Waterfront Resilience Activities and Learning
Missing the Waterfront? Stay Engaged!
The Port of San Francisco's Waterfront Resilience Program misses connecting with Bay Area youth and their families. With events postponed, we hope we can keep hearing from you and you can keep learning about waterfront resilience. We'll update this page with more resources and fun activities for families.
To hold us all over...
- Sea lions at PIER 39 webcam
- Exploratorium's Bay Observatory webcam
- Hyde Street Pier webcam
- Virtual tour of the Port's Blue Greenway
Virtual waterfront resilience tour - Take a self-guided virtual tour of resilience initiatives led by the Port of San Francisco along our city’s hardworking and beautiful waterfront!
Waterfront History Time Lapse Video... coming soon!
Activity: Map Your Favorite Parts of the Waterfront
- Tell us what's most important to you along the waterfront by using a cool interactive map.
- Follow this link and drop pins on the map - it's easy!
- Your ideas will be on the map for the Port and everyone else to see. Thanks for sharing your favorite waterfront spots!
Activity: Waterfront Memories
- Catch a fly ball at a Giant's game? Visit the EcoCenter? Take a field trip to the Exploratorium? Sample fruit at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market? Fish off a pier? Tell us your waterfront memory and share a photo if you have one!
- Follow this link and upload photos and/or stories about past trips to the Port of San Francisco - it's easy!
- Your ideas will be on the message board for the Port and everyone else to see! We'll share favorites over the Port's social media.
Activity: Think Big and Help the Port Envision the Waterfront in 2100 and Beyond
- The Port is working to prepare the waterfront for sea level rise and earthquakes and these projects allow us to think what else we'd like to see along the waterfront.
- Now imagine the waterfront in the year 2100... that's 80 years from now!
- Follow this link to tell us three things you'd like to see along the future waterfront - and think big!
- You may have seen this activity at the Port's table at outreach events like Cal Academy Family Nights (pictured below).
Activity: Color the Waterfront
- Download and print individual page from the Waterfront Coloring Book - check out the Port Mad Libs and mazes too!
- Coloring Pages: Bayview Rise - Cargo Shipping - Crane Cove Park - Cupid's Span - EcoCenter - Embacadero Seawall - Exploratorium - Ferries - Ferry Building - Fisherman's Wharf - Floating Fire Station #35 - Heron's Head Park - Mission Creek - Pier 27 Cruise Terminal - PIER 39 Sea Lions - South Beach Harbor - Waterfront Map - What Lies Underneath the Seawall
- Activity Pages: Heron Mad Lib - Sea Lion Mad Lib - Crab Maze - Ship Wheel Maze - World Search #1 - Word Search #2
- Share your artwork with us on social media by tagging the Port.
A Resilient Waterfront for the Next Generation
Hear from Youth Commissioner Arianna Nassiri as she speaks to the importance of the San Francisco waterfront and making it safe, accessible, and sustainable for future generations.
Lasers!? Soil Samples!? 3D Modeling!?
Watch a short illustrated video showing what the Port's been up to as part of the Waterfront Resilience Program's Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment. Or in simpler terms, how the Port's been learning a lot more about how earthquakes and flooding may impact the waterfront.
Partner Resources
The Port is so fortunate to have fantastic partners like the Exploratorium, Aquarium of the Bay, and California Academy of Sciences. Check out some of their resilience-related online activities and visit their websites for additional content:
- Exploratorium
- Learn about King Tides - the most extreme tides of the year!
- Shaky Sediments - create a model at home to demonstrate earthquakes and liquefaction
- Resonate Rings - create a model to show why buildings behave differently during earthquakes
- Pasta Quake - create a "pasta magnitude" scale to model earthquake energy
- Learn more about the 1906 earthquake
- Aquarium of the Bay
- California Academy of Sciences
- Additional resources
Share Your Waterfront Stories
FROM A SLEEPY OUTPOST TO A BUSTLING WATERFRONT, the Port has always served as the city’s gateway to the Bay Area, the nation, and the world. Over the years, the Port has welcomed treasure seekers in search of riches, immigrants looking for opportunity, and cargoes that established San Francisco as a trading center. Today, the Port manages 7.5 miles of waterfront from Fisherman's Wharf in the north to Heron's Head Park in the south. Over 24 million people, residents and visitors alike, enjoy the waterfront each year!
We want to hear your memories of the waterfront - catch a fly ball at a Giant's game? Visit the EcoCenter? Take a field trip to the Exploratorium? Sample fruit at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market? Fish off a pier? Tell us your waterfront memory and share a photo if you have one!
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PIER 39 Childhood Memories!
I grew up about 5 blocks from PIER 39 and have fun memories of riding the F trolley line, exploring the old ships at Hyde Street Pier, and begging my parents to let me go on the merry go round or watch the magic tricks. When my cousins from Southern California would come visit, we'd all head down to the waterfront to watch the sea lions and ferries go by, bundled up in layers and giggling.
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Graduating under the stadium lights!
I have so many great memories along the waterfront, but my absolute favorite was graduating from San Francisco State under the stadium lights at AT&T Park! My family loved seeing me walk across the stage in such a beautiful outdoor venue.
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My son's first ball game
The waterfront brings our family so much joy! We took our 9 month old son to his first game at Oracle Park last year. It was a gorgeous and warm August day with a Giants win! Going to watch the Giants play, in their new stadium and when they were at Candlestick park, has always been an important tradition to our family. While we miss our boys in black and orange during these times (April 2020), we have a pair of orange seats on our patio (from Candlestick!) where we share stories about our champion team to our now almost... Continue reading
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Mission Accomplished at Mission Rock
Going to Mission Rock this past December to celebrate from my grandma's 97th birthday! She always requests places by the water and with good cocktails :). Perfect spot to dine by the Bay. Celebrating her birthday reminded me that I had been there 15+ years ago for a Bat Mitzvah (one of the best of the 40 I went to in 7th grade lol)! Funny when you have a strong memory of a place but can't remember where it is until you revisit years later... a lot of love for Mission Rock!
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I skated the waterfront!
In early March, I rode my skateboard from Mission Creek to Fisherman's Wharf and saw an awesome sunset. Here's a picture from that day!
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A Floating History Museum
I love going to the Maritime Museum with my sea kayaking friends to visit the vessels by water as well as on the Hyde Street Pier. We look forward to being able to gather again to admire this wonderful historic resource!
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