Field Trip Add-Ons
Looking to make the most of your field trip? Check out our Field Trip Add-Ons!
These guided programs, temporary exhibitions, and performances listed below are add-ons for school visits. All of these special opportunities have capacity limitations and require an additional reservation made in advance (at least two weeks prior to your visit date) when booking your onsite field trip. Field trip add-on requests are not guaranteed and are based on availability and capacity. Some add-on experiences have costs associated.
Policy for Field Trip Add-on Equity: To provide an equitable museum experience for all school visitors, we require that all students in your order be booked into any add-on reservation. Additionally, schools are limited to only one add-on per visit (pending availability and capacity) to ensure equal opportunity to all interested school groups booking a field trip to the Museum.
Please note: To prioritize student accessibility to special experiences, chaperones may not be included in add-on reservations (i.e. Ice Age Encounters). Check your confirmation to see if your group is booked for any add-ons.
Guided Programs
Guided programs are engaging, hands-on experiences designed for your students' grade level and led by Museum Educators. Available at 10 am and 11 am, Wednesday–Friday, October 1–December 19, 2025 with advanced reservations.
Cost: Free!
Windows Into Nature
In this interactive storytelling program, students learn about the lives of Ice Age animals: their families, their habitats, and how they survived. Then, students will visit the animal from the story in one of the museum's exhibits to discover what fossils can teach us about these incredible creatures! Our educators will lead interactive discussions through dialogic reading and Visual Thinking Strategies. Students will also have the chance to touch an artifact from their animal, like a coyote paw print cast or pelt!
Grade Levels: Pre-K - 1
Duration: 30–40 minutes
Location: Museum Galleries
Capacity: 20 per time slot (4 time slots per day)
Standards:
- CA Preschool Foundations & Framework: Listening and Speaking 1.0, 2.0, 3.0; Reading 1.0, 4.0, 5.0; Scientific Inquiry 1.0
- Common Core ELA: Speaking and Listening K-1.1, K-1.2, K-1.3, K-1.4, and K-1.6; Language K-1.1, K-1.4, K-1.5, K-1.6
- NGSS: K-LS1, K-ESS3-1
Fossil Detectives
Solve the mystery! What were ancient animals like when they were alive? Through observation and questioning, students will fossil animals and their habit to find the answer. Our guides will lead students to practice coming up with hypotheses and recording ideas in a field journal, just like real paleontologists! The foundation of this program comes from a method known as Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). For more information, visit VTS.
Grade Levels: 2–5
Duration: 50–60 minutes
Location: Museum Galleries
Capacity: 20 per time slot (4 time slots per day)
Standards:
- Common Core ELA: Speaking and Listening 2–5.1 and 2–5.6; Language 2–5.1, 2–5.4, and 2–5.6
- NGSS: Crosscutting Concepts (1, 6), Science and Engineering Principles (6–8), Disciplinary Core Idea LS2, LS3, LS4
Paleobotany Discovery Tour
Discover how scientists construct the environment of Ice Age Los Angeles! Through observation and questioning, students will learn about the history of excavations at La Brea and how excavations have evolved over time. Then, our guides will lead students through scientific practices of sorting microfossils and identifying fossil pollen samples. Students will use what they discover to put together an image of Ice Age Los Angeles.
Grade Levels: 6-8
Duration: 50-60 minutes
Location: Outdoor Excavation Sites
Capacity: 20 per time slot (4 time slots per day)
Topics Related to Standards:
- Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
- Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
- Science Investigations Use a Variety of Methods
- Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence
Carnivores Discovery Tour
Discover how scientists construct the environment of Ice Age Los Angeles! Through observation and questioning, students will learn about the history of excavations at La Brea and how excavations have evolved over time. Then, our guides will lead students through scientific practices of identifying fossil skulls and using fossil evidence to create paleoart. Students will use what they discover to understand the behavior of animals and visualize extinct species.
Grade Levels: 9-12
Duration: 50-60 minutes
Location: Outdoor Excavation Sites
Capacity: 20 per time slot (2 time slots per day)
Topics Related to Standards:
- Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
- Structure and Function
- Adaptation
- Social Interactions and Group Behavior
- Science Investigations Use a Variety of Methods
- Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence
Performances
Performances are live 20-minute interactive puppet shows provided by our Performing Arts team. Available at 10:30 am and 11:30 am on Wednesdays and Thursdays with advanced reservations, year-round.
Cost: $3 per ticket
Ice Age Encounters
Grades 2–6| 15–20 minutes
Experience a multimedia performance where we dig into the past to uncover the mysteries of some of the extinct creatures who roamed Ice Age Los Angeles over 10,000 years ago. This dynamic show features a life-size adult Saber-toothed Cat puppet, a live performance, and film projections that bring the distant past to life. Located in the Encounters Theater.
Please note: These are not small hand puppets! The Museum's puppets are very large, realistic interpretations of wild animals and we recommend specific grade levels for this performance. Prepare small children accordingly. Learn more about Ice Age Encounters and our Performing Arts team.
Films
Titans of the Ice Age 2D
All Grades | 30 minutes
A 30-minute informational film providing background information on the Tar Pits.This film experience will transport you to a world lost in time and ruled by giants. You'll encounter some of the Earth's most awe-inspiring mammals, from saber-toothed cats and dire wolves to giant sloths and iconic mammoths that lived 5,000 years before modern civilization. See how these magnificent creatures became trapped in asphalt, preserved in time, and are being unearthed today.
Located in the School Theater, with entry times every half hour. Available on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, August 18 - December 31, 2025, excluding school breaks. Reservations are required March 2 - June 10. Outside the required reservation months, the theater is seat yourself on a first come, first served basis.
Permanent Exhibitions
Looking for other spaces to explore inside (and outside!) the museum? Learn more about our permanent exhibitions and see all that your students can discover on their field trip—no additional reservations for school groups required!
Outdoors
We’re an active paleontological site! Come see how we got all these incredible fossils. From the Viewing Station, you can see deep into Pit 91 where thousands of bones of extinct animals like the western horse, saber-toothed cat, and dire wolf are jumbled together in pools of sticky asphalt.