Educational Experiences
Come enjoy the Monterey Zoo, where education meets excitement! We offer a diverse array of educational presentations designed to captivate and inform audiences of all ages. Whether you visit us at the zoo or invite us to your school or event, our goal is to foster learning about wildlife in an interactive way. From our Safari Camp for young explorers to rewarding volunteer positions and internships, there are countless ways to connect with nature.
Come to the Zoo!
The Monterey Zoo offers a variety of educational presentations at our facility. Presentations are fun, safe, and educational lectures and demonstrations that can be tailored to different age groups. They can also include a private guided tour of the zoo with one of our keepers.
Guided visits can be tailored to accommodate specific animal subjects or curriculums your school may be studying at the time or can include an all-around zoo visit to learn a little something about all our Monterey Zoo “wild things”
School and large-organized groups receive a discounted entrance fee upon making a reservation to visit. To reserve a visit for your school or group, contact us at education@montereyzoo.org. After making your reservation, please download and review our Fieldtrip Arrival Guidelines below to assure the safety of your students and the animals at Monterey Zoo. We also ask that teachers, parents, chaperones and group leaders review our visitor guidelines on this website to assure the health and well-being of all our visitors and animals.
Extra Fun
Extra bits for you and your kids to enjoy during your visit.
Want to make your visit to the zoo even more exciting and educational for the kids? Download and bring the below appropriate Walking Animal Quiz for them to complete on their visit. All answers are located on our signage or in the animal habitats. Fun, interactive and educational!
Answer Keys to each quiz can be obtained by parents at the zoo or by emailing our education department at:
If you’re home schooling, be sure to ask if your visit together with our quiz fulfills any of your child’s school curriculum requirements.
Yet another fun way to enhance everyone’s zoo experience is to bring your mobile device (with headphones if possible) to scan the many QR-Codes we’ve placed throughout the zoo so you can watch a short video on the animals you’re seeing.
Come join us at the zoo for a week long summer camp!
The Monterey Zoo summer camp encourages young people to appreciate and gain a better understanding of wildlife through direct interaction with the animals as well as games, arts and crafts, lectures, demonstrations and other exciting activities. All campers receive a camp T-shirt and individual photograph with a very special and very large zoo animal. Camp is designed for children between the ages of 7-12, and runs daily for a week, 10:0 0 AM – 3:00 PM.
This year’s camp dates are Monday thru Friday ~ June 9-13, June 23-27 and July 7-11 of 2025.
To register a camper, please complete the registration packet and return to education@montereyzoo.org or drop completed form off at the Monterey Zoo lobby where you can pay for your registration. You’ll be contacted at your registered phone number for payment arrangements if you send in your registration via email. These camps are limited in space and do fill up quickly so we hope you’ll register soon, we’re looking forward to meeting your kids on safari.
Roar and Smores -Dinner and Campfire
Add another layer of excitement to your child’s week long zoo adventure. Roar and Smores gives kids and their family the opportunity to enjoy some evening time “together” at the zoo. All experience a nocturnal flashlight safari, a campfire dinner with the zoo staff, games and fireside snack as well participating in our Crunch Time Big Cat feeding tour and our Rhino Bedtime. Roar and Smores dates typically happen the Friday night of each camp week if enough participants sign up for the activity. This is not a sleep-over, children do go home after this event. Our goal is for this event to be one that parents will share and enjoy ~ with their kids. We do our best to make it enjoyable by all.
Volunteering and interning at the zoo is rewarding and inspiring, but it does take dedication.
Several schools and animal related programs have sanctioned Monterey Zoo for student internships. Students are accepted as interns upon the recommendation of those schools or programs. Volunteers can apply at any time and will be accepted into our programs only after a successful in-person interview and after fulfilling our minimum requirements.
We depend on our volunteers and interns to help with the health and well-being of our animals. Most activities involve helping with the tremendous amount of maintenance required by a zoo although both may also assist in our daily feeding and cleaning under the supervision of our full-time staff. Often there is an opportunity for volunteers and interns to assist in training and social time, as safety and regulations permit.
Volunteers and interns must be 18 years of age and have health insurance.
Experience is required prior to having any contact with certain animals however experience is second in value to an animal loving heart and a respectable work ethic. Volunteers and interns must commit to a schedule and honor that commitment.
Finding Your Way to Monterey Zoo
Daily Hours are 10am-3pm, 7 days a week – including most holidays except Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day.
400 River Road
Salinas, CA 93908