Mindart Studio is an exceptional art studio for children of all ages. My child has been attending…read moresince 2021, and the growth in their artwork over the years has been truly remarkable. The staff are friendly, talented, and gifted teachers whom kids genuinely love learning from. With flexible scheduling options, it's easy to find days and hours that fit your family's routine. After five-plus years as loyal students, we can say without hesitation that Mindart Studio is an outstanding choice for any child passionate about art. They have various locations so check their website for further details.

My daughter's drawing class has been going on for 8 weeks, and she has completed 8 pieces of…read moreartwork under the careful guidance. Although her lineworks are not very mature and the colors are not very neat, these imperfections add up to a very unique style. Mindart's teachers are very creative in choosing the theme every time. Every time my daughter finishes a piece of artwork, I cannot believe this is something made by her!

Allison is a wonderful art teacher and my daughter really enjoyed taking her art classes for the…read morepast year. She is a kind spirited person and really awesome/patient with kids of all ages. Her classes are fun and creative. My daughter always had something beautiful to bring home, and alot of them are hung up in her room at our new place :) Art classes can get expensive but i find Allison's fees to be very reasonable and it is for an hour and a half...Unfortunately we moved out of SL and the classes had to stop, if we were any closer, i would sign my daughter up for her classes in a heart beat! There is a beautiful garden and a play structure right in front of her school, another plus!

Mulford Gardens is a sweet lushly vegetated, pergola blooming playground, outdoor venue, and art…read moreschool tucked off a side street on the industrial section of San Leandro. I saw a sign for a children's art camp and took the opportunity to enrich my little peanut who goes through paper like a bag of Doritos with a little formal instruction. The camp lasted a week, three hours daily, and concluded with a celebratory art show and family friendly picnic. The instructor, Allison, is a talented life long artist from a family of artists, who currently runs the day to day functions of the park along with the school in the rear building. She is amazing with rowdy smocked children running amok flinging actual paint and canvases--not washable fingerpaint, but wear your play garb for a genuine, stain inducing introduction to techniques of fine art. My daughter came home with a bagful of illustrations of every animal known to man, a finished canvas, and a memory of an experience she wants to repeat again. Fortunately, the school offers both after school programs during the year and multiple sessions in the summer. Additionally, there are adult classes--one in the late afternoon and another on Wednesday evenings that I recently decided to dip my 'haven't painted in 20 years palette' into. It's been a fabulous three classes so far. A traditional art curriculum with warm ups, exercises in charcoal still life's, cross hatching, scratch etching, and sustained work on oil canvas. Allison knows when to give guidance and when to let you figure out brush strokes on your own. I'm learning to ride my "artist" bike all over again and enjoying every challenging, creative moment. I highly recommend this obscure little school in San Leandro. I hope it grows like the garden it's situated in.

This is a very well-run entertaining and informative local museums of the Hayward area…read more They bring in special speakers on a regular basis primarily Saturdays for information of Interest in the local area. A very diverse selection of artwork that are all some local artists. This is some of the most popular artists in the East Bay Area. They also have a focus for children's activities for entertainment for education and enjoyment.

DO NOT LET THE SKETCH LOCATION LEAD YOU ASTRAY! (And yes, it…read morehas to be in all caps... or is it "no cap"? Please don't come for my Millennial self ) The building is tucked behind the entrance of Hong Kong BBQ on Redwood Road, near where Southern Comfort is on Castro Valley Blvd. From the outside, it looks pretty run-down and sketchy. There's also no elevator, so you'll need to carry your little one up a flight of stairs. Keep this in mind if you're planning a party, especially if anyone in your group has ADA concerns. Entrance is $16 per child for a maximum of 2 hours, and honestly, two hours is more than enough. The space itself is small but perfect for little kids. It feels like they're exploring their own tiny town with all the pretend-play stations: an ice cream truck, spaceship, chef's kitchen, grocery store, laundromat, pet store/groomer, and pizza parlor. They do have a small reading area, but there are little to no books. The play area is padded, which is great for crawling children. I wasn't totally sure how often things are sanitized. There's a basket for toys that need extra cleaning, which made me wonder how frequently everything is actually wiped down if we're asked to set items aside ourselves. Party space is limited to the entrance/hardwood area. I was told the max is 20 adults and about 15 children, but I honestly can't imagine everyone fitting comfortably in that small space. Overall, it's a great spot for my kid to run around and get her wiggles out. She really enjoyed it and that's what matters most.

This is a nice and simple play space for toddlers. It's contained and provides different options…read morefor play - pretend play with ice cream truck, kitchen, grill, rocket ship, diner, workshop to train and road play, and then various soft play space. As the first group on site, the space was clean and tidy. Not sure how busy this place could get but throughout our time here, there was a total of 5 kids which provided plenty of space to play.

This was a very good museum to find in Downtown San Leandro!!…read more I came in here while I was at the San Leandro Cherry Festival, and it was free to enter. This museum tells the history of San Leandro, with murals, exhibits, and photographs!! There's also an exhibit about redlining and housing discrimination in the city and the effects it has had on people! A small, but very informative museum!!!

I love still finding hidden gems in my hometown 18 years later and the community theater at the…read moreMuseum/Auditorium right next door to the Casa Peralta is my latest find. Two years ago, I wrote a blog post comparing movie theater to live theater - http://aroundthebayandaway.blogspot.com/2016/05/live-theater-vs-movie-theater.html discovering that live theater especially community theaters can be a much better value than going to the movies. With my introduction to the SL Player's performance of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap, I cannot wait to return to see what mystery they have in store for us next season. Since this is a community theater with a limited budget, chairs are just stackable chairs put out for the performance but once you are immersed in the storyline unfolding before you, you won't even care.

Wonderful small gallery on E Street in Hayward featuring many Bay Area photographers. They are…read morealso set up with a full darkroom that several people can use at the same time and they have computers and printers for small and large format printing. It is a welcoming place to work and exhibit.

Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Great facilities. Full B/W darkroom. Scanners and large…read moreformat digital printer

I had never heard of this festival before in Castro Valley!!…read more This was a pretty good sized festival. It had 2 music stages, one at each end, a petting zoo, a pony ride area along with plenty of booths selling all sorts of stuff. There are also lots of food options here, and an area to get beer or wine at also. It was a rather hot Saturday when I was here, and it was fairly crowded. This festival occurs every year, the weekend after Labor Day on Castro Valley Boulevard!!

We came by this past Saturday, and enjoyed our time here. Parking and traffic were what you'd…read moreexpect at this type of the event (closed streets, etc.) but the Safeway plaza didn't seem to monitor parking this past weekend, so we simply parked in the lot for a couple hours without any issues while attending the fall fest. There was a nice variety of food/drink vendors on site including garlic butter artichokes, smoked sausages, southern soul food, and of course funnel cakes. We had a hard time choosing what to get for lunch, but Coastal Paella did not disappoint. We came early, there were hardly any lines, and we enjoyed the seafood paella and a trio of flavorful skewers along with a couple alcoholic beverages from the drink tent, a Kitson Wines red blend and beer from Drake's Brewing Co. We ate our meals while vibing to some great live music. Two stages were advertised on the event website (performances of rock, pop, and jazz tunes), but we only saw one stage while we were there in the early hours. There were rows of seating for viewing and standing tables in the back, but no seats and tables together. They offered pony rides for kids, and an awesome petting zoo with waterbirds, farm animals, a giant tortoise, and LOTS of bunnies running around in their pen, in which visitors could come inside and play with them for a small fee. There was also plenty of interesting merchandise for sale including totes, plants, and groot shaped freeze dried candy from Freezy Frosty. We got ourselves some harissa infused olive oil from the Amphora Lafayette vendor tent to take home. It was a fairly small festival, only a couple blocks long, but they used the space nicely and packed a lot of unique offerings for guests without it feeling too crowded. The atmosphere was lovely and the people there were friendly. We had a good time.

Grand kids always have fun at this place. They don't stick grownups with a..You have to have OUR…read moresocks. Hate that! As long as you have grippy socks is fine.

I was honestly very disappointed with our experience at Jump N Play for my daughter's birthday…read moreparty today. For the amount of money we paid, I expected much better customer service, organization, and overall value. The party required a 50% deposit of $187, and when we arrived, I paid the remaining $187, bringing the party package to $374. We were also told that if we stayed past 2:30 PM, there would be an additional charge. We ended up going only about 3 minutes over, and the employee immediately told us we had to pay another $50. Altogether, we spent $424 for this party. For $424, I really do not feel like the experience or package was worth the price. We still brought our own snacks for our guests, the decorations that were included were very basic, and we received a small pizza. I expected a lot more considering the cost of the package. What bothered me even more than the price was the customer service. The girls working at the front were rude and had an attitude, not only toward us but toward our guests as well. Some of our guests arrived around 2:00 PM, and instead of politely explaining anything to them, the staff tried to turn them away. Multiple guests specifically came to me afterward and mentioned how rude the employees at the front were and how uncomfortable their attitude made them feel. That is extremely disappointing when you are paying hundreds of dollars to host your child's birthday party somewhere. I completely understand that businesses have rules regarding party times and additional fees. However, there is a professional and respectful way to communicate those policies, especially to paying customers and their guests. After already paying $374, bringing our own snacks, receiving very basic decorations and a small pizza, being told we owed another $50 because we were approximately 3 minutes over just made the entire experience feel very money-focused rather than customer-focused. I wanted my daughter's birthday to be a fun and special experience, and thankfully she still enjoyed herself, which is what mattered most to me. But from a parent's perspective, I would not purchase the party package here again. Between the $424 total cost, basic party setup, limited food, strict additional charge, and especially the rude customer service, I personally do not feel the package was worth what we paid. I hope management takes feedback like this seriously because when families are spending this much money to celebrate an important day for their child, they should at minimum be treated politely and made to feel welcome.