Walker School Tour Program
An Enriching, Expanded School Day
Broaden learning beyond your classroom through the arts! Walker School Tours are more than just a fun field trip or culminating activity—they’re an impactful source of support for your teaching efforts year-round. Designed by Museum Educators and Curriculum Specialists for students across the heartland and beyond, each tour offers a range of benefits for a unique experience:
Aligned with K-12 state curriculum standards, STEAM-friendly, and able to be tailored to your classroom’s needs.
Completely free of cost. We’ll even provide reimbursements for transportation and substitute teachers for on-site tours, and free sack lunches for guided tours.
Easy for teachers to coordinate and take away new strategies to use in their classrooms.
Engaging, accessible, and inclusive of all learning styles, offering memorable moments for students of all backgrounds and abilities to make creative connections with school subjects.All tours focus on four to five works of art and are themed around an essential question. Each tour stop uses a specific guiding question to scaffold the conversation back into the theme and standards of your classroom.
Guided School Tours
Let our expert Museum Educators guide your students through an unforgettable learning experience! Guided tours typically last one hour and, like all of our tours, are available throughout the year. Tours primarily use a process of student-centered exploration that is designed to deepen critical thinking and discussion skills. That process allows each tour to be conducted at the appropriate level for the class while still promoting student growth.
Thanks to the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, we offer reimbursement for transportation and a substitute to every school that signs up. Additionally, we can provide a free, nutritious sack lunch for each student.
Guided Tour FAQs
We encourage you to schedule your school tour visit as early as possible. In-gallery guided tours should be booked 4 – 6 weeks in advance. Slots fill quickly!
Yes! Any K-12 group, of any state, is eligible for the funding. Please, complete and submit the reimbursement form. Organizations associated with the school, such as an art club, also qualify. Community groups such as scouts do not qualify.
To provide a personalized experience for the students, groups are asked to divide into small groups of 18-22 students with 1-2 chaperones. Occasionally changes to the number of groups may need to be made on arrival, so please be flexible. If your group has less than 15 students, we may combine your group with another to increase access for all students.
We welcome all school groups, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and alternative learning students. Some accommodations available include EnChroma glasses, multisensory tours, braille labels, Spanish translations, assisted listening devices, and ASL interpretation. Please let us know about any accommodation requests at least one week prior to your visit. Additional accommodations can be made upon request.
School groups discuss 4-5 specific works of art related to the theme of the chosen tour. No museum overview is included. Temporary exhibitions also are not included, unless the tour focuses specifically on the exhibition.
We offer a new Workshop Add-On after a guided group completes their tour and lunch, which includes artmaking activities and/or age-appropriate demonstrations. Please indicate your interest in this when you book your tour.
If your group decides to explore the museum after the educational program, they are welcome to do so, but they need to remain in their small groups and must be chaperoned throughout the museum.
Please reach out to School.Programs@CrystalBridges.org.
Self-Guided School Tours
Choose your own adventure and go at your own pace! Self-guided museum tours are a flexible way for you to take your students to learn at Crystal Bridges. You can come at your own convenience, schedule your day as you need to, and still receive reimbursement for bus and substitute teacher costs as with guided tours.
Your arrival and departure depend only upon your schedule—if early arrival works best, come early before the museum opens to enjoy the sculpture trails. If you need to arrive later in the day, you can stay as long as you like within museum hours. Please note your group will be responsible for their own lunches and will not be led by our Museum Educators.
Self-Guided Tour FAQs
We encourage you to schedule your school tour visit as early as possible. Self-guided tours should be booked at least two weeks in advance. Slots fill quickly.
Yes! Any K-12 group, of any state, is eligible for the funding. Please, complete and submit the reimbursement form. Organizations associated with the school, such as an art club, also qualify. Community groups such as scouts do not qualify.
Self-guided tour groups may be in the museum during public hours: 11 am to 6 pm weekdays (except Tuesdays when the museum is closed). Pre-opening tours are for guided groups only. If you arrive before the galleries open you are welcome to explore our trails and outdoor sculptures, or wait in the lobby.
We welcome all school groups, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and alternative learning students. Some accommodations available include EnChroma glasses, multisensory tours, braille labels, Spanish translations, assisted listening devices, and ASL interpretation. Please let us know about any accommodation requests at least one week prior to your visit. Additional accommodations can be made upon request.
Please reach out to School.Programs@CrystalBridges.org.
Virtual School Tours
Bring the magic of Crystal Bridges straight to your classroom! Stimulate your students’ minds with the same art exploration and discussion you would enjoy on an on-site guided tour—this time with more flexibility and viewing possibilities.
Conducted on Zoom or Google Meet, virtual tours include an online presentation of artworks, special video clips and multimedia components, and an interactive conversation with one of our expert Museum Educators. You even have the option to request an in-person visit from a Museum Educator, who can lead multiple classrooms per day through virtual tours. Artworks on this tour are not limited to what’s currently on view in the galleries, and instead can focus on any piece in our collection—making for a dynamic, engaging, and expanded experience.
Tours typically last one hour, but can be modified to fit your class time.
Virtual School Tour FAQs
Virtual tours are flexible but should be booked two weeks in advance. Slots fill quickly. Please let us know your preference via our registration form.
Virtual tours are typically offered on Zoom or Google Meet. If you need a different platform, please include that information in your application or email us at School.Programs@CrystalBridges.org.
Please test your platform well before the start of the tour to ensure starting on time; however, you all need to login 5 minutes before the actual tour time.
We can accommodate any size group. If you have a large group, teach several classes, or are on an A/B schedule, we may recommend scheduling multiple dates and times for the best experience.
Each virtual school tour includes 3-4 works of art on the requested theme.
We welcome all school groups, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and alternative learning students. Some accommodations available include closed captioning, Spanish translations, and ASL interpretation. Please let us know about any accommodation requests at least one week prior to your visit. Additional accommodations can be made upon request.
School Tour Sponsors
