Our Mission

To ignite and foster curiosity about science and nature through inquiry and discovery.

Help Us Reimagine Explorit!

Posted: November 2025

For more than 40 years, Explorit Science Center has been a place where curiosity comes alive — where kids and families from Davis and beyond have discovered the joy of hands-on science.

Founded in 1982, Explorit’s mission is as important as ever: To ignite and foster curiosity about science and nature through inquiry and discovery. Explorit inspires tomorrow’s scientists with hands-on learning focused on science, nature and technology.

Today, we are poised for renewal. The Board of Directors, along with community members, business leaders, UC Davis representatives, elected officials, local scientists, teachers, and parents are committed to reimagining the next steps for our science center.

Our “Next Steps” team — made up of local educators, scientists, parents, and supporters — is working to reimagine Explorit as a community hub for education around science, nature, and technology, where learning and discovery connects us all.

We are excited to share that generous Explorit supporters have recently donated $100,000 to propel Explorit to its next chapter. In the coming weeks, we will announce our match campaign to double these donations to support staff hiring, operational capacity, and the relaunch of educational programming.

This is our moment to rebuild — stronger, more connected, and ready to inspire a new generation of curiosity driven thinkers. To reopen our doors, we need to raise an additional $100,000 restart fund to support staff and programs.

For more in-depth discussion, please click on this link to listen to a recording of a recent interview on KDRT radio with board president, Ken Kaplan.

Here’s How You Can Help:

Donate:

Your gift will help us match the $100,000 restart donation that we need to reopen our doors, hire staff, and get hands-on science back into the community. Every dollar helps — and every donor is part of our story.

Get Involved:

Join our Board of Directors or volunteer your time to help shape Explorit’s future. We need passionate community members like you to guide us forward.

Help Us Find Our Next Leader:

We’re looking for a creative, energetic leader to take Explorit into its next chapter. If you know someone who shares our passion for science and education, we’d love to meet them.

Together, we can make sure Davis’ science center continues to spark wonder, curiosity, and connection for generations to come.

Reach out at: explorit@explorit.org

Donate at: explorit.org/donate

Let’s bring the joy of discovery back to Davis — together!

Thank you to our wonderful community.

Posted: July 2025

Dear Friends of Explorit,

Thank you one and all for attending our open community meeting to reimagine Explorit Science Center on Sunday, June 29. It was so gratifying to meet all of you and hear your passion and ideas about Explorit.

The results of our word-cloud around Explorit’s mission are below. “Science” and “Fun” are so much at the core of what we want Explorit to be.

Remember, we are on “pause”* at Explorit so that we can reimagine a new plan for a sustainable Explorit!!

Whether you attended or not, we welcome you to join us in this journey. Please take a moment to fill out this form to provide us your thoughts on Explorit and/or to express your interest in being involved.

We plan to have a second open community meeting toward the end of the summer to present our plans. Providing your contact information will help us keep you up-to-date on what’s happening at Explorit.

Remember that when we feel challenged by world-events, our most powerful act is to get involved locally. Get involved in supporting science literacy and inquiry! Please go to our "Donate Page" to donate.

Thank you to our wonderful community.

*For more info about Explorit's "pause", please see The Davis Enterprise article at the following link:

https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/explorit-science-center-pauses-programming-amid-funding-struggles/article_4c99a7aa-8430-421c-9a83-409197d68f3b.html

Posted: June 2025

To our wonderful community,

As you may know we find ourselves forced to put Explorit on pause after the end of May. This means we have had to cancel summer camps - something that pains us to do but we feel it only responsible to give families a chance to make other arrangements. You can read the complete text of my message to our Friends of Explorit HERE.

We at Explorit believe that our core mission of igniting curiosity through hands-on exploration of science and the natural world is more important than ever, but that it is time to rethink our business model. Putting Explorit on pause, although painful, represents an opportunity to reimagine a financially stable Explorit that can help our community revitalize hands-on science education, develop curiosity in our kids and support their engagement with the world of science and technology. We look forward to working with our community to realize these goals.

We are still accepting donations. These funds will help us to steward our final school programming this year and will ensure that we have sufficient resources to survive a pause. Please go to our "Donate Page" to donate or reach out to us to make other arrangements.

Thank you!