About Us

East Bay’s hands-on discovery museum
for young children and their families

Award-winning children’s museum

Habitot Children's Museum was founded by parents and educators in 1992 to meet the unique needs and interests of infants, toddlers and preschoolers in a safe and appropriate community setting. Habitot opened its first facility in downtown Berkeley in 1998, after six years of community outreach and fundraising. Habitot's Mission Habitot's History

Habitot Children’s Museum has become the most popular and award-winning children’s hands on discovery museum in the East Bay. Habitot founders have created a hands-on play and learning center where young children are the ‘big kids’ -- exploring the arts and culture in a safe setting designed especially for small hands and bodies and growing minds.

Our vision for an expanded home for Habitot Children’s Museum

Today, Habitot Discovery Museum is at a crossroads. Our rented, basement-level museum in downtown Berkeley is filled to capacity and there is no room to grow. The need is great for a larger, more enriching museum to serve families with young children.

To fulfill its vision, Habitot must find a new home. Habitot’s board of directors is actively working toward moving the museum into its own larger, stand-alone facility in the next three to five years. We estimate that it will cost five to seven million dollars to secure and build out the new museum.

Why is Habitot So Needed in the East Bay?

• No other Bay Area community institution exists exclusively to meet the needs and interests of infants, toddlers and preschoolers, 0-6 years old.
• 180,000 children under 6 years of age live in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
• Development in the early years depends on young children’s exposure to novel and stimulating experiences, caring, engaged adults, and safe and nurturing communities
• Reductions in community services, declining public school budgets, diminished family resources, parents working two jobs and long hours, prevalence of overextended preschools, parents’ reliance on inexperienced child care providers and a host of other societal concerns create a need for a community institution that supports early childhood learning, parenting success and community connection.

Habitot benefits young children...

With a year round program of interactive exhibits, hands-on art programs, educational classes, multicultural events and performances, a Child Safety Campaign, a year-round early literacy component, a toy lending library, and daily opportunities for social interaction with other children and with their parents and care givers.

• The museum's multisensory and thematic exhibits foster curiosity, problem solving, social interaction and communication skills.
• They help young children learn about their world, whether it's the corner grocery, or a river, or a rocketship.
• Using the exhibits gives young children a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. Some babies took their first steps here, other young children practice new language skills saying 'Habitot, Habitot', and the phrase "I can do it!" is heard over and over again within the museum.

Habitot builds better families…

with parenting classes, parent support groups, a family resource center, educational signage, parent-to-parent brochures, Family Art Days, and countless opportunities for informal connections between diverse families.

Habitot engages the community…

with a youth employment program that hires financial aid college students and at-risk high school students, employs local artists and performers, hires sign makers, builders, and other trades people, employs free-lance music and art teachers, places community service volunteers, and engages seniors in parent-to-parent programs.

Habitot benefits the schools…

with teacher training programs and direct services to public school districts and both public and private preschools with T.E.A.C.H. Reach (professional development series) and Art Reach which brings art activities to children in the community who rarely get to do art. The area's elementary schools benefit greatly from enrolling children of museum members and frequent visitors arrive at kindergarten with social and intellectual skills and are ready to learn.

Habitot revitalizes downtown…

with 80,000 visitors every year, bringing families pushing strollers to the downtown area, who in turn support local merchants and restaurants, and humanize the face of our city.

Habitot is inclusive…

with a family outreach program that brings over 8,000 low income and special needs visitors to the museum… homeless children who rarely have playful childhood experiences, teen parents who need to learn the art of parenting, disabled children who join the mainstream of other children, immigrant families who make their first American friends here. These families diversify and broaden Habitot's audience, breaking down social and class barriers, and make it possible for families from all walks of life to find common ground in the raising of young children.

Sign up for Totmail, our monthly newleter…

Sign up for Habitot's monthly electronic newsletter Totmail. Receive news and information about the museum, a featured parenting topic each month, and directions for a hands-on Art-at-Home activity. The newsletter is free and we do not share or trade email addresses with anyone. To sign up, please email us at hcmimc@habitot.org.

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