Nature on the Go
Experience the Nature Museum up close from your very own classroom or schoolyard!
- Time of Year
- All School Year
- Location
- At Your School
- Grades
- Pre-K to 12th
This program brings an experienced museum educator to you to lead your students through an inquiry-based education program with a focus on local species and habitats. All classrooms that participate in Nature on the Go will also receive a $150 field trip bus reimbursement to bring their class to the Nature Museum to continue their learning and exploration.
Outdoor workshops (designated by 🍂) are available from March 15 through November 15. Please note that outdoor workshops will be taught rain or shine (excluding dangerous weather conditions). Please make sure that you and your students are dressed appropriately and prepared to spend 45 minutes outdoors.
Explore our workshop options below, or click the button to register your classroom.
Pre-K & K Workshops
Explore the outdoors around your school as a naturalist! Using senses as their tools, students will discover the sights, sounds, touches, and smells of nature in the schoolyard. Please note, this is an outdoor workshop.
NGSS: ESS3
How can you tell if two plants are the same or different? Students will observe a variety of real leaves and flowers in order to compare and contrast parts of different plants. Students will use those observations to sort plant parts into different categories.
NGSS: LS1
Why do different animals have different coverings? Explore different animal coverings by observing preserved specimens from the Nature Museum’s collections. Students will use clues in a short story along with their own observations to match animals to their coverings.
NGSS: LS1
Grades 1-2 Workshops
Observe and explore the outdoors around your school as a naturalist! Students will investigate the different plants and animals that call your schoolyard home, and learn more about what they need to survive. Please note, this is an outdoor workshop.
NGSS: ESS3
Observe live insects from the Nature Museum’s collections! Students will learn more about the ways that these animals move, eat and protect themselves from danger. Each student will have the opportunity to compare and contrast several different live insects.
NGSS: LS1, ESS3
Grades 3-5 Workshops
Explore and sample the nature around your school as a naturalist! Students will use a variety of sampling techniques to learn more about the living things that call your schoolyard home and the ways they interact with their urban environment! Please note, this is an outdoor workshop.
NGSS: LS4.D
Meet two live reptiles from the Nature Museum’s collections! Students will observe the animals’ features and movements and use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast the animals’ bodies, behaviors, and habitats.
NGSS: LS1, LS3, LS4
Each one hour program includes local specimens from the Nature Museum’s collections and is led by an experienced Museum Educator. Students will observe and learn from preserved specimens such as nests, pinned insects and mammal study skins. Teachers can choose to focus on structure and function or life cycles and development.
NGSS: LS1
Grades 6-8 Workshops
Explore and sample the biodiversity around your school as a naturalist! Students will use techniques from community science programs to record the biodiversity of your very own schoolyard and investigate the impacts that humans can have on their environment. Please note, this is an outdoor workshop.
NGSS: LS2.C
Each one hour program includes local specimens from the Nature Museum’s collections and is led by an experienced Museum Educator. Students will observe and learn from preserved specimens such as nests, pinned insects and mammal study skins.
NGSS: LS2.D
Grades 9-12 Workshops
Explore and sample the biodiversity around your school as a naturalist! Students will use techniques from community science programs to record the biodiversity of your very own schoolyard and investigate the impacts that humans can have on their environment. Please note, this is an outdoor workshop.
NGSS: LS2.C
Each one hour program includes local specimens from the Nature Museum’s collections and is led by an experienced Museum Educator. Students will observe and learn from preserved specimens such as nests, pinned insects and mammal study skins.
NGSS: LS4.C
Cost and Payment
$275 for one workshop; $225 for additional workshops at the same school, on the same day. Workshops must be consecutive (no more than 30 minutes between programs). Distance limitations apply.
To ensure the quality of the hands-on experience, schools may not combine multiple classrooms into one workshop.
Pre-K workshops – maximum of 20 participants per workshop. Kindergarten through 12th grade workshops – maximum of 30 participants per workshop.
Payment or an open PO is due 14 days before the date of the program or programs will be cancelled.
For more information or special requests, or to cancel a scheduled Nature on the Go program, please email natureonthego@naturemuseum.org.
Experience nature and science up close with a trip to the Nature Museum.