Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

December 26: SnoWonders
Build a snowman without the cold. Launch a “snoball” and assemble a special catapult. Dissect a diaper to find the pretend snow.

December 27: Peppermint Science
Study a mint plant and learn about its life cycle. Discover the history of the peppermint candy. Dissolve some peppermint candy and see what happens. Find out if insects and bugs like peppermint.

December 28: Jingle Bell Mazes and Icy Ramps
Learn about gravity and other forces. Build a jingle bell maze. Discover how ramps can make vehicles go faster or slower.

December 31: Insect Hunt
Learn about insect body parts. Explore insect habitats. Discover how to find insects in the wild.

January 2: Dirt Explorations
Explore the rock cycle and build a model. Experiment with different kinds of dirt to see which makes a bean seed grow faster. Discover how insects help make dirt so that plants can grow.

January 3: Butterfly Gardens
Explore the food web of a butterfly and see how it connects to its life cycle. Learn about the plant cycle and dissect a bean to find the start of a plant. Plant some starters for your own garden.

January 4: Creek Explorations
Test the water quality as water scientists do. Find out if the creek is healthy enough to support the creek insects. Explore the creek to find out what lives in the waters.

December 26: Let the Games Begin
In the spirit of opening ceremonies, design a torch to light the Flames of the Game. Design a medal for the winners’ circle and a flag that represents you. Warm up your muscles with some yoga poses that simulate the Winter Games.

December 26: Whales
Imagine the effort it takes to migrate up and down the coast with a calf in tow. Venture along as the whales do and learn how whales overcome unique challenges to achieve their goals.

(New camp! Special pricing applies)
Regular Day (5:00-7:30 PM)
No scholarships available.
No Extended Day available.

December 26: Owl Prowl/Night Hike
Venture on a night hike through the Museum campus and discover what lurks in our backyard. Armed with a flashlight, look for tracks, detect smells, and listen for sounds during the twilight walkabout.

December 27: Curling, Ice Skating, Half Pipe
Discover the science behind the sports and learn what it takes to achieve stunts. Try tabletop versions of the sports and see how the human body adapts to achieve the stunts.

December 27: Zooplankton
Ever wonder how important plankton is to the food web? Study plankton and learn to collect and observe these creatures as marine scientists do.

(New camp! Special pricing applies)
Regular Day (5:00-7:30 PM)
No scholarships available.
No Extended Day available.

December 27: Nocturnal Animals
Find out what nocturnal animals live near the Museum. Discover how animals see in the dark.

December 28: Salmon
Learn how this creature adapts to fresh water and sea water at different phases of its life cycle. Create a hexaflexagon to model the salmon life cycle.

(New camp! Special pricing applies)
Regular Day (5:00-7:30 PM)
No scholarships available.
No Extended Day available.

December 28: Astronomy
Look into the night sky and discover which stars or constellations can be seen at this time of year. Dissect a telescope to see how lenses work together to make faraway objects observable. Meet an astronomer and feed your inquiring minds.

December 28: Luge, Bobsled, and Closing Ceremonies
Explore ramps, curves and turns as you simulate the games. Study the forces as the “athlete” experiences each twist and turn of the course. Finally, collect your medals and extinguish the Flames of the Games.

December 31: Botanical Wonders
Learn about the plant cycle and uncover the mysteries of plant life. Dissect a seed to reveal what’s inside. Make plant imprints as you explore the diversity of plants around you. Listen to some stories about plants.

December 31: A Fish is a Fish
What makes a fish a fish? Make fish prints and learn about its anatomy. Dissect a fish and uncover how a fish can move up and down in the water.

January 2: Scat and Tracks
Ever wonder whose footprints are on the ground, in the sand, or in the water. All creatures leave traces of some sort. Explore some scat (animal poop), tracks (footprints), and other clues as you trek through the Museum.

January 2: Invertebrates
Discover the magical world of invertebrates, animals without a backbone. Create models of what you see. Discover how they eat, what they eat, and their place in the food web.

January 3: Fossils
Uncover what creatures lived in the past by studying some fossils. Discover how fossils were made. Explore some fossils to piece together a story of what life is like for that specimen.

January 3: Plankton
Ever wonder how important plankton is to the food web? Study plankton and learn to collect and observe these creatures as marine scientists do.

January 4: Creek Explorations
Perform water quality tests as water scientists do. Find out if the creek is healthy enough to support the creek insects. Explore the creek to find out what lives in the waters.

January 4: Algae
Discover the different types of algae on our beach. Sort through some algae to see how many different categories there are for algae. Make an algae press to take home.

December 26: Arctic Tern
Explore what it takes to fly 30,000 meters in two months to chase the sun around the world. Discover the adaptations these birds have to make the trek.

December 27: Monarchs
Ever wonder how monarchs travel south to warmer climates and return north in the spring? Relate the monarch life cycle to the availability of plants and reveal new information on how monarchs migrate from season to season.

December 28: Whales
Imagine the effort it takes to migrate up and down the coast with a calf in tow. Venture along as the whales do and learn how whales overcome unique challenges to achieve their goals.

December 31: Codes and Logic
Learn how to translate codes from human language to computer talk. Understand how machines act when humans deliver commands. Discover what it takes to be a robot.

January 2: Lots of Bots
Build specialized robot models to accomplish tasks. Build a robot hand to handle specific weights. Extend that project to build a complete arm.

January 3: Coding in Nature
Discover how coding works in nature. Study life cycles and mechanisms for survival of specific animal species.

January 4: Robotic Friends
Be a robot. Enjoy some role-playing, team-building fun as you try to solve mysteries and challenges together as a robot.