For K–12 Educators
Reservations are now open for Fall 2026. Submit your tour request using the form, and a member of our team will be in touch to confirm and finalize details.
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.
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 the 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, art of the ancient Americas
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 significant collections of twentieth- and twenty-first-century 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.
Summer Youth Visits
Summer camps can participate in a self-guided scavenger hunter in the galleries, an art-making activity inspired by the collections, or a combination of both. We can accommodate a maximum of 45 campers in the Museum at a time. (Larger groups may rotate through a self-guided exploration of Campus Art.)
Summer Visit Fees:
- A self-guided scavenger hunt in the galleries: $25 per group of 8–25 students
- An art-making activity in one of the Creativity Labs (see summer program offerings below): $125 per group of 8–25 students
- A combination of self-guided scavenger hunt and art-making activity: $150 per group of 8–25 students
Summer Creativity Labs Programs
Explore stamping and printmaking through hands-on activities that allow you to create your own stamp and gel plate. Participants design their own original stamps, experiment with textures and layering, and use Gelli plates to create one-of-a-kind prints inspired by works in the collections. This activity encourages creative exploration and embraces spontaneity in the art-making journey.
Duration: 75 minutes
Fee: $125
For groups of 8–20; participants younger than 8 will need adult assistance.
Create tactile artworks inspired by textiles, patterns, and weavings in the Museum’s collections. Participants experiment with fabric collage, simple weaving techniques, and layered textures to build expressive compositions. This activity highlights materiality, pattern, and the cultural significance of fiber arts.
Duration: 45–75 minutes
Fee: $125
For groups of 8–20.
Explore layering and transparency in this collage activity inspired by landscapes and still lifes in the Museum’s collections. Participants experiment with a variety of paper types to create vibrant and expressive compositions.
Duration: 45–75 minutes
Fee: $125
For groups of 8–20; all ages are welcome.
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.
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