MNA offers exciting resources for your group:
Workshops
Programs
Puppet Shows
Special Exhibit Tours

Program & Activity Matrix
Your quick guide to how these resources compare, group sizes and approximate time allotment.

Curriculum guides for teachers are listed with the description of each offering.

Workshops, programs, puppet shows and special exhibit tours may be scheduled to start from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily.

For questions or more information contact MNA at 928-774-5211 x275

WORKSHOPS

Prehistoric Foods
(4th – 6th grade) Approximately 3 hours
Students learn about prehistoric people through available food sources and cooking methods utilized during each time period. Children work with Museum docents to prepare foods made of corn, squash, native grains, etc. Students learn about life styles and technology during different periods and discuss the nutritional value of prehistoric food compared to modern foods.

Prehistoric Pottery
(4th – 8th grade) 1.5 to 2 hours
Students learn the importance of pottery in prehistoric native cultures. Traditional techniques of pottery-making and decoration are demonstrated, and students are able to create their own prehistoric-style ceramic pot.
Curriculum Guide

Prehistoric Technologies
(4th – 8th grade) 1 to 1.5 hours
Prehistoric peoples used native fibers to make cordage as fine as thread or as thick as rope. Using animal or plant fibers, students will learn ancient techniques to create cordage by hand. They will learn how to use an ancient-style pump drill to make a piece of jewelry out of clay.

Owl Pellets
(4th – 8th grade) 1.5 to 2 hours
Through the dissection of owl pellets (regurgitated masses of bone, teeth, hair and feathers), students learn about the habits of birds of prey, the food chain, food webs and interdependence. Students work in pairs to uncover the skeletal remains of mice, voles and shrews that have been ingested by barn owls.
Curriculum Guide

Rock Art Workshop
(4th – 6th grade) 1.5 to 2 hours
Through discussion and hands-on activities, students learn about the techniques for making petroglyphs and pictographs. Possible meanings and cultural implications are covered as well as archaeological site etiquette.
Curriculum Guide

PROGRAMS

Dinosaurs
(Pre-K – 3rd grade)
Children are transported back to the Age of the Dinosaurs. They will learn about the environments and animals that existed during the Mesosoic on the Colorado Plateau. Dinosaur bones, models, footprint casts and illustrations help bring the subject to life.
Curriculum Guide

Colorado Plateau Cultures
(4th – 12th grade)
A comparative look at the traditional and contemporary lives of the Native American cultures of the Colorado Plateau: specifically Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and Havasupai. Students may play Hopi games, grind corn, or card and spin wool among other traditional hands-on opportunities.

Hunter’s Kit (Archaeology)
(3rd – 8th grade)
Visitors learn of the earliest Southwest inhabitants by studying their food sources, basketry, pottery and architecture. Students examine objects found in a bag typically carried by hunters of the period.
Curriculum Guide

Grand Canyon Geology Program
(4th – 8th grade)
Working in small groups, students examine rocks and fossils from rock layers in the Grand Canyon and identify them based on information provided. They also use clues in the Museum’s Geology Gallery to help them deduce the environment of deposition of the different layers.
Curriculum Guide

Highlights Tour
(7th – 12th grade)
This tour takes the students through the Museum while docents point out the key concepts portrayed in each gallery.

PUPPET SHOWS

The actual production of these shows is 10-15 minutes long. They are usually introduced by a short program on the same topic. An associated craft activity is available.

Goat in the Rug (Navajo)
(Pre-K – 3rd)
The story of a Navajo weaver and her pet goat which teaches children about the process of traditional rug-making.
Curriculum Guide

Therizinosaur — Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur
(Pre-K – 3rd)
An introduction to our special exhibit Therizinosaur—Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur. Relive the mystery and be fascinated! May be included in the Special Exhibits Therizinosaur programming upon request, for no additional fee.
Curriculum Guide

Current Special Exhibits

We can arrange a tour of our ongoing special exhibits which change several times throughout the year. $3.00-$3.50 per student.

Therizinosaur — Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur
September 2007-March 2009
Learn through discovery and fun! Follow the scientific process as we discover together this mysterious dinosaur and why he was found in the middle of an ancient sea. This curriculum-based program requires 6 week advance scheduling.