier on during our visit before they closed that part. I'm glad the front desk told us that as we were paying for our tickets to get in.
There's a lot of sections for kids to create crafts and build things, along with interactive play. Coming out of our area and into a public space again reminded me that there is some catching up to do as far as lessons to remind the kids about, such as how to appropriately share and behave politely when we're in public. The way they sometimes behave at home, like being loud and rambunctious, is not okay when there are other kids, especially those with sensory processing disorders, and other adults in the same room.
Outside Snacks Can Only Be Eaten on the Second Story at Mountain View Terrace
For any drive beyond 30 minutes, I usually try to pack snacks for the kids and bring them with us in my bag. I'm so glad I did this for our visit to MOXI because after a 1 hour and 15 minute drive and an hour of play at MOXI, one of my sons got hungry. We found a sign that said snacks can only be eaten at their Mountain View Terrace. It's located on the second story. You'll find a door that takes you outside to the terrace, near the race car tracks. The Mountain View Terrace had two benches to sit. We sat on one of their orange benches and my sons were able to fuel up with our snacks and breathe in some fresh air. They don't sell snacks or drinks there at MOXI so bringing snacks with us was a life-saver. It was quite busy at MOXI so navigating around the crowd and playing with the kids meant no free hands to take a lot of pictures of our visit. However, you can find pictures of MOXI and their current prices from their website: https://www.moxi.org/visit-and-learn/hours-admission. Kids under 2 are free and EBT cardholders only have to pay a minimal fee compared to regular admission.
(Another view of Santa Barbara from MOXI's rooftop)All photos at MOXI on this blog post were taken by SanLuisObispoMom.com.
See family-friendly things to do in San Luis Obispo County.
In : Santa Barbara
Tags: moxi museum santa barbara discount tickets kids museum in santa barbara
Originally from San Diego, California, I'm a San Diego State University alumna, veteran's wife and mom of two kids who were born two years apart. After living on the East Coast for 6 years, we now reside in San Luis Obispo County and here, the exploration continues.
@sanluisobispomom