Carpinteria State Beach In-Person Fieldtrip

Explore Carpinteria State Beach!

Bring your lessons to life at California’s natural, cultural, and historic resources! Carpinteria State Beach is an ideal place to explore tidepools, sandy beaches, tar pits, and so much more! Programs are designed to enrich learning and inspire students to care for and protect the resources of Carpinteria State Beach.

Prior to your field trip, we recommend you...

• Schedule a pre-visit PORTS Program
• Explore passPORTS Instructional Resources for Carpinteria State Beach

Field Trips typically take 2 hours to complete. Teachers have the option of choosing which field trip experiences they would like to include in their field trip at Carpinteria State Beach. These include:

• Visitor Center Exploration and Fish Feeding (30 minute rotation): Fish feeding demonstration and tidepool animal exploration (this is typically facilitated for field trips that are not scheduled during low tide).
• Plant Restoration guided or self-guided walk (30 minute rotation): During this field trip experience students can conduct a biodiversity scanger hunt to identify native dune flowers and invasive species.
• Harbor Seal Rookery & native plant guided or self-guided walk (recommended for 5th grade and older). During this field trip students will walk along the Carpinteria Bluffs trail to the Harbor Seal Rookery at Carpinteria State Beach. Students may utilize binoculars from the park to explore the local flora and fauna. ***PLEASE NOTE*** We recommend scheduling at least 1.5 hours for this experience.
• Tar Pits Guided Exploration 1.5 hours: Students will start this exploration by using archaeological tools to uncover mock fossils of animals found in our tar pits today. Students will engage in a guided exploration of local tarpits along Carpinteria State Beach.

Once your field trip is scheduled (SEE BELOW FOR OUR CALENDAR) our PORTS presenter at Carpinteria State Beach will contact you to confirm your activities!

Apply for a FREE blended field trip to Carpinteria State Beach!

Carpinteria State Beach is excited to offer blended-access programs through PassPORTS, which offers Title I public schools with a field trip reimbursement grant to experience the park both virtually and in-person!

Fill out the PassPORTS 23-24 interest form to find out if you qualify to receive up to $1000 in reimbursements for your field trip costs! If approved, the K-12 Access Coordinator will reach out to schedule your virtual and in-person programs.