Field Trips
Take your class on a field trip to Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where active research happens every day. The museum offers a variety of guided and self-paced educational tours designed to meet your curriculum needs as well as opportunities to meet museum scientists.
Field Trip Cost
Required chaperones and teachers are admitted free for field trips (1 adult for every 10 students) and additional chaperones can be included at a reduced admission rate. The cost per student includes general admission to Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History for the same day as the field trip visit. Costs listed below are applicable for groups of 10 students or more.
60-Minute Guided Tour - $9 per student
90-Minute Guided Program (Classroom Program and Tour) - $10 per student
Museum Quest (Self-Paced) - $9 per student. Students receive a Museum Quest to guide exploration of specific exhibits and practice critical thinking skills. To help direct your group, chaperones are given an answer guide, and gallery staff are available to help you explore the exhibitions.
Add a Self-Paced Tour to a Guided Tour - additional $2 per student
Behind-the-Scenes College Group - $25 per student. Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Carnegie Museum of Natural History collections. Availability and length of behind-the-scenes tours are dependent on the schedules of the scientific sections. See the group tours page for additional information.
Before you book
- Know that field trips must be booked four weeks in advance.
- Have a preferred date and back up dates.
- Have the number of children and adults attending your field trip.
- Know what programs you would like to schedule.
- Know if your group has any special requests, like lunchroom reservations, accessibility needs, or curriculum focus.
To request special disability accommodations for field trips, please contact Group Visits at 412.622.3289, or groupvisits@carnegiemuseums.org.
We have scholarship opportunities for schools and organizations that qualify. Apply for a scholarship for a group visit or field trip.
Field trips to Powdermill Nature Reserve are also available.
Field Trip Options
Sort the field trips below to learn more about the programs and educational tours offered for each grade level, topic, and style.
Reptiles: LIVE Add On!
Visit Reptiles: LIVE! to observe fascinating snakes, colorful lizards, amazing alligators and more. Living animals are housed in enclosures that mimic natural habitats from around the world. Available for a limited time October 20, 2018 – May 13, 2019.
Program format: Self-paced
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1, Grades 2-5, Grades 6-12 or College
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
All About Animals
Play "I Spy" with the museum's massive collection. Identify and learn about animals living in backyards and exotic ecosystems. Review animal adaptations for feeding, defense, and keeping warm along the way.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1 or Grades 2-5
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Lions and Plants and Bears, Oh My!
Go on an adventure through Africa and North America, discovering wildlife and plants in their natural habitats. Learn how organisms have adapted for survival.
Program format: Self-paced
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1 or Grades 2-5
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Biomes Across the Globe
Study the biomes that make up North America in the museum's historic wildlife halls, and compare them to environments across the globe. Examine the relationships between animals, plants, weather, and climate.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Explore Ecosystems
Put your observational skills to the test as you explore diverse habitats in classic museum dioramas. Compare and contrast animal and plant adaptations in arctic, desert, and grasslands environments.
Program format: Self-paced
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Animal Adaptations
Explore biomes, food webs, and predator-prey relationships as you discover adaptations of animals in diverse ecosystems throughout the museum's dioramas and exhibit materials.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Biomes: Climate and the Environment
Trace crucial links among animals, plants, and the biomes they inhabit, and discover the vital role that climate plays in these relationships. Review dioramas depicting diverse environments, and use evidence to infer how organisms respond to environmental change.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12 or College
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Form and Function
Handle real animal skulls from our education collection, observe their physical features, and draw inferences to the biology and behavior of living animals. Use interpretive skills in exhibition halls to explain how inherited structures help organisms survive and reproduce in different environments.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Furs, Feathers, Scales
Make connections between physical structures and biological functions by examining patterns in fur, feathers, and scales using state-of-the-art stereomicroscopes.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Adaptations and Ecosystems
Explore the museum’s wildlife dioramas in-depth, and discover the relationships between animals and plants across varied biomes. Examine adaptations for hunting, defense, and reproduction across diverse species using interactive museum exhibit materials.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: College
Subject: Ecosystems and Environment
Dino Dig
Explore dinosaur diversity throughout the Mesozoic Era in the museum's famous exhibition hall, Dinosaurs in Their Time. Touch real fossils, and wrap a plaster fossil cast to take home.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1 or Grades 2-5
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Dinosaurs and Friends
Use age-appropriate observation, movement, and imagination to compare modern animals—including people—to dinosaurs and other creatures of the Mesozoic in the museum's famous Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition hall.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Geology
Discover how rocks and minerals reveal the history of Earth in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems and other must-see museum spots. Discuss the processes of geology, like the rock cycle and fossilization, and the formation of geologic natural resources from building stones to fossil fuels.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Rock On
Examine specimens from our educational collection in the classroom and compare them with our world-famous displays in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. This extended tour includes extra time for hands-on experiments that introduce the rock cycle and properties of minerals.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Rock Hounds
Discover the geological process of rock formation and the properties of minerals that make up rocks. Conduct hands-on experiments to test the chemical and physical properties of minerals.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Rockin’ Around
Use colors and shapes as clues to guide an investigation throughout our world-renowned rocks and minerals collection in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. Learn about the properties of these brightly colored specimens along the way.
Program format: Self-paced
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1 or Grades 2-5
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
The World of Dinosaurs
Investigate how animals, climates, and ecosystems change over time. Examine the process of fossilization, and learn what fossils reveal about the lives of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Climate Change: Then and Now
Compare prehistoric and contemporary climate change, focusing on the adaptive responses of plants and animals in their habitats. Use real data and evidence to think about environmental change, and learn how scientists study these phenomena.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12 or College
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Evolution of Life
Utilize the museum's collection to review how animals, climates, and ecosystems change over time. Discuss geologic time, adaptation, and natural selection as you examine fossils and explore the museum's dioramas.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12 or College
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
Geology
Discover how rocks and minerals reveal the history of Earth in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems and other must-see museum spots. Discuss the processes of geology, like the rock cycle and fossilization, and the formation of geologic natural resources from building stones to fossil fuels.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12 or College
Subject: Paleontology and Geology
American Indians: Where Do You Live?
Learn how the traditional clothing, food, homes, and lifestyle of the Tlingit, Hopi, Lakota, and Iroquois were influenced by the environment in the Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1
Subject: Social Studies
American Indians: What's in a House?
Examine artifacts from the Tlingit, Hopi, Lakota, and Iroquois cultures, and learn how natural resources influenced everyday life. Handle real artifacts, and identify geographical regions.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Pre K-Grade 1 or Grades 2-5
Subject: Social Studies
American Indians: Living with Nature
Learn about the places where four diverse Native American cultures lived—the northwest coast, the southwest desert, the midwest plains, and the northeast woodlands. Review the similarities and differences between the cultures of the Native Americans in these regions and how their environments may have impacted their lives.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5
Subject: Social Studies
Diverse Cultures
Compare and contrast food, clothing, and shelter between your everyday experience and the diverse indigenous cultures represented in Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians and Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life. Analyze artifacts and museum dioramas to discover how cultures are shaped by unique natural resources in different geographic locations.
Program format: Self-paced
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Social Studies
Life in Ancient Egypt
Travel to the banks of the Nile River, and discuss how artifacts from Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt help depict what life was like in the time of pharaohs.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Social Studies
Three Cultures
Look at the similarities and differences among indigenous cultures across the globe and throughout history in Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life, Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, and Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Social Studies
American Indians: Treasures and Traditions
Explore the cultural heritage of four diverse Native American cultures in Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians. Discuss different cultural traditions and how they have changed over the past 100 years.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 6-12
Subject: Social Studies
Egyptian Archaeology
Learn what mummies, treasures, and everyday objects reveal about daily life in ancient Egyptian society. Analyze replica artifacts, and learn about hieroglyphs.
Program format: 90-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Social Studies
American Indians: Treasures and Traditions
Familiarize yourself with the cultural heritage of four diverse Native American cultures. Discover how unique regional ecosystems shape the traditional and modern culture of diverse societies, including the Tlingit of the northwest coast, Hopi of the southwest, Lakota of the plains, and the Iroquois of the northeast.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: College
Subject: Anthropology
Life in Ancient Egypt
Explore the geography and history of the Nile, and analyze artifacts that reveal intricate details of daily life and belief systems in ancient Egypt.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: College
Subject: Anthropology
Three Cultures
Look at the similarities and differences among indigenous cultures across the globe and throughout history in Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life, Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, and Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: College
Subject: Anthropology
Pennsylvania Natural History
Learn about Pennsylvania geology, wildlife, and native cultures in Benedum Hall of Geology, the Hall of North American Wildlife, and Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: Grades 2-5 or Grades 6-12
Subject: Pennsylvania Interdisciplinary
Pennsylvania Natural History
Observe evidence of how the landscape and inhabitants of Pennsylvania have been influenced by natural resources, leading to vast changes across millennia. Investigate the geological history of Pennsylvania, examine the intricate detail of Pennsylvania’s plants and animals in the museum's classic dioramas, and learn about current scientific research and conservation efforts that are impacting our local ecosystems.
Program format: 60-Minute Guided
Age Group: College
Subject: Pennsylvania Interdisciplinary
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