Book a tour.
field trip
The Leonis Adobe Museum is a historical monument and living history museum dedicated to restoring, preserving, and sharing California ranch life in the late 1880s. We educate thousands of students each year with our award-winning school tours. We would love to help you enrich your curriculum and look forward to meeting you and your students!
Winner of the 2014 CAM
Superintendent's Award for
Excellence in Museum Education
Step 1: Pick a tour and date with the above form and enter your contact information. Once you’ve entered all the information, your tour request has been submitted.
Step 2: You will get an email with a form to fill out more information - such as school/group name, grade level, class/group size(s), etc. Once this has been filled out and submitted your request will be ready for review.
Step 3: Museum staff will review your information and determine if we are able to schedule your tour based on your needs. You will get an email once your tour has been approved, and you will receive an invoice for the tour. If we are unable to accommodate your tour based on your initial request you will receive an email saying your request was denied. You are welcome to pick another date or reach out to see if there’s a way to accommodate you.
Step 4: Once approved, a non-refundable $50 deposit is due in order to officially book your date. The deposit is due upon receiving confirmation of your tour. This amount goes towards your final amount. The remainder can be paid at any time, or on the day of your tour. We accept cash, credit cards, and checks made out to the Leonis Adobe Museum.
Before You Book
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Rancho Tour
The Rancho Tour has a minimum of 45 students. If you have less than this, please feel free to submit a request and we will do our best to combine your visit with another small school to meet our minimum. Please note, schools will be kept separate but will be on the property at the same time.
The Rancho Tour has a maximum of 90 students per day. If your group size exceeds 90 then you will be able to split your visit into two days.
Chumash Tour
The Chumash Tour has a minimum of 35 students per day. If you have close to this number feel free to submit a request and we will see if we can accommodate you in some way. Please note the Chumash Tour operates on a specific number of staff, so we may not be able to accommodate below the minimum.
The Chumash Tour has a maximum of 65 students per day. If your group size exceeds 65 then you will be able to split your visit into two days.
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Rancho Tour
You will be assigned a group number based on your class size. You can bring as many chaperones as there are groups, not more.
Chumash Tour
There are 5 groups in the Chumash Tour, so you may bring up to 5 chaperones per tour.
There is no fee for chaperones to attend the tour. Chaperones are expected to help with student behavior and management during the tour. Phones are not allowed at any point during the tour, and we do not allow photos or videos during the tour.
If these policies are broken, or behavior is considered unacceptable by the Tour Coordinator or Museum Director, then the chaperone may be asked to leave.
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Our tours have an arrival time of 9:15 a.m. with a start time of 9:30 a.m. If you cannot arrive at the start time, please let us know when filling out your booking information. However, we may not be able to accommodate your tour. Our timing is specific to the way we operate the tour, so please plan to arrive accordingly.
If you need to leave at a certain time frame that is not standard to the tour (2 hours approximately), then you need to let the Tour Coordinator know before the day of your tour.
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Phones are not allowed during the tour.
Photos and videos are not allowed to be taken during the tour.
Food is not allowed on the tour.
Talking between adults (chaperones, aides, teachers) must be kept to a minimum. If conversation is deemed disruptive by staff the individual may be asked to leave.
If staying for lunch, students must be monitored. No running or leaving the table areas.
Trash must be disposed of correctly in the bins. Trash may not be left anywhere else on the grounds.
Cancellations, changes, and other alterations to your booking must be made no later than 2 business days prior to your tour. Failure to provide appropriate notice will result in forfeiture of all paid fees.
Our Tours
The Rancho Tour
Our 2-hour Rancho Tour focuses on what life was like on an 1880s California rancho. During our hands-on tour students will grind corn, churn butter, press tortillas, try their hand at roping a "steer", do old fashioned laundry and make their own brand (grades 3 and up).
They will see the blacksmith shop and learn about its importance, as well as being guided through the barn, outbuildings and the historic Leonis Adobe House built in 1844. While learning about the Leonis family, students will experience first-hand the challenges families faced without electricity, running water and motorized transportation. They will pump water from the original well and view various forms of transportation that relied on wagons and buggies.
At the end of the tour, students can visit our gift shop or have lunch. Group photos can be taken once all groups have completed their stations.
field trip
The Chumash Tour
The Chumash Tour is a hands-on, interactive outdoor tour designed to bring the Chumash culture to life! Students will experience different aspects of Chumash life to help gain an understanding of the Native Chumash civilization.
Set in the Calabasas Creek Park, this program is geared specifically for Third Grade Students. The program consists of a 5-station tour which includes the storytelling of Chumash myths and legends inside a recreated 'ap (Chumash dwelling), learning about gathering and processing necessary plants for food and medicine, discussions on the traditional methods of hunting, gathering and fishing and making a Chumash inspired necklace while discussing manufacturing and trade. The students will also participate in a game of skill that village children would have played. Group photos can be taken once all groups have completed their stations.
The Chumash Tour is a fair-weather tour and in the event of rain, the tour is canceled with an opportunity to reschedule pending available dates.
The Private Tour
See the rancho and learn about its history from our knowledgeable tour guides. You’ll get to see the inside of the historic Adobe House, Plummer House, barn, tank house, bath house, and more. You can also see all of our ranch animals around the property. When you’re done you can even shop in our curated museum gift shop. The tour can be customized to suit your group’s needs based on size, ages, and interests. Tour length is approximately an hour, but can be modified based on your requests. Please note: the private tour does not have stations or activities like a school tour. If you’re interested in hands-on activities you can visit us during one of our special events. There is a minimum of 10 people for a private tour, and tours must be scheduled with at least 3 weeks advance notice. If you have less than 10 people and still wish to tour, you may do so provided you pay an additional fee to match our minimums.
Upcoming Tours & Events
Calendar
Take a Virtual Field Trip
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Ask your class these questions before or after your visit to the ranch!
How could we have light at night before electricity?
How could we preserve food without electric refrigerators or freezers?
How can we amuse ourselves without TV, radio, or electronic games?
How would we get to town in winter, when the unpaved roads are so muddy that our horse and wagon can't get through?
What did we use to pull plows in the field before we had tractors?
How did we learn in school when there are four grades in the same room, at the same time, with the same teacher?
How can we pump water to drink without an electric pump?
How can we get milk, butter, cheese and meat when we can't get to a store?
How could we heat our homes? How could we cool our homes?
How can we find time to do our ranch chores, feed the animals, clean out the stables and get our schoolwork done too?
Teacher Materials
Tour Policies:
Download the Museum Policy Guide here so you can share it with fellow teachers, chaperones, and your students.
Teacher Support Packets:
Teachers can provide these downloadable activity sheets as additional learning activities for their students either before or after visiting the Leonis Adobe Museum. Activity sheets are provided for both the Rancho and Chumash tours.
Leonis Adobe Downloadable Support Packets:
Need a Bus?
Through the generosity of our community and business partners, our museum has created the "Expedition for Education" program to help provide financial assistance for qualified schools seeking transportation to the Leonis Adobe Museum. Along with a separate school tour application, please submit the form below with a note as to why your school is a candidate for our scholarship. - We look forward to seeing you at the ranch!
Program Requirements:
We are offering this program not only to Title 1 schools, but also to those whose programs are underfunded and in need.
This scholarship is available for 4th grade classes only.
A tour must be scheduled separately via the above form before requesting a bus.
Buses must be filled to capacity (60-65 students per bus).
Scholarships are limited to $500 maximum.
Applicants must demonstrate a financial need.
At this time we cannot offer scholarships to schools who have received one within the past academic year.