This is our weekly guest-blog post from the moms behind Red Tricycle, a site that focuses on the "lighter side" of parenting. Every week, they'll be bringing us their picks of stuff to do around the Bay Area with kids.

Goats, chickens, and ducks, oh my! While living in the Bay Area sure has its advantages (hello, drop off childcare and easy take-out), finding up close and personal animal encounters for our wildlife-loving kids hasn't always been so easy in this fog-ridden metropolis. Luckily, the old McDonald in all of us can now get in the pen with our favorite barn yard animals thanks to a variety of Bay Area petting zoos that are all open year round.

Click here for 10 of them to get you and the kiddos on the path to pure barn yard animal bliss.