Bakersfield Field Trips Guide

Field Trip Categories In And Around Bakersfield

Museums, Tours, And Local Landmarks

Kern County Museum
Kern County Museum is an outdoor history campus where more than 50 historic buildings and structures have been assembled across roughly 16 acres. Instead of reading about a vanished Bakersfield, students can walk past a one-room school, homes, businesses, transportation artifacts, and oil-industry equipment; one of the most memorable structures is the converted railroad boxcar associated with country musician Merle Haggard's childhood. The museum is especially useful for grades 3 through 8 studying migration, agriculture, petroleum, community growth, and everyday life. Families should treat the grounds like a neighborhood and compare how people worked, learned, traveled, and lived in different periods. Because so much is outdoors, weather and walking time matter when planning a school visit.
Street Address: 3801 Chester Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93301
Web Address: https://kerncountymuseum.org/

California Living Museum
California Living Museum, usually called CALM, is a zoo and botanical garden devoted primarily to plants and animals native to California. That focus makes it different from a conventional world zoo: students may see black bears, mountain lions, birds of prey, reptiles, and other species while also studying native vegetation and the habitats of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Many resident animals cannot be returned to the wild, which opens a useful discussion about rehabilitation, human-wildlife conflict, and what a sanctuary or educational zoo can do that a wildlife release program cannot. Preschool and elementary children enjoy direct animal observation; middle school students can compare desert, foothill, wetland, and woodland adaptations. Families should leave time for the grounds rather than hurrying only between the most charismatic animals.
Street Address: 10500 Alfred Harrell Hwy, Bakersfield, CA 93306
Web Address: https://calmzoo.org/

Murray Family Farms
Murray Family Farms turns a working Central Valley farm into a seasonal lesson in where food comes from. Depending on the time of year, visitors may encounter orchards, berries, pumpkins, citrus, vegetables, farm animals, wagon rides, and harvest-oriented activities, so the educational content changes with the agricultural calendar. Young children can compare fruits, seeds, flowers, and animal care; older students can discuss pollination, irrigation, labor, crop choice, soil, marketing, and why California's climate supports such a wide range of produce. The farm is most valuable when a class arrives with one crop to trace from plant to market rather than treating the visit solely as a play day. School groups should verify which fields and educational activities are operating during their chosen season because harvest schedules, heat, and weather directly affect what can be seen.
Street Address: 6700 General Beale Rd, Bakersfield, CA 93307
Web Address: https://murrayfamilyfarms.org/

Science, STEM, And Discovery

Buena Vista Museum of Natural History & Science
Buena Vista Museum began with fossils from the nearby Sharktooth Hill area, one of California's important Miocene fossil sites, and that local connection still gives the museum a distinctive identity. Its paleontology and geology collections help students imagine a time when marine animals occupied environments very different from today's southern San Joaquin Valley. Additional displays extend into anthropology, biology, and earth science, but the strongest field-trip question is why shark teeth and other marine fossils are found near Bakersfield at all. Upper elementary through high school groups can connect fossils to changing sea levels, sediment, evolution, and geologic time; younger children will be drawn to skulls, teeth, and reconstructed animals. The museum's compact size makes it practical for focused school visits rather than an exhausting all-day stop.
Street Address: 2018 Chester Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93301
Web Address: https://www.sharktoothhill.org/

Arts, Culture, And Performance

Bakersfield Museum of Art
Bakersfield Museum of Art has served the southern San Joaquin Valley for more than six decades and focuses heavily on changing exhibitions rather than one encyclopedic permanent collection. California artists, regional work, photography, contemporary art, and selections from the museum's own holdings rotate through the galleries, while an outdoor sculpture garden extends the visit beyond the building. That makes the museum especially useful for teaching students how a small regional museum can reflect its community rather than trying to imitate a giant national institution. Elementary groups can practice slow looking and sketching; middle and high school students can compare curatorial themes, artistic media, and Central Valley identity. Teachers should check the current exhibition lineup before visiting so the field-trip questions name the artists actually on view.
Street Address: 1930 R St, Bakersfield, CA 93301
Web Address: https://www.bmoa.org/

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