Cal Day
/Cal Day, U.C. Berkeley’s annual open house extravaganza is on Saturday, April 22nd, 9am-5pm. Every year, the university opens its lecture halls, research labs, museums, sports fields, libraries, galleries and gardens FREE to the public. Students and faculty showcase the many departments and clubs with a wide range of AWESOME kid-friendly activities.
Helpful Tips:
- With over 300 unique events scheduled and large crowds, Cal Day can be overwhelming. Advance planning will save your time and sanity and make the day really special. There are so many great options but do not expect to do it all. Think about your child’s interests, attention span and mobility; then check out the Cal Day website to plan your day.
- Parking is free for the day at the lots on campus. Metered street parking is enforced and there are privately owned lots near campus.
- U.C. Berkeley is a big campus so take advantage of the free transportation. There are free Cable Car Campus Tours (also available in Mandarin and Spanish), Campus Perimeter Buses and Hill Shuttles (to the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Botanical Garden, Samuel L. Silver Space Sciences Laboratory, and Strawberry Canyon Recreation Area which leaves every 15 minutes from Evans Hall.) They are worth waiting in line for and a fun way to see the area.
- Avoid the row of booths as you enter the university through Sather Gate. It is very crowded and geared for incoming and current students.
- It can get quite hot so don’t forget the sunscreen and water.
- Food trucks will be available on campus and serve delicious food.
Introduce your family to the wide world of Berkeley. Watch dancers move and groove, hear the boom of the Cal band, hug a robot and get some hands-on science experience. Cal Day will light up their minds. No advance registration is required to attend Cal Day – just show up!
EVENT DETAILS:
ASUC Art Studio, Lower Sproul Plaza
Bechtel Engineering Center
California Memorial Stadium
Campbell Hall
- Astronomy Demonstrations and Hands-On Activities
- Astronomy Undergraduate Lab Tour
- Portable Planetarium Shows
College Building
- The Amazing Cave Art Site of Chauvet in France
- Putting the Pieces Back Together: Ceramic Reconstruction
- Rock Art Recording
- Play with Clay
- Bones and their Stories
- Cave and Rock Art Painting
- Dig Like An Archaeologist!
- Paleoethnobotany: Ancient Plants and the People Who Used Them
Cory Hall
- HKN Workshop: Fun with Microcontrollers
- Supernode/IEEE Open House and Soldering Workshop
- PiE Robotics Demonstration
- IEEE Ice Cream Social
Davis Hall
Doe Library
- UC Berkeley Library Passport Adventure!
- Color the UC Berkeley Library Collections
- Exhibit: "Beyond Tintin and Superman: The Diversity of Global Comics"
- Tour of Doe and Moffitt Libraries and Gardner Stacks
Dwinelle Hall
- Ask a Linguist!
- Financing a College Education
- Preparing for College: The High School Years
- Preparing for College: The Middle School Years
- High School Students: Maximize Your Participation in College Access Programs
- Strategies for High School Students to Maximize the Community College Experience
Etcheverry Hall
Evans Hall
- Explore the World Through Statistics and Probability
- Women Who Figure: An Exhibit Inspired by the Mathematicians of Hidden Figures
- Origami, Lasers and Other Fun Math Games
Genetics & Plant Biology Lawn
- The College of Natural Resources and Our National Parks: Point Reyes National Seashore and Park Ranger
- Cal's Microgarden
- Entomology Club Brings Out the Bugs!
- Ice Nucleation Magic Show and Free Snow Cones
- The Millet Project: Drought-Tolerant and Gluten-Free Grains
- Washed Out in Mo'orea, French Polynesia
- Yeast Farts and Microscopes
- Special Tour: Spotlight on the College of Natural Resources
Hearst Gymnasium
Hearst Memorial Mining Building
- Ask a Materials Scientist!
- Materials Discovery
- Bring Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak to Reality
- Physics and the Materials Science of Skateboarding
Hearst Mining Circle
Hildebrand Hall
Jacobs Hall
- Virtual Reality Demos with VR@Berkeley
- The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation: Exploring Hands-On Design
Latimer Hall-Pimentel Hall
Lawrence Hall of Science
- Ingenuity Lab: Artbots
- "B" is for Bear Pride
- Design Quest
- Science on a Sphere® Explorations
- Water's Extreme Journey
- Critter Corner
- An Exploration of the Global Climate: Past, Present and Future
- Explore the Universe
- Make a New Friend in the Animal Discovery Room
- Stand Up for Science: Kids, Share Your Voice!
LeConte Hall
- Calling All Eclipse Chasers to the Physics-Astronomy Library
- Fun with Physics
- Dark Matter Search: Why?
- Hands-On Physics
McCone Hall
- Earthquakes!
- Take the World for a Spin
- Rocks of the Greater Bay Area and the Stories They Tell
- McConeHenge!
Moffitt Library
Mulford Hal
North Field
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- Design Your Own Fabric at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- Drop-in Maker Workshop at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- Jewelry Making at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- Su Nu Nu Shinal Dancers at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- Succulent Sounds: Interactive Electronics
- Su Nu Nu Shinal Dancers at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Pimentel Hall
Recreational Sports Facility
Soda Hall
- Computer Animation with UCBUGG: An Example from Start to Finish
- GamesCrafters: Undergraduate Game Theory Research and Development
- Computer Science Unplugged
- UCBUGG Animation Shorts: A Decade of Great Animation and Imagery
- The Beauty and Joy of Binary Numbers
Sproul Plaza
Stanley Hall Atrium
Stephens Hall
Sutardja Dai Hall
- CITRIS High-Definition Time Lapse Project
- EECS Mechatronics
- LEaD Lights
- Robot Learning Lab: Meet a Robot that Folds Laundry, High-Fives, and Hugs!
Wurster Hall
- Artist and Pop-Up Books, and Coloring
- College of Environmental Design: Wurster Hall Tours
- Cal History, Spirit and Traditions
- Environ Design – “Kid, Build a Box City!”
Valley Life Sciences Building
- AmphibiaWeb: Global Amphibian Conservation, Biology and Diversity
- Bears, Bugs, Dinosaurs and More at the Bioscience Library
- Design a Tower
- DNA Up Close at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology! A Hands-On Demonstration
- Fascinating Fossils from the UC Museum of Paleontology
- Fun with Fossils
- Hands-On Animal Origami at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
- Insects and Spiders from Around the World
- Live Kelp Forest Organisms with Touch Tank
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Open House
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Presents: Reptile Dissection
- Real-World Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
- Science Bonanza!
- Stand Up for Science: Kids, Share Your Voice!
- Super FUN: Science for a Safer World
- T. rex and Friends
- Tour the University & Jepson Herbaria Collections
- UC Natural Reserve System
- University & Jepson Herbaria Open House
UC Botanical Garden
Cal Day is on Saturday, April 22nd, 9am-5pm, at the University of California at Berkeley and perfect for all ages. Get there early to take advantage to the wonderful kid-friendly opportunities to experience anything from archaeology to zoology. There is really something for everyone on Cal Day.