Thankful for the week off from school (maybe not), but not sure what to do? We\u2019ve got you covered with kid-friendly locations right here in Long Beach to entertain\u2014and even educate.<\/p>\n
Rich in historical buildings and gardens, Rancho Los Alamitos<\/a> and Rancho Los Cerritos <\/a>showcase Long Beach\u2019s agricultural and cultural past. Highlights at Rancho Los Cerritos include fruit orchards, a renovated native garden and an adobe structure. In addition to 4 acres of historic gardens, Rancho Los Alamitos is also home to a barnyard with horses, sheep, rabbits, and ducks.<\/p>\n Kids can feed the koi, and adults can enjoy the tranquil and inspiring garden<\/a>. Make sure to check the website<\/a> and reserve a spot for your free visit in advance.<\/p>\n Since 2016, the city has upgraded playgrounds around town with new equipment suited for a wider range of kids\u2019 ages and abilities. Some standouts:<\/p>\n Recreation Park:<\/a> check out the dinosaur-themed equipment and the sign language board.<\/p>\n Los Cerritos Park<\/a>: kids can explore the woodland-themed playground, as well as climb, swing, spin and zipline on the structures.<\/p>\n Whaley Park<\/a>: play with sound and lights on the brightly colored art, science and music inspired equipment.<\/p>\n Other highlights include Drake Park<\/a>, Cherry Park<\/a>, Veterans Park <\/a>and C. David Molina Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Nature Center at El Dorado Park<\/a> may be the most popular place to commune with flora and fauna locally, but nature walks extend from North Long Beach to Marine Stadium:<\/p>\n Jack Dunster Marine Biological Reserve\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Experience multiple habits, including coastal sage shrub and coastal marsh, as you wander the paths on the acre and a half of reserve landscaped with native plants. You can also observe marine life on the floating platforms.<\/p>\n Deforest Park and Wetlands<\/a><\/p>\n Enjoy and learn about the wetlands on nature trails and an elevated boardwalk in this nearly 35-acre park.<\/p>\n Los Cerritos Wetlands<\/a><\/p>\n Walk a roughly 2-mile path around a restored wetland habitat where you might encounter birds, rabbits, turtles, native plants\u2013and even the occasional horseback rider. Access the path from either Del Amo Avenue near C. David Molina Park<\/a> or Del Mar Avenue not far from Los Cerritos Park<\/a>. Combine your nature walk with a playground visit, and you\u2019ll have some happy, exhausted kids by the end of the day.<\/p>\n Make sure to check websites before you head out for open hours and in a few cases (El Dorado Nature Center and Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden) for parking fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thankful for the week off from school (maybe not), but not sure what to do? We\u2019ve got you covered with kid-friendly locations right here in Long Beach to entertain\u2014and even educate.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":72190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32099],"tags":[166],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[31999],"class_list":["post-32360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do","tag-things-to-do","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72523,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32360\/revisions\/72523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32360"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32360"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden<\/b><\/h5>\n
Parks and playgrounds<\/b><\/h5>\n
Nature Walks<\/b><\/h5>\n