Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery

05/25/2026

MOD is open on Memorial Day!
🇺🇸🎗️

05/25/2026

Freedom is not free

This Memorial Day, we honor all who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

MOD is proud to be a Blue Star Museum, offering free admission to active duty military families throughout the summer.

05/24/2026

You won't believe what comes off these floors...

05/23/2026

Honored to be among this year's community grant recipients from the community Community Foundation Santa Cruz County. It wonderful to belong to the network of support given by our county's leaders in philanthropy.

Announcing $2.1 million in Community Grants to 103 nonprofit organizations for 2026. Through our Community Grants program, we invest in nonprofit organizations that hold Santa Cruz County together, responding to immediate needs while also strengthening long‑term community well‑being.

05/21/2026

If your child just finished TK or Kinder, summer childcare is genuinely hard to figure out and there are almost no camps built for 4 and 5 year olds.

That's exactly why the Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery created Wonder Weeks... but its filling fast!

Here's what's left:

Treasure Hunters June 8-12 | LIMITED SPACE
Dinosaurs, volcanoes, treasure map scavenger hunts, and pirate boat racing. Adventure-based exploration all week.

Sensory Explorers June 15-19 | WAITLISTED
Build It June 22-26 | LIMITED SPACE
Cardboard city building, flower pounding, and hands-on construction. Kids design, build, and take their work home.

Community Heroes July 13-17 | SPOTS AVAILABLE
Not all Super Heros wear capes but we will this week! Kids have the opportunity to develop their super power for kindness making kindness rocks, writing cards for people, and meeting real local heroes

Sensory Explorers July 20-24 | SPOTS AVAILABLE
Slime, bubble painting, shrinky d***s, paper mache. The messier the better.

Treasure Hunters July 27-31 | WAITLISTED

Morning and full-day options.

Access Member Discounts available for qualifying families.

This program is made possible through the generosity of and

05/20/2026

Look at this gate!

Handcrafted by local artisan woodworker Roger Heitzman, who volunteered his time to create something truly special for our Parent Nest space.

Did you know 99% of MOD is built by the hands of local craftspeople, builders, tinkerers, innovators, and artists right here in our community.

Our exhibits are not ordered from a catalog, they are one-of-a-kind works of art, designed specifically for the unique community we serve!

05/19/2026

Youth deserve a voice in how we serve our community.

Our teen volunteer crew doesn't just show up, they build and run the events that bring learning to life for thousands of kids and families across Santa Cruz.

Earn volunteer hours.
Develop real leadership skills.
Connect with other local teens.
Support the Santa Cruz Children's Museum.

If you're ready to make a difference and have a lot of fun doing it, drop your favorite slime in the comments and we'll send you the application link.

05/14/2026

What will you discover?

05/03/2026

What a day!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by MODs paper flower shop at Kids Day, inspired by the art installation in New York!

Our flowers were drawn by our amazing teaching artist on staff.

It was beautiful watching all of the families play, create and connect with each other.

🌸And a huge thank you the museums incredible donors and supporters who make outreach events like this possible.

Missed the event stop by the museum this month for flower themed proccess art and guided art programming daily.

04/30/2026

12 years, over 500,000 builders and countless creations, our blue blocks have seen it all ....and lets just say they earned their retirement.

We are so grateful to for partnering with the Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery to sponsor a brand new set.

Fresh shapes, bigger possibilities, and a whole lot of play waiting to happen.

What will you build?

04/29/2026

The countdown to summer has begun and MOD is kicking things off with Slime Week, June 3-6 at the Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery.

Ooze into summer with giant tubs of slime to explore. Rate the scoopability, roll that floam into a giant ball, or make giant bubbles of clear slime.

Love it so much you want to take some home? Visit our Slime Bar where highly trained Slimeologists guide you through crafting your own take-home creation -- custom texture, color, scent, and charms.