Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in silicon valley, CA

Train lovers -- and parents of little train lovers -- take note:  there are only a few more days left to enjoy the Museum of American Heritage (MOAH)'s annual holiday train display.  Living LEGO-cy: Legendary LEGOs and Terrific Trains, a joint project of the museum, the Bay Area LEGO® User Group (BayLUG) and Bay Area LEGO Train Club (BayLTC), is a must-see.

MOAH is a small museum tucked away in the heart of downtown Palo Alto; most people don't even realize it's there.  The museum, dedicated to technology and innovation in America, has several small permanent exhibits, including a beautifully landscaped garden (great for running around) and replicas of a 1920's kitchen, general store, and print shop.  Special exhibits change about 3 times a year.  Their latest one highlights innovations in music and sound, but we're hoping they bring back the brilliant turn-of-the-century toy exhibit we saw a couple of years ago.  It's a great place to stop by with your children on a Friday afternoon, but it certainly isn't designed to handle the crowds that this Lego exhibition brings.  When we stopped by to have a peek last weekend, we lined up in the narrow hallways for at least 15 minutes for our turn to enter the exhibition room.  

It was totally worth the wait.  Once you enter, it's like stepping into Legoland itself.  You'll see complex LEGO creations and an operating LEGO train layout featuring a wide variety of creations by club members (most are original designs, some are based on Lego boxed sets). Highlighting it all is Holidays in the Bay Area, a 12 by 25 foot train layout incorporating multiple trains running through city, farm, and suburban scenes. 

If Lego trains chugging around tracks aren't enough to send your youngsters into a frenzy of delight, how about churning windmills and cows that turn their heads to watch the trains go by?  They'll also enjoy recognizing familiar Lego characters and Bay Area landmarks scattered throughout the display.  For more fun, turn your visit into a scavenger hunt of sorts and ask them if they can spot the following:

A giant octopus
The ghost train car
Darth Vader having tea
Spiderman climbing up a hotel wall
Santa Claus warming up his reindeer team
Ghirardelli Square
A San Francisco cable car

Living LEGO-CY is open to the public through January 11, 2009 during normal exhibit hours (11 - 4, Friday, Saturday, Sunday).