Shipley Nature Center Youth Programs
17851 Goldenwest Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92647
About
Shipley Nature Center Youth Programs include guided tours, docent-led tours, interactive exhibits, and interactive trail activities. The program also offers workshops, Sip and Read, Great Egret Tours, Shipley Summer Games, Nature Meditation Summer Walk, First Friday Programs for Kids, Kids Corner activities, self guided trails, and birding.
• Schedule: Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm, with extended hours on the first Friday of each month from 9 am to 5 pm (6 pm in the summer), plus special dated events such as Great Egret Tours, Shipley Summer Games, and Nature Meditation Summer Walk
• Price: Entry is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person
Shipley Nature Center Youth Programs take place within an 18-acre area of preserved native habitats that include trails through oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub, meadows, and a redwood grove, as well as Blackbird Pond and the Shirley Dettloff Interpretive Center with hands-on exhibits and a Kids Corner. The nature center was established in 1974 and was named after former Mayor Donald D. Shipley. Since 2002, the Friends of Shipley Nature Center has focused on habitat conservation, environmental education, and community engagement, and manages the center as an ecological sanctuary for California native plants and wildlife in partnership with the City of Huntington Beach and the local community. The organization states that the site is situated at the bottom of the Santa Ana River drainage basin near the river’s main channel over a natural aquifer, and that its native landscape provides critical habitats for wildlife, including gardens, butterflies, and wildlife conservation activities, along with plants and compost for sale and First Friday Extended Hours. The Friends of Shipley Nature Center notes that the center was formed to provide environmental education in an urban setting in partnership with the local community and the wider world, and acknowledges that it is on the ancestral lands of the Tongva and Acjachemen People whose community members are still neighbors today. In the event of heavy forecasted rain or wind, the center might be closed.
Last updated July 12, 2026.
• Schedule: Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm, with extended hours on the first Friday of each month from 9 am to 5 pm (6 pm in the summer), plus special dated events such as Great Egret Tours, Shipley Summer Games, and Nature Meditation Summer Walk
• Price: Entry is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person
Shipley Nature Center Youth Programs take place within an 18-acre area of preserved native habitats that include trails through oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub, meadows, and a redwood grove, as well as Blackbird Pond and the Shirley Dettloff Interpretive Center with hands-on exhibits and a Kids Corner. The nature center was established in 1974 and was named after former Mayor Donald D. Shipley. Since 2002, the Friends of Shipley Nature Center has focused on habitat conservation, environmental education, and community engagement, and manages the center as an ecological sanctuary for California native plants and wildlife in partnership with the City of Huntington Beach and the local community. The organization states that the site is situated at the bottom of the Santa Ana River drainage basin near the river’s main channel over a natural aquifer, and that its native landscape provides critical habitats for wildlife, including gardens, butterflies, and wildlife conservation activities, along with plants and compost for sale and First Friday Extended Hours. The Friends of Shipley Nature Center notes that the center was formed to provide environmental education in an urban setting in partnership with the local community and the wider world, and acknowledges that it is on the ancestral lands of the Tongva and Acjachemen People whose community members are still neighbors today. In the event of heavy forecasted rain or wind, the center might be closed.
Last updated July 12, 2026.
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