For K–12 Educators
Reservations are now open for Spring 2026. Please contact puamtour@princeton.edu to make a reservation or if you have any questions.
The Museum’s K–12 programs are grounded in the core tenets of our audience-centered approach: close looking, active engagement, and inquiry-based discovery. Drawing from the more than 117,000 objects in the Museum’s collections, our group programs explore global art from antiquity to the present.
On-Campus Experiences
Plan a visit to explore the Museum’s new galleries, art on campus, Art@Bainbridge, activities in the Creativity Labs, or a combination of experiences.
The Museum works with individual K–12 educators to tailor programs that meet teaching needs and connect with classroom curriculum through student-driven discussions and activities.
Let us know you are planning a visit. K–12 groups must make a reservation at least four weeks in advance for guided, self-guided, and Creativity Labs visits. Guided tours are approximately 1 hour. Group capacity is 100 students. Fees are waived for school groups during the academic year. Please contact puamtour@princeton.edu for reservations.
Guided Group Tours
How can understanding, or “reading,” works of art deepen our understanding of ourselves, our community, and the world around us? How can we practice literacy skills using works of art?
Using the inquiry method and close observation, students explore a work of art and “decode” its meaning to make art-to-self connections and art-to-world connections. Then, students work in small groups to apply the same skills of focused looking, critical thinking, and analysis to complete activities designed to further explore these connections.
Age group: Grades 5–12
During an inquiry-based close-looking activity, students analyze a work of art and discover how it expresses something about the culture in which it was created. Building on this model, students explore an essential question, How does material culture help us understand cultural practices and different groups of people throughout time? Working collaboratively, students are challenged to think critically about what they see and to make connections between art and culture. The program can be tailored to classroom curriculum and can connect across disciplines.
Themes: African art, American art, Ancient Mediterranean art, Asian art, European art, Mesoamerican art
Age group: Grades 6–12
Exploring an essential question, What do communities from different places and times have in common?, students examine and discuss depictions of communities across time, geographies, and cultures.
Age group: Grades 2–4
How do artists use colors, shapes, and lines to communicate ideas or emotions? Why do artists choose certain colors, shapes, lines, or forms for their artworks? In this introduction to looking at fundamental art elements, young learners will explore and experience artworks together.
Age group: Pre-K–Grade 1
How do works of art tell a story? What comparisons can be made between reading a written story and reading the story in a work of art? What stories can art communicate to us even if we can’t “read” them? This tour reinforces skills learned in Reading and Language Arts while familiarizing young learners with looking closely at art.
Age group: Grades 3–6
Campus Collections Outdoor Walking Tour
Princeton University is home to one of the country’s most extraordinary collections of twentieth- and twenty-first-century public sculpture. We invite you to explore our Campus Art at your own pace during your visit to Princeton.
Art@Bainbridge
Located at 158 Nassau Street, Art@Bainbridge is an extension of the Museum and hosts contemporary art exhibitions. Visits of up to 15 students at a time may be incorporated into your campus visit. Please inform us at puamtour@princeton.edu if you plan to visit Art@Bainbridge. Hours are limited.
Creativity Labs
Schedule a Creativity Labs visit for a hands-on activity rooted in reflection, discovery, and play. Customized to meet your group’s interests and curriculum goals, activities explore a variety of themes, materials and mediums, art-making processes, and modes of expression. Consider pairing your guided or self-guided gallery visit with a Creativity Labs activity to deepen engagement and build connections.
There are two Creativity Labs. Each lab can accommodate up to 24 students. Activities are 30 to 60 minutes.
Group visits to the Creativity Labs must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance. Fees are waived for school groups during the academic year.
All K–12 gallery tours include an optional Creativity Labs activity pairing.
To discuss stand-alone Creativity Labs K–12 group programs, please contact the tour office at puamtour@princeton.edu.
In-School and Virtual Programs
In-school and virtual program requests are currently paused for Spring 2026.
Bring the Museum’s collections to your classroom through student-driven, inquiry-based activities. A Museum docent will facilitate a series of activities that invite students to look closely at works of art and will pose essential questions related to New Jersey’s core curriculum standards. Students will work collaboratively, using critical thinking skills to reflect, analyze, and make connections.
Fees are waived for school groups during the academic year. The Museum provides art-making materials for in-school programs. Schools are responsible for art-making supplies for virtual programs. To schedule an in-school or virtual program, email the tour office at puamtour@princeton.edu.
Programs are 45 to 90 minutes in duration and can be planned with multiple classes and tailored to your schedule.
In-school programs are available Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with 2 p.m. being the latest program start time; dates should be reserved at least one month in advance. Schools must be within a twenty-mile radius of Princeton University.
Virtual programs are available Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with 2 p.m. being the latest program start time; dates should be reserved at least four weeks in advance. Schools are responsible for providing a Zoom link for the program.
Program Themes
Art of Comprehension
Exploring Communities
Expressing Culture
Curate Your Own Exhibition