Interacting with animals is a fun and unique way for students to learn about the world around them. We offer a variety of programs that give kids in San Diego the chance to meet cute critters while learning lessons that complement their grade level’s NGSS and incorporate STEM. Year-round field trips to the Center or outreaches to your classroom are offered for preschool, elementary, middle and high school classes.

• If you are a school, please call us at 858-756-4117 ext 318 or email us at education@animalcenter.org to reserve your spot, this way we can book you without upfront payment, and then we will invoice you at the time of program completion to get an accurate and final headcount.

All grade lesson

• “Remember Me Thursday®” – Discuss pet overpopulation and how we can make positive change for orphan pets by remembering pet adoption. We encourage your class to celebrate with Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Remember Me Thursday® event in September!
• Field Trips will meet a dog, parrot, guinea pig, and goat.

Preschool & Elementary School lessons

• Preschool and Kindergarten: “Plants and Paws” – Understand the needs of plants and animals and how they’re connected to each other and their environment.

• Field Trips will meet a dog, rabbit, chicken, and sheep.

• 1st Grade: “The Wonderful World of Animals” – Discover the different ways animals interact with the world and why these interactions vary depending on the species.

• Field Trips will meet a parrot, guinea pig, bearded dragon, and sheep.

• 2nd Grade: “Home is Where the Heart Is” – Explore different habitats and discover the types of animals that live in each one.

• Field Trips will meet an goat, leopard gecko, parrot, and beetle.

• 3rd Grade: “Learning about Life Cycles” – Investigate the many unique life cycles of animals and why it is appropriate for their environment.

• Field Trips will meet a skink, frog, dog, and chicken.

• 4th Grade: “The Senses of Survival” – Dive into the animal world where our five senses have gone wild and learn how animals perceive the world. It can be similar to the way that we do, or it can be very different!

• Field Trips will meet a snake, Madagascar hissing cockroach, rabbit, and parrot.

• 5th Grade: “You Are What You Eat” – Explore the food web and how everything in our ecological community is connected.

• Field Trips will meet a snake, rabbit, dove, and Madagascar hissing cockroach.

Middle School lessons

• 6th Grade: “System Overload” – Understand the way that animals have adapted, or failed to adapt, to the environmental changes that humans have created with the growth of civilization. Discuss ways we can improve our energy usage and be more aware of our actions on the ecosystem.

• Field Trips will meet a frog, dove, mini horse, and California desert tortoise.

• 7th Grade: “We’re All in This Together” – Discuss some of the ways that people impact the world around them and what we can do to provide positive change.

• Field Trips will meet a blue-tongue skink, earthworm, rabbit, and parrot.

• 8th Grade: “Diversity by Design” – Classify animals into different groups based on their external characteristics and understand how this isn’t the only method. Plus, understand how even animals in different classifications can have similarities.

• Field Trips will meet a parrot, beetle, frog, and guinea pig.

High School lessons

• 9th – 12th Grades: “Biodiversity and Beyond” – Analyze how organisms maintain life through diversity and how they adapt to their surroundings.

• Field Trips will meet a beetle, snake, parrot, and mini horse.

• 9th – 12th Grades: “Wild at Work” – Most people think of veterinarians when they think about careers with critters, but there are so many options out there! Discover all the unique careers that allow you to work with animals!

• Field Trips will meet a dog, rabbit, mini horse, and parrot.

• The program will begin with a brief introduction and set up rules and expectations.
• Animal presentations are 15 minutes per species. Typically we introduce the individual animal then talk about its species based on the focus of the grade-level theme, allowing for interaction and questions near the end of the presentation.
• The STEM activity is 30 minutes and typically done at the end.

We will check in at the office and head to the designated room to await your class' arrival.

• Must be at least 5-years old to pet reptiles.

• Indoors is best in order for us to safely present our animals. Outdoors can be done if there's no indoor option, but it will restrict the species we can bring to mainly reptiles and invertebrates.
• Minimal movement for our animals is best, so setting up in one space and having classes come to us is ideal for animal health and safety.
• We operate on a per class basis and do not provide experiences as an assembly-style with numerous classes. In order to get the full effect of our animals and to be able to provide interactions, the presentations per class are necessary.
• We can only do 1 curriculum per day, so if you are planning for us to visit multiple grade levels in 1 day, you'll need to select the curriculum that will work best for all of them.
• Outreaches only available for schools. We do not visit people's residences.

To ensure the health and safety of our program participants, staff, and animals, please read our Health and Safety Policy by clicking the link below.

• Species may vary depending on animal health, safety and availability.