Heads up! We are pleased to announce that we are preparing to launch, in early October, a new ticketing system that promises to significantly improve the customer experience. As such, during the month of September we will not be selling any memberships. Watch for more information in the coming weeks.
We offer free parking in our parking lot, as well as free street parking on nearby roads for all visitors.
The JMZ is owned and operated by the City of Palo Alto.
Inspired by the best of the former JMZ, we have developed new, richer experiences for visitors, including:
The lushly landscaped Zoo is now a fully enclosed aviary with birds flying overhead with lots of child-sized play spaces.
The new zoo is a beautiful, tranquil landscape with new homes for our animals that meet accreditation standards and provide best practices in animal welfare.
The museum hall has been expanded by 40 percent, and all new hands-on exhibits were developed There is a large outdoor courtyard and deck with outdoor exhibits, including a wheelchair accessible Tree House where children will have the extraordinary experience of safely climbing and exploring up among birds and branches out over the zoo.
The new and larger Ball Machine area has taken the very popular, former machine space to the next level and has been a hit with testers.
There is a larger Baby’s area, a block building area, and a collections exhibit.
Our old buildings (which had some parts dating all the way back to 1941!) were badly in need of repairs and upgrades, for the sake of both our visitors as well as our animals. By renovating, we were able to increase our original 19,000 ft2 space by over 50%, with new facilities that provide 34,000 ft2 of usable space for both our human and animal communities to enjoy.
In rebuilding, we were also able to reconsider and then revamp the environmental, safety, accessibility, and comfort aspects of our site. In essence, this was not only a complete rebuild of our facilities, but a redesign of the entire visitor experience as well. The JMZ now provides visitors with new amenities, fully accessible exhibits, and additional accommodations like our sensory room, which serves as a resource for visitors in need of a calming space.
We also vastly expanded the space for the education program, creating several new rooms for their department, thereby allowing their team to further expand to over 30 teachers. These instructors then further increased their programming in order to provide lessons to economically disadvantaged schools outside of Palo Alto.
The new facility is more eco-friendly, including improved energy and water efficiency, additional trees, bioswales for stormwater, and EV charging for electric cars.
The JMZ strives to be as welcoming as possible for children of all abilities and their caregivers. It was built from the ground up with accessible and inclusive experiences, that were informed by feedback from the local families who have children with physical and developmental disabilities and the organizations that support them.
Some of our new accommodations for visitors include:
27 new exhibits, all universally designed with accessible elements (including a wheelchair accessible tree house)
Two nooks to provide a safe, calming space for any visitors with sensory needs
Resources for visitors with disabilities, such as: tactile maps, signage with braille and hyper-legible fonts, life-size sculptures of the animals, assisted listening devices, and downloadable audio tours
Exhibits that have been developed and prototyped with people who have disabilities--often incorporating sensory-rich interactions, such as tactile, sound, and smell-related experiences
Visual/physical and audio labeling now provided in both English and Spanish
Learn more about accessibility at the JMZ here.
Free outdoor exhibit spaces such as the bolder hop in the bioswale, Nature Play, our outdoor Solar System Exhibit, and “Sway” an interactive art piece under the portico.
The exhibit hall contains a variety of new interactive and kinesthetic exhibits in which children can play and learn. A crawl-into-log allows children to crawl from the museum directly into the center of the meerkat exhibit creating an immersive experience that is nose to nose with the animals.
The entire zoo is designed as a large aviary, allowing a wide range of birds to interact with children with animal care staff. Connecting the zoo spaces, the tree house runs through the center of the zoo with rope bridges, ladders, net tubes, and platforms to create a vibrant and exciting play-based experience for children.
Studio Hanson Roberts has shaped a new, one-of-a-kind experience for children and adults alike that will encourage imaginative exploration at an intimate level. They championed the MicroZoo as a model for accessibility and sustainability, by maximizing the programing within the existing footprint. The zoo landscape design engages visitors as part of the educational experience.
Resident animals include Edward the African spurred tortoise, slender-tailed meerkat, raccoon, domestic European rabbit, American flamingo, scarlet ibis, red and blue macaw, fulvous whistling duck, Von der decken hornbill, Hamerkop, Koi fish, African cichlid fish and more.
Exhibits that are always free and available include a nature play area with animal sculptures, boulder hop in the bioswale, Charles Sowers’ public art piece “Sway” where children can ride four pendulums (only works when we're open), and a 10 billionth scaled model of the Solar System in Rinconada Park. Future plans include a cool kaleidoscope tunnel through the covered walkway to Middlefield Road.
Tickets cost just $10 per person over 12 months of age. The discounted school field trip rate is $5 per person. There are also discounted family memberships and need-based discounts available. Free passes will also be available at Palo Alto Libraries on a first come first served basis. More details on how passes will be made available is coming soon! These accessible ways to enjoy the new facility are made possible by heavy subsidies by the City of Palo Alto.
Some residents have asked why the JMZ is no longer donation based. Under our old model of suggested donations of $5, very few visitors ended up donating that amount - in fact, over the course of a year, the average donation was less than $1 per visit. Since the approach of suggested donations alone was not sustainable to continue serving the expanding needs of the zoo and the community, we’re charging a similar rate to comparable children’s museums and zoos in the area.
The reduced ticket price for those who need financial assistance will be $3. We will participate in a national program called Museums for All, which sets standards for admissions based on if a family is receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits). We will also offer reduced admission for families who have children with disabilities.
We have three membership plans available to make the JMZ as accessible to all members of the community as possible:
Family Membership (Resident, $120; Non-resident, $138)
Family Plus Membership (Resident, $150; Non-resident, $173)
Supporting Family Membership (Resident, $250; Non-resident, $288)
The Zoo is home to more than 50 species of animals—about 200 specimens in all. Many of them are brought to schools as part of our Science Outreach program. Some of our animals include, rabbits, raccoons, meerkats, flamingos, parrots, freshwater fish, invertebrates, and a giant tortoise!
Pets are not allowed, including emotional support animals. Service animals are welcome.
Guests are not allowed to touch the animals unless invited to do so by a Zookeeper. Please be courteous and respectful to all resident wildlife.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own food and drink for consumption at the adjacent Rinconada Park or in front of the Museum. Food and drink (with the exception of water) cannot be consumed anywhere in the museum, zoo or courtyard.
Yes, the JMZ is open rain or shine.
We have removed our Water Play exhibit due to City of Palo Alto water restrictions imposed by the current drought. In its place, our volunteers will be running periodic programs, such as building activities. Thank you for understanding.
In an addition to an amazing zoo, the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo offers numerous science programs for schools, community groups, children and families, including summer camps, and birthday parties.
Learn More
Yes! Learn more about private events here. Learn more about field trips here.
The Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo are a non-profit benefit corporation whose mission is to support and enhance the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo. They raised the funds to design and reconstruct the Junior Museum & Zoo, they support the development of new exhibits and are committed to reducing inequity in science education. For over 20 years The Friends have partially funded the Science Outreach Program through which JMZ Educators provide hands-on STEM instruction (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to at-risk schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park and in Santa Clara County. During the 2020-21 academic year, the JMZ delivered science materials kits and nearly 500 virtual lessons to more than 2,000 underserved students.
You can support the JMZ as a volunteer, donor, or even an employee! Learn more here.