The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located in Oakland, California.

The museum contains more than 1.8 million objects dedicated to "telling the extraordinary story of California." It was created in the mid-1960s out of the merger of three separate museums dating from the early 20th century, and was opened in 1969.

A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science.

Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc.

Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of subject matter and introduced many interactive exhibits.

Many if not most modern science museums — which increasingly refer to themselves as "science centers" or "discovery centers" — also emphasize technology, and are therefore also technology museums.

Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children.

In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be manipulated by children.

The theory behind such exhibits is that activity can be as educational as instruction, especially in early childhood.

Most children's museums are nonprofit organizations, and many are run by volunteers or by very small professional staffs.

The San Francisco Bay Area (referred to locally as the Bay Area) is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California.

The region encompasses the major cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland, along with smaller urban and rural areas.

The Bay Area's nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.

Home to approximately 7.65 million people, the nine-county Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a network of roads, highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels and commuter rail.

The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California (after the Greater Los Angeles area), the fifth-largest in the United States, and the 43rd-largest urban area in the world.