Hatfield Marine Science Center Summer Programs
Hatfield Marine Science Center, 2030 SE Marine Science Dr, Newport, OR 97365
About
Hatfield Marine Science Center Summer Programs include activities such as discovering marine life, exploring habitats, conducting experiments, and meeting real scientists. Participants may take part in tidepool exploration, squid dissection and printing, coastal explorations, an underwater robot design challenge, speedy science, visitor center exploration, and visits to the Whale Watching Center to observe local pinnipeds, explore the migration journey of humpback whales, and examine a real whale skeleton. Some sessions investigate sea otter reintroduction efforts, explore tidepools at Seal Rock, investigate crabs and other species between the tides, practice quadrat surveys, conduct biodiversity studies, dig into estuary habitats, search for mole crabs along South Beach, look for freshwater crayfish, and take a closer look at diverse crustaceans using dissections, experiments, and simulation games.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer Family Fun Fridays are 2-hour programs, and summer day camps run Monday through Thursday, 9 am–3 pm
• Price: Summer Family Fun Fridays cost $15 per participant per 2-hour program; visitor center exploration tickets are $5 per person; summer day camps cost $200 per student and include instructional materials and a T-shirt, with lunches not included
Additional activities include touring research labs and local fish docks and hearing how scientists design and conduct fish experiments. Some programs engage participants in crafts and creative hands-on activities, exploring local coastal habitats such as tidepools, estuaries, coastal forests, and beaches through a creative lens, learning about patterns in nature like camouflage and the Fibonacci sequence, pressing plants, making sun-prints with natural items, creating clay sculptures and 3D scenes, helping clean up a local beach, and turning plastic trash into art. Summer day camps are offered for youth 8 to 18 years old, and family programs are offered for all ages, with programs fit for all ages but with younger children possibly needing extra assistance during certain tasks. Due to popular demand, there are two options for 11–12 and 8–10 year old camps with the same content, and the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center offers hands-on learning such as touching a sea star, petting an anemone, and driving a research vessel simulator. Registration for Family Fun Fridays requires registering an adult guardian first as the primary adult, with additional adults and children registered individually, pre-registration is encouraged, day-of registrations are accommodated as space allows, and visitor center exploration is not included in program fees and requires separate tickets purchased at the door.
Oregon Sea Grant, which runs these programs, was established at Oregon State University in 1971, after Congress established the national Sea Grant program in 1966, and it has received funding yearly since 1968. Oregon Sea Grant envisions a future of thriving coastal communities and ecosystems in Oregon and states that it sparks discovery, understanding, and collaboration to foster healthy and resilient coastal communities and ecosystems. It is a cooperative program between NOAA and Oregon State University, with Oregon State University as the primary non-federal fiscal partner, and it relies on collaborators and partners including local governments, agencies, industry, philanthropy, and a community advisory council of Oregon residents and community leaders. Oregon Sea Grant is one of 34 programs within NOAA’s Sea Grant College Program and was one of the first four Sea Grant College Programs designated in the nation. It collaborates with community, industry and conservation groups, researchers, teachers and students, tribes, resource managers and political leaders, addresses strategic issues through research, extension services, projects, and public education, and identifies four focus areas: environmental literacy and workforce development, healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and resilient communities and economies, while stating values of community, integrity, sustainability, partnerships, and innovation.
Last updated June 12, 2026.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer Family Fun Fridays are 2-hour programs, and summer day camps run Monday through Thursday, 9 am–3 pm
• Price: Summer Family Fun Fridays cost $15 per participant per 2-hour program; visitor center exploration tickets are $5 per person; summer day camps cost $200 per student and include instructional materials and a T-shirt, with lunches not included
Additional activities include touring research labs and local fish docks and hearing how scientists design and conduct fish experiments. Some programs engage participants in crafts and creative hands-on activities, exploring local coastal habitats such as tidepools, estuaries, coastal forests, and beaches through a creative lens, learning about patterns in nature like camouflage and the Fibonacci sequence, pressing plants, making sun-prints with natural items, creating clay sculptures and 3D scenes, helping clean up a local beach, and turning plastic trash into art. Summer day camps are offered for youth 8 to 18 years old, and family programs are offered for all ages, with programs fit for all ages but with younger children possibly needing extra assistance during certain tasks. Due to popular demand, there are two options for 11–12 and 8–10 year old camps with the same content, and the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center offers hands-on learning such as touching a sea star, petting an anemone, and driving a research vessel simulator. Registration for Family Fun Fridays requires registering an adult guardian first as the primary adult, with additional adults and children registered individually, pre-registration is encouraged, day-of registrations are accommodated as space allows, and visitor center exploration is not included in program fees and requires separate tickets purchased at the door.
Oregon Sea Grant, which runs these programs, was established at Oregon State University in 1971, after Congress established the national Sea Grant program in 1966, and it has received funding yearly since 1968. Oregon Sea Grant envisions a future of thriving coastal communities and ecosystems in Oregon and states that it sparks discovery, understanding, and collaboration to foster healthy and resilient coastal communities and ecosystems. It is a cooperative program between NOAA and Oregon State University, with Oregon State University as the primary non-federal fiscal partner, and it relies on collaborators and partners including local governments, agencies, industry, philanthropy, and a community advisory council of Oregon residents and community leaders. Oregon Sea Grant is one of 34 programs within NOAA’s Sea Grant College Program and was one of the first four Sea Grant College Programs designated in the nation. It collaborates with community, industry and conservation groups, researchers, teachers and students, tribes, resource managers and political leaders, addresses strategic issues through research, extension services, projects, and public education, and identifies four focus areas: environmental literacy and workforce development, healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and resilient communities and economies, while stating values of community, integrity, sustainability, partnerships, and innovation.
Last updated June 12, 2026.
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