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

Rocks of the Grand Canyon Workshop
(3rd – 7th grade) 1.5 to 2 hours
This program helps students identify the three rock types the Earth is made of and to begin to understand that rocks are fascinating ways to discover information about their origin and that of the history of the Earth, as well. Students will learn about the rocks of the Grand Canyon by examination and classification.
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

Colorado River Ecology
(4th – 8th grade) 1.5 to 2 hours
This program is designed to help students explore some of the changes to the Grand Canyon resulting from the building of Glen Canyon Dam and to encourage critical thinking concerning possible solutions to current problems in the Grand Canyon.
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

Navajo Life
(4th – 12th grade)
Navajo culture programs teach visitors about Navajo life and changes on the Navajo Reservation since the early 1900s. These programs emphasize Navajo children, their homes, families, chores, responsibilities and play. One popular activity is learning to card and spin wool in the traditional way.

Hopi Life
(4th – 12th grade)
Hopi gallery programs focus on life in a Hopi village. Students learn about Hopi family, school and village life, and the importance of corn in the Hopi lifestyle. Students may play Hopi games, taste piki bread or grind corn the traditional way. Children also discuss some of the changes that have taken place on the Hopi mesas during the past 50 years. A Museum of Northern Arizona video, Corn is Life, is available for pre- or post-program viewing upon request.

Comparative Cultures
(4th – 12th grade)
A comparative look at the traditional and contemporary lives of the Native American cultures of the Colorado Plateau.

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

Thief of Time (Archaeology)
(3rd – 8th grade)
This new program simulates the deposition of archaeological layers and the effects of pot-hunters on its study. Students also learn some of the artifacts associated with different prehistoric time periods.
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

Nature Trail
(4th – 12th grade)
May-October, weather permitting
Take a guided tour of the Museum’s Nature Trail to learn about local plants and animals. Discussions include traditional uses of plants, interdependence of species and many other topics.

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

Field Mouse Goes to War (Hopi)
(Pre-K – 3rd)
A traditional Hopi story about a clever mouse who saves his village from an evil hawk.
Curriculum Guide

Dragonfly’s Tale (Zuni)
(Pre-K – 3rd)
This show tells a traditional Zuni story about a young boy and girl who appreciate the bounty of nature.
Curriculum Guide

Tassel’s Mission (Ecology)
(Pre-K – 3rd )
A story about the ecological relationship between Abert and Kaibab squirrels on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon.
Curriculum Guide