Perched in Santa Monica Place, minutes from the pier, the Cayton Children’s Museum is a bright play town scaled for children from babies to age eight. Little visitors can ‘fly’ a helicopter, shop and cook in a pretend market cafe, splash at water tables, clamber through a soaring net climber and care for plush patients in the vet clinic.
Daily art and music programs, story times and a dedicated baby-and-toddler zone make it especially beloved by parents of the under-five crowd. Pair it with the beach and the pier for a Santa Monica family day that moves at exactly toddler speed: joyful, unhurried and full of pretend.
