Padilla Bay Reserve offers educational programs for a variety of audiences including school classes, civic groups, college classes, scouts, and adult groups, as well as public programs for individuals and family groups, and teacher training workshops.

K-12 educational programs include classes, workshops, lectures, slide shows, videos, tours of the exhibits, and hands-on laboratory and field work. Topics covered by K-12 education programs include basic estuarine awareness, introduction to estuarine ecology, exploration of the mud flats, plankton sampling, human development, and habitats. A Padilla Bay Curriculum is available for teachers use.

Public programs, including Mini Explorers, Junior Ecologists, Mud Flat Safaris, and Beach Seines, offer stories, games, hands-on activities, songs and crafts, mud flat explorations.  Topics covered by public programs include estuarine basics, estuary biology and ecology, marine algae, bird identification, and native plants.

The reserve’s Climate Stewards is a new adult volunteer training program in which citizens receive training about climate change and complete community stewardship programs designed to reduce carbon emissions.