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Upcoming Events
- FULL 8/31 Behind-the-Scenes at a National Monument: A Cotoni-Coast Dairies Tour
Don’t miss this special, limited-time opportunity for a private guided tour of the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument – before it’s even open to the public! Guided by land stewards and environmental … Read more - 9/6 First Friday After Hours | Food, Farming, & Fun
Get to know Santa Cruz’s WILD SIDE at the Museum of Natural History. Nerd out on your night out during monthly after hours events, featuring rotating themes, vendors, and activities. Free admission to … Read more - 9/7 CA Biodiversity Day: Native Wildflower Bombing
Learn about California native wildflowers while joining a community park beautification project! Participants will go on a native plant walk, learn about California flowers and pollinators, and the conservation efforts to restore … Read more - 9/7 Scientific Illustration & Observation in Black & White
Love nature, science, and art but don’t know where to start? Here is your opportunity to master a new skill and bring home your own environmentally-inspired masterpiece after just one class. … Read more - 9/8 Intro to Astrophotography: Saturn’s Opposition
Get ready for a program that’s out of this world! When Earth passes directly between the Sun and a planet, that planet is said to be in opposition because it is … Read more - 9/11-9/15 Santa Cruz Bug Barn
Catch us at the Bug Barn on September 11-15 for the Santa Cruz County Fair! Our staff have been busier than ants at a picnic gathering some of our favorite insects … Read more - 9/18 Intro to Astrophotography: Blood Moon Eclipse
Get ready for a program that’s out of this world! When Earth’s shadow is cast directly on to the moon, we are treated with a rare lunar eclipse. Depending on the … Read more - 9/21 Saturdays in the Soil
We are coming together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. At the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, you gain new wisdom about local ecology, … Read more - 9/21 Nature Photography with Hilltromper
Explore your creative visual expression and capture the natural beauty of Santa Cruz in this environmental photography class. Taught by the photojournalists responsible for the local wildflower-tracking platform, BloomTracker, this introductory course … Read more - 9/28 Behind-the-Scenes at a National Monument: A Cotoni-Coast Dairies TourDon’t miss this special, limited-time opportunity for a private guided tour of the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument – before it’s even open to the public! Guided by land stewards and environmental … Read more
- 10/3 Naturalist Night: Starting with a Bang! Astrobiology & Exoplanets
We’re starting off our space-themed Naturalist Night lecture series with a (Big) Bang! Guided by Dr. Rebecca Jensen-Clem, with UCSC’s Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Explore exoplanet science and interplanetary observations, … Read more - 10/5 Scientific Illustration & Observation in Pastel
Love nature, science, and art but don’t know where to start? Here is your opportunity to master a new skill and bring home your own environmentally-inspired masterpiece after just one class. … Read more - 10/5 Educator Workshop with the Amah Mutsun
Saturday, October 5, 20249 a.m. to 3 p.m.Location: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Attention Santa Cruz Educators: Please join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for a collaborative workshop … Read more - 10/8 Naturalist Night: Are Octopuses Aliens?!
Are you a sucker for some science? Then get ready to answer the question, “are octopuses aliens?” These invertebrates have extraterrestrial anatomy, an unreal level of intelligence, and have shown behaviors which are … Read more - 10/17 Naturalist Night: Cosmic Alchemy & the Universe in Us
Did you know that the elements forged in a star are the same as the very atoms that compose you? Take a trip through the cosmic history of the universe with … Read more - 10/18 Halloween Special – Watercolor Entomology: Creepy Crawlies!
As part of this Halloween holiday special, get up close and personal with the art of arthropods! Featuring chilling insect displays, and the rarely seen insect taxidermy collection, this program is … Read more - 10/25 Naturalist Night: Cosmic Latte – The Color, the Coffee, & the Cosmos
Have you ever wondered about the color of the universe? Turns out the official, scientific color is called, “Cosmic Latte.” And who better to speak to this topic than an astrophotographer … Read more - 10/30 Naturalist Night: Things That Go Bump in the Night!
If a star consumes another star, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Have you ever wondered what sound a black hole makes? What about … Read more - 11/2 Scientific Illustration & Observation in Watercolors
Love nature, science, and art but don’t know where to start? Here is your opportunity to master a new skill and bring home your own environmentally-inspired masterpiece after just one class. … Read more - 11/7 UAVs & AUVs from Deep Sea to Deep Space
From the darkness of the ocean floor to the darkness of outer space, technology is critical in exploring the abyss. But, it turns out that the tools used to uncover the … Read more - 11/13 Naturalist Night: Exploring the Abyss with the E/V Nautilus
The bottom of the ocean is just as mysterious as the vastness of space. Are those twinkling lights in the inky darkness another galaxy’s sun or a bioluminescent jellyfish? Who can … Read more - 11/16 Nature Photography with Hilltromper
Explore your creative visual expression and capture the natural beauty of Santa Cruz in this environmental photography class. Taught by the photojournalists responsible for the local wildflower-tracking platform, BloomTracker, this introductory course … Read more - 11/23 Behind-the-Scenes at a National Monument: A Cotoni-Coast Dairies TourDon’t miss this special, limited-time opportunity for a private guided tour of the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument – before it’s even open to the public! Guided by land stewards and environmental … Read more
Workshop & Lecture Registration Policies
Want to know more about our events or share your suggestions about potential topics? Email us at events@santacruzmuseum.org.
Upcoming Nature Club Events
Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Learn more.
- 2024-25 Fall/Winter Nature Club
Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Across four excursions, youth will learn … Read more
