Milwaukee Public Museum is excited to welcome back schools for onsite education programs!
Below are our current offerings available to field trip groups.
Reserve an Educator
For a two-hour period of your choice, an Educator will be available to join you in an exhibit relating to one of the topics below with a variety of hands-on materials and resources. They’ll help you explore the exhibit, talk about specific displays, and answer questions!
Museum Academies
The Museum Academies program aims to highlight different fields of study, supported by the Museum collections, through hands-on learning experiences for middle and high schoolers. Each program has been designed with a STEM approach and will have multiple stations for students to actively engage with work conducted by Museum professionals.
Program topics will cover Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, and more!
REQUIREMENTS
- For middle and high school students
- Minimum of 10 students per program; maximum 25 students
- Groups that exceed 25 students require multiple reservations
- Pre-registration and adherence to chaperone policy
DURATION AND AVAILABILITY
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. (and 12:30 p.m. if needed for a larger school group)
COST
$4 per student, plus Museum admission
INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM TOPICS
Uncovering Artifacts
There are more than 4 million items in the Museum’s care! We will learn the difference between an artifact and a specimen while going on a journey to see the process of how artifacts go from being collected to displayed on the exhibit floors.
Ancient Engineering
Have you ever wondered how ancient civilizations built complex cities? Join us as we think like civil engineers to understand how the Maya civilization used their environment to create vast city-states.
Support for Museum Academies provided by:
EXHIBIT TOURS
Exhibit Tours are led by highly trained Museum docents. These tours complement classroom lessons by offering students the ability to explore real objects, both hands-on and through exhibit displays.
Requirements
- Minimum of 10 students per program; maximum 25
- Groups that exceed 25 students require multiple reservations
- Pre-registration and adherence to chaperone policy
Duration and Availability
Weekdays (excluding Tuesdays), 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.; 50 minutes
Cost
$4 per student, plus Museum admission
Program Topics
Grades 1-3
- Biodiversity and Climate
- Discover the Animals of Wisconsin: Learn about the many animals that call Wisconsin home through our exhibits and hands-on artifacts.
- Amazing Butterflies: Explore the fascinating life cycle and adaptations of butterflies.
- Let’s Travel to the Arctic: Learn how the Arctic climate shaped the unique adaptations of its native animals and the lifeways of Arctic peoples.
- Who Lives in the Rainforest: Explore how climate impacts the daily life of different animals and plants in the rainforest.
- Native American Tours
- Wisconsin’s First Peoples: Explore the long history and current lifeways of the Native American communities of Wisconsin.
- From the Desert to the Ocean - Comparing Diverse Ecosystems: Explore how Native American communities have adapted to and thrived in diverse environments over thousands of years.
Grades 4-6
- Science
- Tropical Rainforest Journey: Let’s explore the amazing climate and life of one of the most diverse places on Earth.
- Geology and Fossils of The Third Planet: Explore how the Earth formed and changed over time to support life in all its diversity, with a special emphasis on Wisconsin’s unique geological past.
- History
- Streets of Old Milwaukee Past and Present: Look at life in Milwaukee during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and see how it has changed over the years.
- Exploring the Ancient World - Crossroads of Civilization: Discover how people lived thousands of years ago in Greece, Rome, and Egypt through the artifacts they left behind.
- Native American Tours
- Wisconsin’s First Peoples: Explore the long history and current lifeways of the Native American communities of Wisconsin.
- From the Desert to the Ocean - Comparing Diverse Ecosystems: Explore how Native American communities have adapted to and thrived in diverse environments over thousands of years.
Other areas and grade levels may be available; please contact our reservations department to make a special request.
EARLY LEARNING
The Early Learning program at MPM is an expertly designed program that employs developmentally appropriate teaching strategies for 4- and 5-year-old students while demonstrating engaging techniques that teachers and parents/ guardians can utilize to extend the learning experience with their children beyond the Museum.
For the first time in MPM’s history, the Early Learning program can be delivered bilingually in Spanish or fully in Spanish, per schools’ requests.
Requirements
- This program is for K4 and K5 students
- Minimum of 10 students per program; maximum 25 students
- Groups that exceed 25 students require multiple reservations
- Pre-registration and adherence to chaperone policy
Duration and Availability
- The program is offered on Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. (and 12:30 p.m. if needed for a larger school group)
- Programs can be delivered in Spanish or English
Cost
- $4 per student, plus Museum admission
Calendar of Program Topics and Descriptions
- January: Dinosaurs or Arctic Adventure
- February-March: Dinosaurs or Animals of Africa
- April-June: Dinosaurs, Insect Investigations, or Butterfly Science
- Dinosaurs: Stand eye-to-eye with the dinosaurs and handle bones and fossils as we learn about life more than 65 million years ago. From the Torosaurus to the T. rex, we will explore the wonderful world of dinosaurs.
- Arctic Adventure: Learn about the habitats of the Arctic and the animals who thrive in this remote part of the world.
- Animals of Africa: Africa is home to many different habitats, including the savannah grasslands, wetlands, and rainforest. We'll walk through the exhibit learning about the animals who live in various environments.
- Insect Investigations: We use live specimens to compare adaptations and habitats of bugs from around the globe.
- Butterfly Science: The life cycle of the butterfly is the key component to this program. We use various science tools to examine butterfly wings up close and do an activity that answers the question "are butterfly wings waterproof?"