Kids blowing bubbles, meeting native California animals up close, and exploring science exhibits – those are just a few of the fun things that characterize CuriOdyssey’s first Super Families Day.

The first-time event gave children with special needs and their families exclusive access to CuriOdyssey before regular visitor hours. This comfortable, less-crowded program kicked off with bubble activities led by CuriOdyssey’s science educators, supervised animal encounters with an opossum and other creatures, and private access to our hands-on and highly tactile science exhibits. Take a gander at more photos and a recount of the events on a post from the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism.

More than 100 people attended the event in early October. But if you missed it, don’t worry! This won’t be our last Super Families Day; we’re already planning for the next. Keep your eyes open for more information, or contact us at info(at)curiodyssey.org if you’d like to be notified about our next Super Families Day.

Hope to see you next time!

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UPDATE: We have been truly overwhelmed with positive comments and useful suggestions from the community about our first Super Families Day.  Here are just some of the words of appreciation we’ve received. Thank you for the wondeful feedback!

…I am grateful to San Mateo’s CuriOdyssey for hosting a Super Families event last weekend, and hope they will continue to host these events periodically. My son, his little sister, and her friend got to have the best time ever. – via A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism blog

We had such a wonderful time at the Super Families Day.  Our son with special needs, loved it.  He often has trouble at zoos, museums, etc with all of the kids.  He has a hard time understanding how to take turns and how to deal with large crowds.  The environment you created enabled him to participate so much more in each of the museum’s stations.  Thank you for putting this together. 

It is so nice for our kids and for us to be able to attend such an event without worrying about stigma and not feeling that we have to explain our kids’ behavior to others.

Thank you so much for offering a Super Families Day. We had a great time! It really helped our child to be in a calm environment – offering to open before public hours really helped with that. Our kids really loved all the animals, being able to touch and interact with them, and the fun activities (bubbles especially) – and very helpful and kind staff.

I really like that it limits number of families and a specified time for special needs family, as my son has hearing sensitivities and behavior issues. I really appreciate the staff’s understanding of special needs behavior.

Special thanks to all of the great Twitter comments from @shannonrosa, @lizditz,