Choose your field trip experience
Discovery Lab & Tour
The best class field trip ever! Immerse your students in hands-on lab investigations with live animals and realia. Lab activities are designed for specific grade levels to support the Next Generation Science Standards. Your Discovery Lab is followed by a guided tour to explore how science sparks innovation and solutions. 32 students maximum. Learn more.
Self-guided Exploration
Customize your own experience with a variety of indoor and outdoor activities to fit your schedule and group size. Live animals inspire your students to make their own observations, wonder, and develop questions. Knowledgeable docents illuminate how researchers work in the lab and the field. Students learn how marine scientists think and work to understand our ocean planet. Learn more.
Reserved Tour
Reserve a private outdoor tour for your students guided by a volunteer docent. Experience spectacular coastal views and discover why science matters. Explore how science sparks innovation and leads to solutions for the Santa Cruz community and beyond. Your class will marvel at Ms. Blue, a humongous blue whale skeleton whose restoration is sparking climate-friendly innovations sure to inspire. Before or after your tour, explore the Seymour Center’s exhibits, aquarium tanks, shark pool, and seawater touch table. Learn more.
Educator Mailing List
Be the first to know when Discovery Lab field trip scheduling opens and Homeschool Day is announced for the coming school year. Sign up to receive Seymour Center Educator News.
Homeschool Day
Dive into spine-tingling science at Homeschool Day on Friday, October 31, 2025, from 10 AM–12:30 PM. Join us for a morning of special programming for homeschool families.
- Enjoy hands-on science investigations, crafts, and a “spooky” scavenger hunt.
- Make an enormous whale skeleton appear in front of your eyes, then walk inside it with our special virtual reality experience.
- Touch live bat stars, see bobbing skeleton shrimp, and learn about bone-eating zombie worms and hagfish.
- Marvel at Ms. Blue, a massive blue whale skeleton, and discover how science and engineering innovations are helping us restore this beloved Santa Cruz icon.
- Admission fees apply. Special activities are included at no additional cost.
RSVP here by October 15 to receive details and activities.
2025 Science and Solutions Poetry Contest
Science and art, no matter the medium, often go hand in hand. Here at the Seymour Center, we love to highlight that connection.
For the 2025-2026 school year, we’re hosting a poetry contest for 4-12 grade students.
We are seeking poems that discuss science (ecology, climate change, animal behavior, etc.) and inspire positive change. Extra attention will be paid to those who highlight conservation-minded actions or scientific solutions that help make a better world.
Rules for entry:
- Poetry can be written in any poetic style and on any relevant subject.
- A poem in its entirety must be an original work by the student entering the contest. Please, no AI authors!
- Only one poem per student
- Poetry must be submitted by May 31, 2026
Eligibility:
- Must be in a 4th-12th grade class, and have attended a field trip at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center during the 2025-2026 school year.
How to Enter:
With parent, guardian, or teacher support, participants should complete the entry form, where they will upload their poetry. If the student is 18 years or older, they can complete the form themselves.
Prizes:
There will be two winners brackets- 4th-8th grade, and 9th-12th grade. Finalists will be contacted by Friday, June 5th. Winners will be announced by June 15th. All finalists’ poems will be featured in our exhibit hall before moving to our Keedy Lab classroom for longer-term display.
1st Place: Two admission tickets to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center PLUS a Double Kayak Rental with Kayak Connection in Elkhorn Slough.
2nd Place: Two admission tickets to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center PLUS a $30 gift certificate to Bookshop Santa Cruz.
3rd Place: Two admission tickets to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center PLUS a $10 gift certificate to our Ocean Discovery Shop.
Thank you to Kayak Connection and Bookshop Santa Cruz for prize donations.
Questions? Email discover@ucsc.edu