The San Diego Library’s Summer Reading Program 2025

The Summer Reading Challenge is a free program at The San Diego Public Library. It’s a great way to keep kids reading all summer. It’s open to San Diego residents of all ages, from kids to adults and also teens.

You can score tons of museum passes and a free book that you can use to entertain your kids all summer. San Diego is always a great place to explore but having free museum passes makes our summer so much more fun! Many of these museums are major attractions in San Diego.

I am also offering San Diego Mamas summer camp this year. It’s a free printable with 12 weeks of themed San Diego fun. There are also corresponding books, movies, and easy activity recommendations. I work in all the free library pass places and will email out further instructions for the activities weekly! You can download that for free here.

Here is everything to know about The San Diego Public Library’s Summer Reading Program!

1. How It Works
2. Tips For Parents
3. List of Prizes
4. SDPL (San Diego Public Library) versus San Diego County Library
5. The San Diego Natural History Museum (The NAT) in Balboa Park
6. San Diego Model Railroad Museum
7. San Diego Automotive Museum
8. The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum
9. Free Books!

How It Works

First, you’ll want to register here. If you’re logging electronically, you must make a Beanstack account to log your reading on the library website. Create profiles for all your kids and register them for the challenge. The library uses this same system for all the reading challenges, so it’s super easy if you’ve done it once! You have the option to log everything online this way OR you can print off the log and fill it out. Here is the link for the log. 

If you don’t have a printer you can pick up a log at any San Diego Public Library location. With my kids I prefer the paper log way as screens can be hard for them (they always want to watch Pokemon as soon as I turn on any screen). You can turn in the electronic logs OR the physical logs to receive prizes. 

Tips For Parents

You have a choice between three things: you can go by number of books read, read for 10 hours of reading total, or complete 10 activities from the reading log. The activities are different for babies versus kids over 6! The program this year is video game themed, so many activities center around Earth Day.

For younger kids they include things like playing outside, attending a summer reading event at the library or library story times, online learning games, and more! For the older kids, they can make craft, cosplay, host a game night and more. You can see the full list of activities here. 

Note that there is no size requirement for the book reading. So if you have a young kid, ten picture books count! They do not have to read the books on their own, you can have the whole families’ participation in reading time. For older kids and teen readers, they have both fiction and non-fiction recommendations on the library’s website. I like using the online catalog to put books on hold for my kids according to their interests. 

Whether you choose the electronic or paper route, you’ll need to turn in or show your logs to a member of the library staff to get your prize pack. There is no way to get the prize pack online, you must visit an in-person city library branch.

SDPL (San Diego Public Library) versus San Diego County Library versus Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Journal

We actually have two library branches in San Diego, the SDPL run by the city government or the San Diego County Library which the County runs. They both run a summer reading program. I haven’t heard what the prizes are for the County libraries yet but once I find out I will post them here.

Completion prizes are generally from museums. You can participate in both as the requirements are the same. I would suggest choosing the one that serves your local library and going from there. More on the County program here.

Barnes and Noble also has their B&N summer reading journal. This program is open to everyone not just San Diego residents. For their featured summer reading event, you have your kids complete a summer reading journal for a free book. You can find more information on that here.

The National History Museum (The NAT) in Balboa Park

The NAT is amazing! They have a great area for kids in the back on the first floor. We also liked the huge topographical map of San Diego. On the second level, you’ll find dinosaurs, whales, and other exhibits. I liked the gem exhibit the best!

Don’t forget to visit the live animal exhibit at the back. They have all sorts of spiders, snakes, and creepy crawlies that kids love looking at.

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

We loved this sweet little museum in Balboa Park. There are a ton of train displays for kids with elevated areas for them to stand. At the end, there are model train enthusiasts who set up a huge village that changes with each season. 

Don’t miss the big cable car you can sit in out front. This museum was big enough to spend an hour or two exploring, yet small enough that I wasn’t nervous about losing anyone. It’s really close to the Fleet Science Center and Plaza Panama. It’s actually in the basement of a building, so it’s easy to miss.

The Automotive Museum

We loved visiting this museum in Balboa Park! The museum is small, it only took us about an hour to go through the whole thing. Don’t miss The Delorean from Back To The Future that they let the kids play in! 

My kids were fascinated by the Evel Knievel motorcycle and asked me tons of questions. Then we went down a YouTube rabbit hole when we got home watching old videos. This led to some daring outdoor play on their bikes. The parking tram lets off right in front and it’s free! Use it to see the rest of Balboa Park without walking. 

The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum

The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum (SDCDM) in Escondido is a hidden gem. It’s amazing for babies, crawlers, toddlers, preschoolers, early elementary school age kids AND parents. It offers space for children to play and learn yet it’s small enough that it’s easy to supervise your children as they explore freely. I love that I can interact with my children as they learn through OR sit back and chat with a friend as we both observe our kids.

I wrote a whole blog on visiting and where to park, that’s here: 7 Tips for Visiting The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido

Free Books!

Once you finish The San Diego Public Library’s Annual Summer Reading Program, you get to pick up a free book! They have books for readers of all ages. Show up at one of the San Diego Public Library locations to pick up your book. By the time the school year comes back around your kids will be ready!

Allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Camille! I am a San Diego stay-at-home mom who is never ever at home. I share a lot of fun things to do around San Diego including parks, restaurants, LEGOLAND, the zoo etc.

My goal with my Instagram account and blog is to make any mom feel prepared for any outing with her kids so that she doesn’t have to stay home unless she wants to. Getting out with my kids was key for me in overcoming postpartum depression so I try to pay it forward by sharing what we do to help other moms in a similar situation. Read more about my story here.

Thanks so much for reading!

If you find any of this information to be incorrect or need updating, please send me an email to sandiegomamas@gmail.com or a DM on Instagram to @sandiego.mamas . There is a reason I chose to call this San Diego MamaS (plural) not San Diego Mama. It takes our whole mom community (which now includes you!) to make sure I can share the most accurate information for your family.

Sharing this post helps the mom behind you and helps my page grow! Please feel free to share this link with any other mom who might need it.

Oh, I also send out a weekly email with theme park updates, my top picks for events (with discount codes!) coming to town for the month as well as tons of other activity suggestions for you to choose from. Basically, it will help you feel in the know for all the fun things happening in San Diego.

Planning all the activities for your family is a hard job, so let me help you! You can find info on signing up for that below.