Eureka! the Halifax-based museum for children is to unveil two new galleries next month, designed specifically for children under the age of five.

The galleries, SoundGarden and Desert Discovery, cover 200sq m (2,150sq ft), cost £0.5m to develop and have been closely linked to the SureStart and DfES Birth to Three Matters framework and the QCA’s Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals.

The £300,000 SoundGarden – which was funded by the Millennium Commission’s ReDiscover Fund and Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward’s Creative Minds project – lets children experience what it would be like to be the size of a caterpillar. Exhibits include finger painting – using touch-screen technology – and a play area for babies.

SoundGarden was designed by Northern Light CoDesign, which also worked on the museum's SoundSpace gallery last year and replaces TV studio and Music Box exhibits on the edge of the SoundSpace gallery.

The second gallery, The £200,000 Desert Discovery, has been designed to promote exploration, observation, problem-solving, prediction, critical thinking, decision-making and discussion: the gallery resembles a desert and children can put on hard hats and collect and move soft rocks and boulders with a bucket lift to build their own desert homes. Desert Discovery was financed by Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN) with additional funding from The Rayne Foundation and The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation.

“There is a massive amount of evidence which suggests that the first five years of life are vitally important in helping children to establish patterns of learning and values that will support them throughout their lives,” said Leigh-Anne Stradeski, director of Eureka!.

“Eureka! aims to contribute to children’s physical and emotional development by providing them with rich, varied and stimulating opportunities to learn in accordance with their own skills and aptitudes.”

The new galleries' launch marks the completion of a major phase of the museum's six-year development plan. The next phase, the development of a travelling exhibition called Mission: Active Future will begin later this year.

The galleries will be launched on 1 March by Millennium Commissioner and children’s tv presenter Floella Benjamin.