Choose Your Options: Minnesota History Center

Museum visit

Each Minnesota History Center field trip includes a museum visit. Allow 1-2 hours in the museum to complete activities.

Explore!

Scavenger hunt that helps students dig deeper into exhibit content. 
Pre-K (PDF)  |  1-2 (PDF)  |  3-4 (PDF)  |  5-6 (PDF)  | 7-12 (PDF)

Grainland

Staff leads students (grades K-5) in a 15-minute exploration of Grainland, tracing the journey of wheat, corn and soybeans from farm to town to grain elevator. Climb through a replica grain elevator where bins and chutes are replaced with steps and slides and curving nooks and crannies. Available first come first serve, by appointment only.

Enhance your field trip

Museum lessons

Add fun and focus to your museum visit with a classroom lesson. Connect students with the real stuff of history — documents, photos, objects and more!

  • Add $2 per person
  • Maximum 30 students per lesson
  • All lessons are 50 minutes

Summer time program

The Minnesota History Center is the perfect summer field trip destination! Register today for the Summer Time Program, developed especially for school age care groups. (June-August)

  • Historic Games! Children play games from the Great Depression in this 25-minute outdoor program. Please note: Historic Games are outdoors, weather permitting.
  • Grades K-6
  • Add $2 per person
  • 2 – 3 hours

Minnesota History Center

345 West Kellogg Boulevard
St. Paul, MN 55102
View on map | Bus directions and parking | Current exhibits

Cost

  • $8 per student
  • +$2 per lesson per student
  • $80-$120 minimum group fee (depending on program)
  • District staff FREE
  • One free adult per five students. Additional chaperones invoiced at student rate.
  • Admission costs are for anyone age 4 and over
  • Memberships and 6th grade passes are not valid on field trip days.

Billing information

No payment will be accepted the day of the field trip. All schools will be invoiced after their trip. For more information see our Program Policies.

Cancellation fee

Cancellations must be received 14 days before your trip. See our Program Policies. Contact us at fieldtrips@mnhs.org if you need to reschedule.

Museum lessons details

When I Was a Kid

Grades K-3
This newly revised lesson puts students in the shoes of Minnesota kids growing up during the Great Depression. Through the use of artifacts, photos, and primary sources, students explore themes of family, work, education, and play while comparing life in the 1930s to today.

Native Americans and the Fur Trade

Grades 3-8
Discover how Minnesota became a hub of global trade. Students learn about the roles of the people who lived and worked in the fur trade through artifacts, images, and active participation.

Dakota Wakanyeza / Dakota Children

Grades K-3
Using storytelling, role-play, and artifact analysis, students explore the lives of Dakota children growing up around 1860 and consider the experiences of Dakota children today.

They Chose Minnesota

Grades 4-12
Explore the economic and political “push and pull” factors that have influenced immigration to our state and then examine trunks with cherished objects that families have brought on their journey.

Academic standards

All programs support state of Minnesota academic standards in social studies.