Click on the buttons below to learn more about:
Family Visits
Become a Junior Curator! Download and print out the appropriate worksheet below to keep your children engaged and learning while visiting the Animas Museum.
- For Level 1 (6 - 8 year old) Junior Curators
- For Level 2 (9 - 11 year old) Junior Curators
- For Level 3 (12 - 15 year old) Junior Curators
We will be having special family programming connected to our new Ute STEM exhibit on October 11 and November 29. Stay tuned for more information and we hope to see you there!
Field Trips
Bring your students to learn about local history with our docents.
~1.5 hours, limited to 30 students at a time.
Visits include a combination of three of the following exhibits (depending on requests and learning goals):
- -Learn in a 1905 era classroom
- -Explore a late 1870s era log cabin
- -Experience a Depression era La Plata County home
- -Investigate artifacts connected to Durango's migration history
- -And more!
- -Special for Fall 2025: Discover Ute history and its connections to STEM concepts
- -Special for 2026:Explore La Plata County’s natural landscape through maps and a topography table to see how it was used as a key travel corridor for many groups for thousands of years
Click here for School Visit Important Information.
History Trunks
Borrow a trunk with artifacts and activities for two weeks to use in your classroom.
Click on the links below for more information about each option.
New! History Takeout Kits
We can send a facilitator and activities to you to run a lesson! This uses History Colorado's History Take-Out Kits - click here to learn more. You can also borrow it and run the activities yourself like a trunk.
History Take Out Programs:
- -Moving Day: Colorado’s Migration Story
- -Western Work: Colorado Industries of the Past
- -Ute Knowledge: Colorado’s Original Scientists
Teacher Resources
Ready to Use Classroom Resources:
- * Ute curriculum: Nuu-Ciu Strong: Geared to 4th grade, but can be adapted to other levels
- * Crow Canyon Classroom Modules: This is a great place for resources to teach about Pueblo people and archaeology
- *Teach your students about the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante expedition through Colorado through DEEEP’s Lesson Plans. Find them here.
- * History Colorado Artifact Kit Rentals: P-12th grade options available. Note that there is a fee to use these and that you can pay to get these shipped
- * Mining in Colorado Online Lesson: This is through the Museums for Digital Learning initiative. Click here to access more of their online resource kits!
Other Classroom Resources:
- * Animas Museum’s online exhibits
- * History Colorado’s online exhibits
- * The Colorado Encyclopedia