fun things to do with kids in santa cruz california    
  Travel for Kids
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  | California | Central Coast
     
    Santa Cruz
Child at Santa Cruz beach
Santa Cruz is a classic California beach town, with flat sand beaches, perfect for playing in the sand, boogie boarding and surfing. It's a great place to grab the kids and go for the weekend, or you can easily spend a long vacation in summer – building sand forts, riding the roller coasters high above the waves, picking your own fresh fruits, or riding the stream trains in the redwoods.
  Central Santa Cruz
  Around Santa Cruz - North
    Around Santa Cruz - South
family hotels santa cruz

Travel for Kids has so many fun things to do with kids in Santa Cruz, but you'll need a fun place to stay.

Here's our own Travel for Kids hand-picked list of family hotels in and around Santa Cruz, all styles and price ranges, in neighborhoods that are comfortable for families, and near to places you'll want to explore:

Santa Cruz family hotels
kids books california
     
The Ever-Living Tree  
The Ever-Living Tree
Linda Vieria, Christopher Canyon

Beautifully textured paintings and homey details tell the story of the coast redwoods. Experience of the passage of time as a little tree sprouts during the era of Alexander the Great, grows taller and bigger through the centuries, is still growing when Columbus lands on the shore of America. (Picture book)

 

     
A Colony of Seals
Vicki Leon

Find out about the fascinating elephant seals that come to this part of the coast habitats, social life, what all those barking noises mean, migrations. Plus, all about California sea lions and harbor seals, residents of the coastal waters here. Fabulous photographs. (Picture book)

 

 
A Colony of Seals
     
Adelina's Whales  
Adelina's Whales
Richard Sobol

Before you go whale watching, dip into this captivating photo story. Each winter the gray whales migrate to Baja California, and Adelina looks for their return. Lovely photographs express the wonder and excitement of these magnificent creatures.
(Picture book)

 

     

Get to know the sea otters you'll see off Monterey Bay. Discover how these enchanting creatures survive in cold waters (really warm fur), how they eat (in the water, floating on their back), why sea otters rest with their paws up (conserves heat), and more. Gorgeous close-up photographs. (Picture book)

 

 
A Raft of Sea Otters
     
Starting Life Butterfly  
Starting Life: Butterfly
Claire Llewellyn, Simon Mendez

Before viewing the monarch butterflies at Natural Bridges State Park, open the pages on this bright and beautiful picture book. Gorgeously illustrated life cycle of the monarch butterfly, from egg to caterpillar and chrysalis, the new butterfly, fall and spring migration. (Picture book)

 

(More children's books on other California pages)