We’re excited to welcome back Pre-K to grade 12 students for classes here at the Seattle Aquarium!
Please note: We are at capacity for on-site classes for the remainder of the 2022–2023 school year and have no more slots available. We do have limited availability for self-guided visits (field trips with no additional programming). Please see our self-guided visit page for more information.
Fall programming will be available beginning in October 2023. Please check back in September for details about when registration will open.
If you have questions, please contact registration at (206) 693-6196 (Monday–Friday, 8am to 5pm) or registration@seattleaquarium.org.
Thank you for your interest in the Seattle Aquarium's educational programming!
All of our programs focus on the marine ecosystems, including our local Salish Sea. Our educators will guide you and up to 32 of your students through lessons that support Next Generation Science Standards while giving your students agency to influence the class based on their prior knowledge and interests.
All classes take place in our classrooms here at the Seattle Aquarium as part of a field trip. If you’re interested in a distance learning class instead, which we can broadcast to you, please visit our distance learning page. After booking your program, you will receive more information to help your students prepare for a visit to the Aquarium and their exciting class. Admission to the Aquarium is included with your class.
Each of our classes has a grade-level range, and within that range our skilled educators will tailor the class for your specific grade level. We encourage active student participation during the program, and we plan on answering a lot of questions! Most classes also include special live animal interactions with the tide pool creatures in our care within the classroom, including opportunities to directly interact with our classroom animal ambassadors. Pricing and scholarship information is available on the registration page.
Explore the different discussion topics below.
Tide Pool Friends
Meet five different Puget Sound seashore animals during this interactive Pre-K class. Through discussion, movement and song, students will learn fun facts about the animals and their habitat while reviewing colors and numbers. Explore even more during the free-choice activity time that includes a live animal station, magnet board and puppet play, a reading and puzzle corner, and a letter-matching activity. This introductory marine science program is perfect for preschools, Head Start classes, day care centers and other groups of young children.
Explore Pacific Northwest Tide Pools
Get up close with live tide pool animals. Through the use of puppets, live animals and observation, students will learn how these animals survive in their ever-changing habitat and how simple actions can help protect them. Learn about invertebrates like hermit crabs, sea urchins and snails, and discover how they have adapted to survive in the intertidal zone.
The Great Salmon Journey
Learn about the life cycle of one of our region’s most iconic animals, the salmon! With the use of interactive storyboards and learner-driven activities, students will explore salmon from egg to adult and discuss the many different factors that affect these amazing fish. Students will become invested in the journey of the salmon through role-playing and discover just how difficult it is to make the great salmon journey.
Explore Pacific Northwest Tide Pools
Get up close with live tide pool animals. Through the use of puppets, live animals and observation, students will learn how these animals survive in their ever-changing habitat and how simple actions can help protect them. Learn about invertebrates like hermit crabs, sea urchins and snails, and discover how they have adapted to survive in the intertidal zone.
Puget Sound Plankton Lab
Discover the most abundant organisms in Puget Sound: plankton! Students will learn about the role plankton plays in providing food for all as the base of the marine food web. Students will be guided through a plankton exploration, learning about phytoplankton and zooplankton through living examples that they collect themselves from the water beneath Seattle Aquarium’s pier. By the end of the class, students will have to opportunity to explore a plankton sample of their own using a real microscope.
Sea Otter Conservation Research
Find out what it takes to conduct research on wild sea otter populations. Students will learn how to collect data, ask research questions, and plan and carry out investigative work through the example of our own senior conservation research manager, Shawn Larson, and her team’s work on the outer coast of Washington state.
Sea Otter Conservation Research
Find out what it takes to conduct research on wild sea otter populations. Students will learn how to collect data, ask research questions, and plan and carry out investigative work through the example of our own senior conservation research manager, Shawn Larson, and her team’s work on the outer coast of Washington state.