Our Vision
We envision a world where all children, and the adults they grow up to be, experience the transformational and lifelong benefits of abundant, creative and purposeful play.

Our Mission
The Cayton Children’s Museum is a nonprofit organization that activates the power of PLAY to enrich the lives of children and their families, build stronger, more connected communities, and create a better world. We strive to nurture children of all backgrounds and abilities to become engaged citizens of the world by facilitating collaborative, experiential learning and creative expression, both in our museum space and through our community programs.

Located in Downtown Santa Monica just blocks from the Pacific Ocean, the Cayton Children’s Museum offers 21,000 square feet of discovery-based exhibits and immersive play. We offer a robust calendar of arts and cultural activities designed for children 0 to 8 and their families, including public programs, festivals, camps, classes, workshops and more.

Beyond museum walls, our community programs bring the Cayton experience into neighborhoods and schools to reach children with limited access to the museum. These experiences, which celebrate the creative, performance and visual arts, are offered throughout the year in partnership with non-profit and community-based organizations that serve parts of Los Angeles County where opportunities for creative, safe, purposeful, and free play are needed most.

While the Cayton Children’s Museum opened to the public in 2019, our organization comes with 30 years of experience in values-based learning. Before we were the Cayton, we were the Zimmer Children’s Museum, serving more than 90,000 visitors a year in our home on Museum Row. Today, building from the heart of the Zimmer and nurtured by the soul of our diverse community, the Cayton is inspiring children and families everywhere to PLAY THEIR WAY TO A BETTER WORLD.
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