The Museum is Open to the Public: Thursdays, Fridays - 1pm to 5pm and Saturdays - 12pm to 5pm. Last Admission 4pm.
The Children's Building Timeline
Creating Kids Timeline
1980s
Sandra Malmquist opened a daycare in a Quinnipiac dorm room.
The Quinnipiac College site was a lab for the psychology department’s Day Care and Child Development concentration, where Sandra taught.
The daycare was selected as one of eight national sites for the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), a longitudinal study on the impact of high-quality center-based child care on low-birth-weight, premature babies.
1982: Quinnipiac moved the daycare to a leased space in Mishkan, Israel, in Hamden.
1990s
Quinnipiac sold the child care center to a for-profit chain. Opposing the deal, Sandra Malmquist, with the support of then-daycare parent Ted Baldwin, convinced Quinnipiac to buy out her contract.
Sandra formed a non-profit with parents and staff, opening Creating Kids, a 28-child center on Audubon Street.
Connecticut Children's Museum Timeline
1970s
1973: June Levy of Hamden became the original director of the Connecticut Children’s Museum, starting it on a bus.
1976: Former Mayor Frank Logue and his assistant, Rosa DeLauro, helped move the museum into a new building on State Street.
1980s
1980: The Connecticut Children’s Museum's building on State Street was used to widen the street.
1989: The city gave June Levy the current museum building on Orange Street.
1990s
1995: June Levy contracted with the board to open a magnet school, the Museum School, leading to the museum being open only to special groups.
1999: June Levy agreed to give her building to Creating Kids upon retirement if they reopened the museum.
The Children's Building Timeline
1990s
1999: Creating Kids wanted to expand, and Sandra Malmquist approached June Levy about obtaining a building from the city.
1999: June Levy retired, and the Connecticut Children’s Museum founding director at 22 Wall Street in New Haven turned the building and its child care center over to Sandra Malmquist.
1999: The Creating Kids board became the non-profit Connecticut Children’s Museum board. Creating Kids shifted to the new location.
2000s
2001: The Connecticut Children’s Museum reopened to the public under Sandra Malmquist’s direction.