History

SEEC opened in 1988 with one center located in the National Museum of American History with 32 children, 7 teachers and a budget of about $150,000. In 1991 SEEC added programming for infants and toddlers, and in 1998 a licensed Kindergarten was added. Today SEEC has 3 sites, two inside the walls of the National Museum of Natural History and one inside the National Museum of American History, serving 135 children with 48 staff and a budget of over $2.5 million. In October 2013 SEEC celebrated its 25th anniversary, but from the beginning one thing was clear: this was going to be much more than a place that cared for the children of Smithsonian employees. This was going to be a model laboratory school with a museum-based curriculum; a place that addressed the Smithsonian mandate for sharing knowledge.

Early in our history Dee Carlstrom was hired to develop a curriculum, Museum Magic, based on a vision of monthly themes that crossed the entire Smithsonian Institution and utilized resources from throughout the museums. While SEEC has transitioned to using an emergent curriculum model in our daily practice, the Museum Magic curriculum continues to serve as a resource to our faculty and to other early childhood educators in schools and museums across the country

In 2014 the Office of Engagement (formerly the Center for Innovation in Early Learning – CIEL) was formed to house the outreach and professional development work being done by SEEC, both internally and externally. SEEC continues to develop its curriculum and programs and is a national resource for high quality early education and programming for young children in museums and classrooms.

Location:

SEEC is comprised of three centers across two museums. Centers are located within the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History.

Hours:

Monday – Friday

7:30 AM-6:00 PM*

*You are asked to limit your child’s time at SEEC to no more than nine and one half (9.5)
hours in any one day.

*In the evening, families should plan to arrive by 5:45 so that they will have adequate time to prepare a child for the trip home. Families are expected to be out of the school before our
doors are locked at 6:00 p.m

Frequently Asked Questions:

Are you open all year?

Yes! SEEC provides an all-year program which begins in September and concludes in mid-August. SEEC is closed for Federal holidays, between Christmas and New Years, and for the two weeks prior to Labor Day.

Where do families park for pick-up and drop off?

SEEC has dedicated pick-up and drop-off spots located at both museums. Enrolled families will be given a parking pass at the start of the year, which will provide them access to the museum parking lots.

Do you have a playground?

SEEC has playgrounds at both the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History. These playgrounds are for SEEC’s private use and designed for the age groups they serve.