Family-friendly things to do in Ventura County this weekend

11 kid-friendly events are on the Ventura County calendar for Fri, Oct 16 – Sun, Oct 18. The list above is bucketed by Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so you can plan around naps, school, and travel time. Every event listed here has a positive kid signal: explicit Family category, Family-Friendly age group, or a kid-related tag or title (storytime, youth, lego, all-ages, etc.). Adult-only and 21+ events are filtered out.

Yes. 4 of this weekend's 11 kid-friendly events are free to attend. Free family options around the county usually include library storytimes and STEAM workshops, art walks, outdoor festivals at city parks, beach cleanups, free museum days, and community gatherings.

Reliable kid-friendly spots across the county include the Ventura Botanical Gardens (free Tuesdays), Channel Islands Harbor (free playground, splash pad in summer), Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, Oxnard Beach Park, Mission Park in downtown Ventura, the strawberry fields off Ventura Road in Oxnard during U-pick season, and the public library branches in every city (storytime calendars are listed on each library's website). The weekend list above also tags each event with its venue and city so you can sort by what's closest.

Outdoor family events get added throughout the week. Ventura County has year-round options at the beach, Botanic Gardens, Wildwood Park (Thousand Oaks), and Lake Casitas (Ojai). Most are walk-in friendly without a formal event.

This page automatically refreshes every week as Friday rolls around. The events shown are always the upcoming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Pacific time. Within the week, new family events get added as local organizers submit them and our team approves them, so it's worth a second look on Thursday or Friday for last-minute additions.

Anyone can submit a Ventura County event for free at /submit. Tag the event as Family category or set the age group to Family-Friendly and it will show up on this page automatically once approved. Including kid keywords (kids, family, storytime, youth, lego, all-ages) in the title or tags also helps. Libraries, museums, parks, schools, and family-focused organizers are all welcome to post.