Helix Community Science Center

Passerelle Investments funded Helix to stay open for a year in order to further community development in downtown Los Altos, and I’m sad that year is now over.
With its Friday night happy hours, weekly science workshops and talks given by the Exploratorium’s fine scientists, Helix did not skip a beat in utilizing this compact space to provide fun and knowledge to anybody with the time to stop by. Exhibits such as the electromagnetic ring toss, mini-​tornado and optical illusion space are now migrating back to the mother museum. Providing all of this for free to the community definitely warrants five stars.
It’s a bit eerie walking down State St. and seeing the remains of unfunded/​discontinued projects like this. R.I.P. Helix!

This mini-​Exploratorium is the best thing Los Altos has done for it’s downtown overhaul. So much fun, even for adults.

We were visiting family in Downtown Los Altos and decided to visit this little science center. They have several hands-​on exhibits from the Exploratorium and a gift shop area with a lot of science related items to purchase.
The exhibits were interesting and kept even the bigger kids in our party occupied. I especially liked the iron shavings and could have stayed there longer playing.
The upper level also had some exhibits as well as different activities for the children which changed every few hours. When we were leaving, they were getting ready for a dogfish dissection and had just finished up with a person drawing caricatures for the kids.
The bathrooms were clean and easy to get to. There is parking on the street and several little public parking lots in the area.
This is a small place so you won’t need as much time there as with the Exploratorium, but it is a great place to visit.

I did not expect to find an Exploratorium museum store when I was visiting downtown Los Altos ~ but what a wonderful place to stumble upon!
This two-​story space is a blend of a museum, retail store and community center. I loved all of their interactive exhibits (which is fun for kids, parents and everyone in between) as well as their programs and events.
1^st Floor: retail store + various interactive exhibits
2^nd Floor: more interactive exhibits + activity room/​classroom area
The Saturday my BF & I visited, there was a rubber stamp carving/​making event so we got our hands on making our own stamps! It was so much fun!
The best part of all this: Admission is FREE! (with donations welcomed). I’ll definitely come back to check out future exhibits, and to donate money to this awesome place! :)

This is a fusion store. It’s about half an Exploratorium shop, but it also features some rotating museum exhibits and workshops that kids are welcome to come in and explore and play with, no admission price. Very well-​designed.
As with most museum shops, the goods are on the expensive side, but well worth supporting for the science and educational aspects of the exhibits.

I had no idea that someone shrank the old Exploratorium in SF and put part of it in Los Altos. Mostly kid oriented but some adult things and older kids too. They had a workshop on heart dissection so Im guessing the toddlers are not participating in that. Some cool for sale items and educational books. They however need that weird lightning crystal ball things so I can shock people who come near me :)

What a great discovery! I had seen signs and driven past a few times, since it opened, but finally made it in with my 4 year old niece, yesterday afternoon. A great spot in Downtown Los Altos! Features some great exhibits from the Exploratorium, appropriate for children of all ages (even a 4 year old!) and a gift shop. I must have spent at least 45 minutes in there, showing my niece what each exhibit does, and she enjoyed all of the ones that were age appropriate for her. There were, of course, a few that were for a more mature audience.
The gift shop section also features some great items. If you’re lacking gift ideas, I would recommend for you to check out the random things found here. Anywhere from gem stones to butterfly kits to Cooking for Geeks cookbook, there’s really something for everyone!
**Be sure to check out the upstairs section. It’s not obvious, but you’ll see the stairs, when you look out the back door.
**Great hours! Open til 8pm on Sat and Sundays!

Yep; the other reviewers were dead on.
People who’ve visited the Exploratorium may expect a similar experience, a large noisy space filled with a multitude of exhibits with real «wow» factor. Helix is quite different, though, being housed in a smallish two-​story retail space. It contains maybe fifteen to twenty low key but interesting exhibits and a nice assortment of books, kits, and toys in the shop downstairs. In terms of size and the number of exhibits, it’s similar to the Palo Alto Junior Museum, although more science-​y. The staff were very pleasant and helpful.
I wouldn’t drive too far out of my way to go there, but I’m glad we visited. There are several other things on the same street — Linden Tree bookstore, Baskin Robbins, and a hobby store with a small racetrack — which also help make for a nice outing for the younger set.

Are you a science nerd? Yeah, me neither. But that didn’t stop me from having a good time while hanging out at the Helix Community Science Center. Stop in and tinker with some nifty hands-​on exhibits, peruse through some interesting science books, discover some cool toys, or maybe attend a science-​related talk or two. I stumbled upon this place while wandering through downtown Los Altos after Saturday brunch. If you happen to be in the area, it’s definitely a cool little pit stop.

What a great little stop in downtown Los Altos! We are Exploratorium members and wanted to check Helix out one day when we had loads of errands to run but still wanted credit for taking the kids someplace fun. We spent an hour here (but could’ve easily doubled-​that) checking out the various exhibits and tinkering with the items for sale (excellent selection of gifts for young and old, by the way!). My girls are 4 and 6 and they really enjoyed themselves as it provided lots of opportunities for exploration and discovery but wasn’t overwhelmingly crowded (like the SF Exploratorium tends to be). Plus, it was a great space for family interaction! They had a free class that day that, had we timed our visit better, we would have definitely attended. We will be back for sure!

We brought our almost 4-​yr-​old to this little museum/​shop on one of the grand opening nights thinking half an hour would do. Yet we ended up spending almost 2 hrs, as my child was fascinated with all the displays — even if she couldn’t understand the physics behind any of them she had the opportunity to keep touching/​moving/​manipulating and that alone kept her happy.
When we visited again during the holiday season it was crowded. Children were excited to try out stuff, while adults expressed gratitude for having such a wonderful educational center in the area.
It’s free admission and free parking on the street. (Merchandise are expensive though. But I believe they’re all top quality.) We’ll be back.

Maybe I had my hopes too high. I love the Exploratorium, so I thought this would be a nice version of that. I think I read somewhere that it was a mini-​Exploratorium and mini it was. Perhaps I’m looking through it with the lens of an adult vs a youth, which is why the bf and I walked through most of the exhibits quickly. There were some familiar exhibits that I remembered from the Exploratorium, but the rest weren’t too eye-​catching. It could also be a sign of my short attention span, but who knows.
The Helix has an upper level too. On the lower level, it’s a mix of the gift shop and exhibits. Nothing in particular stood out except the velvet hands, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. I really do like that it’s a pay-​as-​you-​want style. The whole place felt like a hands-​on art exhibit — something to do quickly while you walk and pass through each piece.

If you come with the right expectations, Helix will be great.
What it is: A cute science-​related retail store plus about two dozen small exhibits from the Exploratorium. The whole space, including retail, public exhibits and private workshop area, occupy two floors narrow floors in which you might expect to find a women’s clothing boutique. Number of exhibits and indoor space seem comparable to the Junior Museum (without the Zoo) in Palo Alto.
What it is not: A smaller Exploratorium, which is what we expected when reading their graciously titled webpage: «Helix, by Exploratorium. Your Community Science Center.» Thus, we incorrectly made Helix a destination «outing» and planned a few hours, when in fact 45 minutes was plenty. The upside is that we are all big Exploratorium fans, so it was a fun 45 minutes.
In the future, I could imagine returning in the following situations:
— Kid attending a workshop or party in the private group setting upstairs
— Having dinner next door and want to play for a few minutes while waiting
— Looking for an interesting science-​related gift (like a museum gift store)
— Have a very young child and going stir crazy on a rainy day

We stumbled across helix unexpectedly on a Sunday afternoon. It’s half open right now (more exhibits are still bring created), but it’s open to the public. It actually a big space upstairs and downstairs. There’s no set admission fee. It’s sponsored by the Exploratorium and is on exhibit officially starting mid-​December.
They have lots of interactive displays and cool hands on exhibits (optical illusions, things that demonstrate cool physics properties, etc). There’s also a retail side with science relates books, toys, and gadgets. It’s kind of like a mini version of the exploratorium in downtown Los Altos (I guess that’s what they’re going for). It’s easy to lose track of time in there!
Extra bonus — they have clean bathrooms.