Bring your class to the Michigan History Museum for fun and learning! Our field trip experiences and programs are an excellent supplement to your classroom instruction.
The general visit is a self-guided tour of the museum's permanent exhibits. Plan approximately 90 minutes for the visit.
Typically, arrivals are scheduled every 15 minutes, in class size groupings. If several classrooms from the same school plan to visit together, arrival time may be staggered to avoid overcrowding in the museum.
Please be advised that the museum is busiest during the spring. We encourage teachers and other group leaders to plan your visit for other times of the year when your group can get the most out of the museum experience.
Teachers are allowed and encouraged to create activities for the students to complete during their visit. Please be advised that the exhibitions and artifacts on display change seasonally and may affect teacher-created materials. Teachers who wish to visit the museum to develop materials before their class visit may do so free of charge by contacting our Visitor Services team at 517-335-2581.
A knowledgeable volunteer docent will lead your class through Michigan history, from the end of the last ice age through the mid 20th century. The tour pays particular attention to Michigan's Anishinaabe people through the Statehood era. The tour meets Michigan social studies learning standards. Guided tours are limited to a minimum of 10 and maximum of 30 students, and last approximately 90 minutes.
Visit our preparing for your field trip page for more information on museum amenities and rules.
Updated 08/30/2021
The Michigan History Museum offers five different hour-long programs, taught by a volunteer docent or staff educator, each themed around an aspect of Michigan's early history:
The lessons are geared toward an upper elementary age audience, particularly 3rd and 4th grade, to align with the Michigan social studies education standards. These lessons can be reserved for a minimum of 10 students and a maximum of 30, not including teachers or chaperones.
Created in in 1999 by Margaret Holtschlag, Teacher of the Year 2000, the BIG Lesson concept is a study trip that is longer in length and able to have more meaningful and thorough learning than a typical one-day field trip. In the BIG Lesson model, teachers bring their students to community resources – such as the Michigan History Museum as well as nature centers, zoo’s, and science museums – to create an immersive learning experience for their students to study extensively all that that place has to offer over a number of days. By spending five consecutive days in one place there is time for teachers to lead project-based, problem-based, and placed-based learning for their students, as well as opportunity for integration of other subjects. View the full overview of the program here.
Changing the concept of the traditional field trip to an all-day, all-week interdisciplinary study trip, this experience includes:
Parents are actively involved in the learning activities and assistance to teacher. The learning before and after the BIG Lesson week expands with research projects and connections to curriculum.
Foundational practices of the BHL that teachers will be trained to implement:
Other program details to note:
How to apply
Program contact
Teachers have asked us for information about how to get help with covering the costs of field trips to the Michigan History Museum. We've learned of the following.
Visit Michiganology's Stories Archive for grade level articles about Michigan history.
