Join Art of Nature artist Avery Maltz for a hands-on workshop exploring botanical ink-making using locally sourced plants. In this small-group setting, you’ll learn how natural pigments are extracted and turned into usable inks. Avery will demonstrate the process step by step, showing how plant materials are simmered and transformed, and how factors like heat,...
Please join us in celebrating the publication of Singing from the Deep End (CavanKerry 2026), a poetry collection about girldom and friendship set on the rocky Atlantic coast by Rebecca Hart Olander. In addition to being a poet, Olander is the editor and publisher at Perugia Press, a press dedicated to publishing first and second books by women...
CAMP FULL – CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE WAITLIST Are you a super sleuth when it comes to nature? Campers ages 5-7 are invited to join a week of hands-on investigation, creative challenges, and outdoor discovery during the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History's Spring Break Day-camp for nature detectives! During spring break 2026, campers will...
Join us at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for a special First Friday celebrating our Art of Nature exhibition and the beauty of plants. This month’s event is Flora-themed, highlighting the incredible diversity of local plant life and the artists inspired by it. Meet Art of Nature artists, learn about their creative process,...
Free Admission Day! Discover the wonders of nature at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History with free entry for everyone. Explore fascinating exhibits, connect with local wildlife, and make it a day of learning and fun for all ages. PLAN YOUR VISIT OUR EXHIBITS
Museum Members and exhibit artists are invited to join us for a special opening reception for our beloved annual exhibit, The Art of Nature. Enjoy a festive evening with refreshments, and be among the first to explore the featured works! RSVP Online or email events@santacruzmuseum.org Explore the beauty and fine details of the natural world around...
Santa Cruz County is a critical stronghold for the threatened California red-legged frog. Join Wildlife Biologist Michael Westphal for an inside look at three decades of research, restoration, and on-the-ground conservation efforts centered around this remarkable amphibian. This talk explores what it takes to protect a species on the brink and how our community can...
Join geologists from University of California, Santa Cruz to share your mineralogical marvels and get them identified inside the Museum’s galleries! Price: This special event is Free with Admission. $5 Adults | $3 Students and Seniors | Free for Youth Under 18 | Free for Museum Members. What can you bring: Rocks, fossils, gems, and...
Every third Saturday of the month, we invite volunteers to come together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. During this volunteering event, you'll get your hands dirty assisting with the maintenance of the park, our pollinator garden, and Pilkington Creek, while gaining insights into local ecology, native plants, and...
Get hands-on with herpetology and creativity at this paint and sip workshop at the Museum. Join science illustrator and naturalist Hannah Caisse for an evening of art, learning, and amphibian appreciation. Participants will choose from a selection of 3D printed salamander and herp models and paint their own scientifically inspired creation using acrylic paints. Hannah...
Get ready for a Herpetology Happy Hour! This month we're celebrating the slimy, scaled, and slithering inhabitants of our local ecosystems. Connect with artists, scientists, and community partners who study, steward, and protect amphibians and reptiles. Enjoy live animals, hands-on activities, refreshments, free museum admission, and special seasonal items in the Museum Store. An open...
Free Admission Day! Discover the wonders of nature at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History with free entry for everyone. Explore fascinating exhibits, connect with local wildlife, and make it a day of learning and fun for all ages. PLAN YOUR VISIT OUR EXHIBITS
Every third Saturday of the month, we invite volunteers to come together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. During this volunteering event, you'll get your hands dirty assisting with the maintenance of the park, our pollinator garden, and Pilkington Creek, while gaining insights into local ecology, native plants, and...
This hands-on workshop introduces natural dyeing with plants and fungi, including mushroom-based dyes. Participants will learn basic folding techniques, experiment with multiple dye baths, and explore how pH modifiers like vinegar and baking soda affect color. The workshop also includes a brief demonstration on working with natural charcoal and draws inspiration from traditional dye practices....
Join us to learn about mushrooms and how to identify and differentiate between various species. We will discuss mushroom picking and collecting etiquette, and various ways of identifying fungus genus and species – by shape, parts, and anatomy of a mushroom, color, smell, and tree associations! Participants will have time to explore, find, and closely...
Get ready for a fun-gi First Friday at the Museum! Our Fungus February First Friday invites you to dive into the fascinating world of fungi and the vital role they play in our local ecosystems. From underground networks to above-ground marvels, this evening celebrates the weird, wonderful, and essential world of mushrooms. Connect with artists,...
Free Admission Day! Discover the wonders of nature at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History with free entry for everyone. Explore fascinating exhibits, connect with local wildlife, and make it a day of learning and fun for all ages. PLAN YOUR VISIT OUR EXHIBITS
Lichens are all around us, yet they are often overlooked and misunderstood. Join lichen expert Ken Kellman for an engaging evening exploring these fascinating organisms, beginning with an introductory lecture followed by a hands-on lichen identification session. Participants will examine a variety of local lichen species using dissecting microscopes and learn how to observe key...
Join geologists from University of California, Santa Cruz to share your mineralogical marvels and get them identified inside the Museum’s galleries! Price: This special event is Free during our Laura Hecox Day celebration! What can you bring: Rocks, fossils, gems, and minerals are all welcome! Feel free to bring as many samples as you like,...
Continuing a tradition that began in 2016, the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History will celebrate the birthday of its founder, Santa Cruz naturalist and lightkeeper, Laura Hecox, at this special open house. The outdoor event will include Victorian-era activities, community partners, historians, and the 2026 Laura Hecox Naturalist award presentation. Program: 10am-5pm: FREE...
Every third Saturday of the month, we invite volunteers to come together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. During this volunteering event, you'll get your hands dirty assisting with the maintenance of the park, our pollinator garden, and Pilkington Creek, while gaining insights into local ecology, native plants, and...
Winter can be a wild time! Join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History this winter break to learn about the seasons, the weather, and how plants and animals adapt to survive the wintertime. Explore nature, make art, and play with new friends while learning about local natural history. For K-2nd Graders (5-7 Years Old)...
Free Admission Day! Discover the wonders of nature at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History with free entry for everyone. Explore fascinating exhibits, connect with local wildlife, and make it a day of learning and fun for all ages. PLAN YOUR VISIT OUR EXHIBITS
Every third Saturday of the month, we invite volunteers to come together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. During this volunteering event, you'll get your hands dirty assisting with the maintenance of the park, our pollinator garden, and Pilkington Creek, while gaining insights into local ecology, native plants, and...
SOLD OUT! Contact info@santacruzmuseum.org to join the waitlist Celebrate the season with creativity, craft, and sustainable spirit. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the basics of printmaking and design and carve their own natural-history-inspired printing blocks using soft-cut linoleum. Use your custom stamps to print beautiful, one-of-a-kind tea towels perfect for holiday gifting. You’ll...
Looking for locally made, nature-inspired gifts this holiday season? Join us for the Museum’s Holiday Sale and Art Market, featuring a curated selection of art, jewelry, home décor, prints, and more from over 20 local artists and makers whose work celebrates nature and natural history, including Kiwi Cyr, Hannah Caisse, Kylene Gilmore, Donna Thomas, Sarah...
In this hands-on masterclass, artist Jane Kim will demonstrate the tree ring printing process used to create the artworks of Treasured Trees. Attendees will acquire basic know-how of the skills and tools required to practice this beautiful technique at home. REGISTER Ticket Price: $40 General, $35 Member Age limit: 13 years and up Materials: Artist...
Join artist Jane Kim and Jenny Rieke, the Museum's Associate Director of Education, in conversation about the art and science of interpreting nature. Learn how the artwork for the Treasured Trees exhibit was developed, and hear how the partnership between institutions like the Museum and artists can bring to life scientific concepts for public education...
Get ready for a tree-mendous First Friday at the Museum! Our Redwoods First Friday will celebrate and explore the wonders and history of our local redwood forests while highlighting the Treasured Trees exhibit. Connect with artists, naturalists, and community partners who work to protect and share the beauty of redwoods. Enjoy hands-on activities, free museum...
Join us for a howling good time with this year’s Museum of the Macabre: Creatures of the Night! The Museum will be turned into a haunted house full of the bone-chilling taxidermy that inspired your favorite movie monsters. Get up close and personal with every type of Halloween horror. Experience the natural history of your...
Where are all the dinosaur fossils in California? What happened to California dinosaurs? Did they exist here? Were there dinosaurs in Santa Cruz? If not, why? Learn the answers to those questions and much more as we unearth the mysteries of California’s dinosaurs. Join vertebrate paleontologist and environmental geologist, Prof. Hilde Schwartz, as she takes...
Join your friends at the Museum as we put the “pal” in paleontology at this Pleistocene Pop-Up family fun festival all about fossils! Meet geologists, paleontologists, naturalists, and artists for an afternoon of family-friendly fun, activity stations, fossil interactives, and so much more. Featured programs throughout the day include a fossil identification station, a Rockin’...
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, native plants, and sustainable gardening while connecting with nature outdoors. It’s time to get your hands dirty! Join us and volunteer in the Museum’s...
Every year, October 15th is National Fossil Day. But why limit the fun to just a day? At the Museum, we’re turning it into a month-long celebration of fossils with a Pleistocene Pop-Up exhibit and events! Our Fossil Frenzy First Friday will showcase paleontologists, geologists, and scientific illustrators with a fossil focus. Bring your mystery...
For Safari September’s grand finale, travel back in time to learn the mysteries of the prehistoric American Cheetah! Discover how this extinct top predator once dominated ancient North America and why it no longer exists. Using cutting-edge paleogenomics research, uncover how scientists use prehistoric data to inform future conservation efforts. After the presentation, Dr. Josh...
This Safari September lecture is all about advocacy through art! Join celebrated artists and naturalists as they share the impact their masterpieces have on conservation education, international endangered species policies, and how they translate conservation science to the canvas. As a behind-the-scenes bonus, they will debut their newest works of art before and after their...
