Classes and events at Padilla Bay
Whether you are a parent with young children, a budding naturalist, a concerned citizen, or an environmental professional dealing with coastal issues, Padilla Bay offers educational programs for you.
We offer monthly children's classes on a variety of estuary topics. Our adult classes are advertised in a quarterly newsletter, and cover many natural history and environmental topics. Families and individuals of any age can join summer Mudflat Safari excursions into the eelgrass meadow or help pull a beach seine to learn about the fish in Padilla Bay. Most of our classes are free, though we gratefully welcome donations to the non-profit Padilla Bay Foundation.
View our event calendar
Classes for adults
We offer classes throughout the year on natural history and environmental topics. Do you want to learn to recognize bird songs or native wildflowers? Are you interested in current research on eelgrass, ocean acidification, or the status of forage fish? Would you like to try nature journaling or cooking wild edible plants? Sign up for a class here. Our quarterly newsletter will keep you informed about upcoming classes and events.
Classes for children
We explore a different topic each month in classes for young children and their parents. Mini Explorers are age 3 to 5 and enjoy games, stories, songs, art projects and plenty of action. Junior Ecologists are age 6 to 9 and dive deeper with beach explorations, science experiments, games and studying life in the bay. Sign up today.
Classes and events for all ages
Summer is the season for Mudflat Safaris and Beach Seines, two field-based family programs that introduce you to Padilla Bay's amazing plants and animals. Our regularly scheduled aquarium tours give a behind-the-scene look at Padilla Bay's aquariums and a close-up encounter with our amazing animals. See what's happening.
Teacher workshops
Padilla Bay hosts teacher workshops that are eligible for clock hours. Some of our past topics include ocean acidification, Projects WET and WILD, Watershed Words, climate change, and teaching preschoolers outdoors. Join the teacher email list to receive notifications on future workshops and other helpful information.
Coastal Training Program
Practical, science-based training for professionals who make decisions about shoreline management. See our course catalog.
Contact information
Susan Wood
Education and Outreach Coordinator
susan.wood@ecy.wa.gov
360-428-1066