40 Playhouses Celebrating 40 Years
Celebrate Habitat's 40th Anniversary by helping us build 40 playhouses for 40 Bay Area families throughout our anniversary year of 2026! This unique team building experience offers corporate teams a fulfilling day out of the office, additional sponsorship benefits, and the opportunity to be a part of a collective movement to raise awareness and critical funds for affordable housing.
What is the Playhouse Program?
Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley’s Playhouse Program is a unique volunteer opportunity that gives groups and individuals a meaningful, creative, and hands-on day of building playhouses that are then donated to local children. The funds raised through the Playhouse Program support Habitat's mission of building homes, communities, and hope
They might be little houses, but the Playhouse Program makes a huge impact. It's grown from building 20 playhouses in 2009, to a major operation that donated over 500 playhouses and raised over a million dollars last year!
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CORPORATE & TEAM OPPORTUNITIES
Sponsoring a Playhouse Build is an easy way to engage with your employees, boost company morale, and build your corporate social responsibility standards. To sponsor a build, companies make a minimum donation of $5,000 per playhouse to support the cost of your group's build day and benefit Habitat’s affordable homeownership programs and services.
Sponsoring companies work directly with Habitat staff to customize their build experience with options such as:
- Schedule – Flexible scheduling with half- and full-day options available seven days a week.
- Location – Come to one of our workshops in San Jose or Oakland or we could come to you at a location of your choosing.
- Size – We accommodate groups small and large (and yes, even extra-large!)
- Skill Level – Inclusive to all skills and abilities with a variety of tasks to choose from such as painting, cutting, and assembly, with our professional staff to guide you throughout the process.
SCHOOL, FAITH & COMMUNITY GROUP OPPORTUNITIES
The Playhouse Program offers volunteer opportunities for faith, community, and school groups of all ages and sizes! Hosting a Playhouse Build is a great way to give back to your community and connect with your friends, family, club, or faith community in a fun, hands-on activity.
INDIVIDUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Playhouse Build Days require a donation, but there are other ways for individuals or small groups to get involved—like volunteering as a Playhouse Prep Volunteer or Event Crew Leader.
The opportunities below are ideal for those who want to support Habitat on their own schedule. With two locations available, it’s easy to volunteer in the Playhouse Program.
Prep Volunteers
Volunteers (ages 16+) help transform raw plywood into playhouse components—cutting, sanding, and painting pieces. It’s a hands-on way to learn basic woodworking and tool skills.
Interested in volunteering with a group of 5 or more? Complete the Playhouse Build form to request a prep day. Please note: shifts are limited to 5–8 volunteers and are typically scheduled up to 4 weeks in advance.
Event Crew Lead Volunteers
Help run Playhouse Build events by supporting setup, guiding volunteers, and assisting staff. It’s a great way to build leadership skills while helping create playhouses for children.
Here is how you get started:
- Volunteer - Sign up for a prep volunteer shift at either the San Jose Workshop or Oakland Workshop and let staff know you’re interested in becoming a Crew Leader.
- Train at a Build - Join a small Playhouse Build to assist and learn the role. Repeat as needed until you’re ready.
- Lead Events - Get added to the Playhouse email list and sign up to lead builds and events.
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"The experience exceeded my expectations on all accounts. The team had an absolute blast designing and building the playhouse to the point where we would love to do it again with a larger group at some point.
Everything was incredibly organized and structured, and with only 4.5 hours, we absolutely needed it. All materials were prepped and ready to go and the timing of everything worked out like a picture perfect project."
RECEIVE A PLAYHOUSE
Playhouses are built with love for children to explore, play, and grow with a space of their own. We donate playhouses to local nonprofits and families such as South Bay Blue Star Moms. To learn more about receiving a playhouse, click here.
