Field Trip Opportunities

Guided programs are designed as interactive and hands-on learning experiences based on museum exhibits, where students use objects, inquiry, and critical thinking skills to discover, wonder, and reflect. Hands-on workshops are designed as sit-down, hands-on, in-depth learning experiences offered in conjunction with guided programs. A guided program or hands-on workshop is a content-rich, stand-alone experience; Pairing a guided program and hands-on workshop together provides a wonderful, two hour in-depth, enjoyable educational experience for students

Schedule a Program

Guided Programs

• Discover Native Americans (recommended for preK - 2nd grades)
  Discover the prehistoric Native Americans of Southwest Colorado through observing, matching, comparing, and sorting. This program includes time to explore the Museum's Discovery Corner.




• Dinosaur Discoveries (recommended for preK - 2nd grades)
  Discover different types of fossils and prehistoric plants and animals through observing, identifying, and comparing. This program includes time to explore the Museum's Discovery Corner.




• Insect Explorers: Grasshoppers and Bees (recommended for 2nd - 3rd grades)
  Explore the structure and life cycle of insects, focusing on grasshoppers and bees. One half of this program is spent in guided exploration of the exhibits, and one half is a sit down, hands-on workshop.




• Early Native Peoples of Colorado (recommended for 3rd - 5th grades)
  Discover and explore the diverse and unique life ways, landscape, and objects of the Ancestral Pueblo peoples (Anasazi) of southwest Colorado and the Four Corners area in this hands-on activity station-based guided program.




• Fossils: Evidence of the Past Life (recommended for 3rd - 5th)
  What are fossils, how do they form, and what can they tell us about past life? Learn how fossil plants and animals reveal clues to the past and explore how life has changed over time in this hands-on activity station-based guided program




• The Best of the CU Museum: Highlights of the Collection (recommended for 6th - 12th grades, and adults)
  The CU Museum has the largest natural history collection in the Rocky Mountain region with more than four million objects. Sample the best from each of the exhibit galleries in this hands-on, interactive exploration of the Museum.

Hands-on Workshops

• Pottery of the Prehistoric Southwest Workshop (recommended for 3rd - 5th grades)
  Learn the steps of ancient pottery making and examine prehistoric pottery designs and shapes as students create their own pot to take home.




• Fossils: Clues to the Past Workshop (recommended for 3nd - 5th grades)
  Discover different types of fossils and investigate how plants and animals become fossilized. Students use paleontology tools to excavate their own fossil to take home.




• Food Web Workshop (recommended for 3rd - 5th grades)
  Explore who eats what; Find out who is on the top of the food chain; And explore how food webs connect all living things. Students make their own plaster animal track to take home.




• Kinesthetic Connection Workshop (recommended for 6th - 12th grades, and adults)
  Discover, explore, and reflect on museum objects from the perspectives of time, space and energy in a movement workshop specifically designed to complement the Best of the CU Museum: Highlights of the Collection guided program experience.

Self-Guided Visits
Reservations are required for self-guided visits to ensure a positive experience for your group and to avoid overcrowding in the Museum. When you make your reservation, please inquire about self-guided materials to enhance your visit. There is no charge for self-guided visits, but donations are welcome.