The New Children's Museum

Originally in La Jolla Village Square back when it was an indoor mall (San Diego natives remember the days well), The Children's Museum used to be devoted to hands-on technology exhibits, science experiments and dress-up play rooms.

Now downtown, the converted warehouse is a full-scale art expo, nearly every square inch a canvas for paint, clay-molding, sketching and any impromptu arts and crafts project your kid's imagination can drum up. While the many colors and hues in the museum are always changing, core exhibits like the outdoor reading room (a double-decker bus stocked with books) and the museum's jumbo-size slide stay year-round.

Adults can slap on a smock and join in the fun, too; many of the museum's staff members are trained and working artists with a plethora of art knowledge to share with anyone who's curious.

And though most of the art you'll be taking home has a refrigerator magnet waiting for it, professional artists have work on exhibit, too, some of which is available for purchase in the museum's store.