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.
Workshop Add-On
In preparation for our upcoming gallery and studio expansion, we are piloting add–on experiences that complement and enhance our K-12 tours. These hour-long workshops are completely free and take place after the guided tour and lunch. Activities will vary depending on your tour, but could include individual or group artmaking as well as age–appropriate demonstrations. Workshops are available August 14-October 18, 2024, and January 2-March 14, 2025, depending on your preferred date and time. Please indicate your interest in a workshop when you book your tour.
Seasonal & Special Tours
Get in the Game: Exploring Sports Through Art
In this dynamic K–12 field trip experience, students will explore how sports and art intersect through powerful themes like identity, teamwork, and innovation. Featuring artwork from contemporary and historical artists, Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture invites students to reflect on the cultural impact of athletics while engaging in inquiry-driven gallery conversations and interactive learning. The experience supports curriculum standards across grade levels and encourages students to make personal and interdisciplinary connections between art, history, and the world of sports.
Whole Health Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Using the spaces within Heartland Whole Health Institute, students will practice exercises like slow looking, stream of consciousness writing, guided reflection, and active listening that will allow for deeper connection with themselves and the world around them.
Career Tour
Step behind the scenes with Crystal Bridges staff to look at the variety of careers it takes to keep the museum open and running smoothly. From culinary to accounting, graphic design to horticulture, the career possibilities are endless. Educators will be provided with a list of careers to request from so we can tailor the tour to your students’ interests and career goals.
Mindfulness Tour
Today’s fast-paced world often causes students to struggle to slow down and notice the beauty of the world around them. The practice of mindfulness and slow looking at art can help combat this struggle and foster a sense of personal well-being. Crystal Bridges offers students the tools needed to combine the aesthetic appreciation of art with the practice of mindfulness. Students will experience deep looking techniques which help to calm the mind and body and create a connection between art and wellness. The use of art, architecture, and nature can help students learn how to reduce stressors and increase the ability to focus on the present moment.
Looking for more preset and custom tour options available throughout the year?
Visitor Voices
“What a fabulous experience for our Grade 4 students! They all came back telling me all of the things they saw—so excited!” —School Principal
“I was inspired. I want to go again!” —Student
“The students had a phenomenal experience. Wonderful tour—they are still talking about it!” —Elementary School Teacher
“Muchas gracias por habermos invitado. Fue muy interesante, es un lugar muy bonito.” —ESL Student
Looking for After-School Tours or College Tours?
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