Habitot Children's Discovery Museum

Parents love it when their kids can get their creative energies flowing, whether it’s with watercolors or simply water. Sometimes, they just wish it wasn’t on their living room carpet. That’s where a place like Habitot saves the day.

An indoor hands-on play area especially for infants and toddlers, Habitot is the land of creativity, with separate rooms for water splashing, artistic experiments, wiggling around and all manner of pretend play. Because it’s specifically designed for small children, everything is on a small scale, so the museum doesn’t feel overwhelming, a big bonus for parents who want to get out of the house without too much fuss involved.

Younger kids can spend hours with a single glob of clay, so when you’re in Habitot, it’s never the same visit twice. Choose to spend the visit in one area, like the Waterworks gallery, where you can create dams, make waterwheels turn, pretend to fish, and help the river flow.

Or, meander over to the Little Town Grocery & Café, where you can order pretend meals from menus while your little one fills a shopping cart and serves up plates of specially assembled plastic sandwiches.

Perhaps your toddler wants to run around, experimenting with everything in sight, from the firehouse to the face paint and all things in between. The possibilities here are as wide as the imagination, and with kids, that’s endless. Museums like Habitot make it fun for parents to watch those imaginations at work and to play along – without having to worry about cleaning up the mess. 

Habitot’s won some recognition over the years, including the “Best Museum for Little Kids” award from Nickelodeon’s parentsconnect.com and the “Best Arts and Crafts Center, ” a Bay Area Parent Reader’s Choice award.

The museum is open 9:30 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9:30 to 4:30 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In the Spring and Summer months, Sundays are reserved for parties.

HelloSanFrancisco tip: Looking for more children's museums? Try Zeum in San Francisco, The Bay Area Discovery Museum in Marin, the Lawrence Hall of Science and StudioGrow in Berkeley, and Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.

- by Renee M. Rutledge, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Renee M. Rutledge

Renee M. Rutledge currently writes articles on local travel and culture for Red Tricycle, Parents' Press, Oakland Magazine, and Alameda Magazine.