For Kids, This Kaka‘ako Institution Is 45,000 Square Feet of Fun

The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center lets kids learn while playing.

The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is the culmination of a lifetime of work by Loretta Yajima – work now carried on by her daughter, Liane Usher, and supported by a community of staff and volunteers.

Children, families and school groups that come to the center next to Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park learn while playing with displays and toys that engage their senses of touch, sight, hearing and smell. Visitors first enter a large room filled with colorful displays, and an automated voice encourages them to “imagine a world where everything is kid-sized.”

On the center’s first floor, children can play countless roles, such as a weather reporter, bus driver, clerk or scientist. One area helps children learn how the different parts of their bodies, such as the heart and the mouth, work together. The first and second floors include a stage with costumes and props and a puppet theater where children can perform stories straight from their imaginations.

The second floor explains the history of Hawai‘i, while the floor above it contains exhibits explaining the history and culture of various countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Korea and China. In addition, a water exhibit teaches children about rainforests here and around the world.

Before founding the center inside the Dole Cannery in 1989 with only volunteers, Yajima visited children’s museums across the mainland to see what types of exhibits and programs engaged children. In 1998, the center moved into its current building with 45,000 square feet of space – almost the size of a football field – spread across three floors.

Usher says one of her proudest achievements is the center’s Discovery Camp program, which started in 2005 and is often offered during school breaks. The camps have themes and include hands-on activities, outdoor play, a visit to the center’s exhibits and a supervised lunch.

During the Covid pandemic, Usher says, the center rose to meet community needs by keeping some programs open even though the center itself was closed due to state mandates.

“It felt amazing to really be able to support our community … It really became a win-win for everyone, because we were able to care for the children of essential workers and keep our teachers employed,” Usher says.

“Being able to see the kids still interacting with each other when they would normally have to be at home, that’s incredible.”

Since the pandemic, the center has resumed all of its programs, including toddler play time, opportunities for field trips and private birthday parties.

Usher grew up playing in the center with her sisters and other children. It was “like a second home,” she says. As she grew older, she became a teenage volunteer, gained a passion for early childhood education and later earned a master’s in education from Harvard University.

“I really feel like the center is an extension of my family,” she says.

Usher isn’t the only one with a life-long involvement in the center; she says full-circle moments happen frequently, when individuals who attended the center’s programs as children go on to volunteer or work there.

Michael Pietsch has watched the center and its members grow. Pietsch attended Punahou School with founder Loretta Yajima and has sat on the center’s board for over 20 years.

“It’s really a labor of love and Loretta lived it to the fullest,” he says.