Alcatraz Island for kids
The Island of Pelicans. A true story near San Francisco, CA, told for kids 3-12.
Read along
Look across the water, toward the city. See that rocky little island with a lighthouse on top? That's Alcatraz! A long time ago, Spanish sailors gave an island in this bay a name, and that name ended up on this one.
Alcatraz! It means something like "island of the pelicans", because of all the seabirds! Later, it became a very, very strict jail, for grown-ups who broke big rules. The water around it is cold and super fast, so it was really hard to leave.
But now there are no prisoners at all! It's a park, full of birds, flowers, and visitors who ride a ferry boat over to explore. And here's a cool one. Alcatraz has one of the very first lighthouses on the whole west coast of America.
Quiz the back seat
What does the name Alcatraz mean?
Show the answer
Island of pelicans. Island of the pelicans! Next time you see a big brown bird diving into the bay, give it a wave.
3 fun facts
- The name comes from 'Isla de los Alcatraces', old Spanish for island of the pelicans (or seabirds).
- Its lighthouse (1854) was among the first on the U.S. west coast.
- Today it's part of a national park.
For grown-ups
Written by the Tumbly team, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
More stories in San Francisco
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The Room That Is a Camera
Look at that little building next to the Cliff House. Do you know what is inside?
The Lighthouse With a Helicopter Hat
Look out toward the ocean. Far, far away, there is a tiny lighthouse sitting on a rock.Roads
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).