Programs for School Groups
The following field trip programs are designed for visiting school groups, preschool classes, day care groups, or homeschool groups. School groups may also choose to take a regular tour without the lesson option. All tours include a train ride.* Guided tours are only available by advance reservation with three weeks notice on weekdays when the museum is open. If you have any questions or would like to book a tour, please send an email to the museum’s Education Coordinator or call the Education Department at 770-495-0253.
Tour prices are:
- Children (2-12): $11
- Adults: $13
- Seniors: $10
- For school tours, one chaperone is allowed in free of charge per each 10 children. There is a 10 person or $110 minimum for all tours.
- Tours must be paid in full three weeks before your visit. If your tour is not paid in full, you will lose your scheduled time slot. No refunds are made due to cancellation or default, but a rain check (valid for 2 years) will be given to you to visit the museum at a later date.
- Free passes and memberships are not valid for education tours.
- Same-day cancellations, reschedules, or no-shows are subject to a rescheduling fee of 20% of your total tour fee, up to $60.
It is the responsibility of the tour group to arrive at the museum on time for their scheduled tour. Please take into consideration time of day, traffic conditions and distance to get here. If your tour arrives late, it could affect the length of your tour.
Visits begin at either 10:00 am or 10:30 am, or other times upon request.
We have an outdoor picnic area with tables and gazebos for our group visitors to enjoy lunch after their tour, available on a first come basis.
Most of the museum is NOT climate controlled, so temperatures can get warm in the summer and cold in the winter. Please dress accordingly! We suggest bringing water bottles in the warmer months.
Regular Guided Tour
Target audience: Suitable for all ages
Field trip program length: 2 hours
Our tour guides will lead you through the historic exhibits and highlights of the museum while describing what it was like to ride the rails during the Age of Steam. Following the tour, groups will take a ride on a historic train car.
Optional Field Trip Programs for Schools
Field trip program length: 2 hours, including tour, craft and train ride
This program is all about trains! Children will gather around a model railroad and learn:
Children will also make a train-themed craft. Following the 45-minute interactive program, children will take a 45-minute tour to see two historic passenger cars, a steam engine, a caboose, a refrigerated car, and more.
Lastly, the children will take a ride on a real train.
This program covers the following Georgia Performance Standards and Gwinnett County Academic Knowledge and Skills:
Train rides are subject to weather and other conditions outside the museum’s control. Train ride tickets will be given for a later date if the train is unavailable during the tour time.
Field trip program length: 2 hours, including a social studies program OR* science program, activity, tour, and train ride
In this program, children are divided into groups and rotate through three different stations:
OR*
This program covers the following Georgia Performance Standards and Gwinnett County Academic Knowledge and Skills:
OR
Teachers must pick ONE of the following science programs:
*If you would like to receive both the Social Studies AND Science programs, there is a $2 additional fee per child.
Train rides are subject to weather and other conditions outside the museum’s control. Train ride tickets will be given for a later date if the train is unavailable during the tour time.
Field trip program length: 2 hours, including tour, lesson, and train ride.
Third graders will study trains and the interdependence of trade locally, nationally and globally. The major topography of the United States will be discussed. The program is made up of three parts.
Georgia Performance Standards that will be covered for third grade:
OR*
SS3G1,SS3E1, SS3E3
*If you would like to receive both the Social Studies AND Science programs, there is a $2 additional fee per child.
Train rides are subject to weather and other conditions outside the museum’s control. Train ride tickets will be given for a later date if the train is unavailable during the tour time.
Field trip program length: 2 hours, including history program OR science program, tour and train ride
In this program, children are divided into groups and rotate through three different stations:
OR*
This program covers the following Georgia Performance Standards and Gwinnett County Academic Knowledge and Skills:
Describe the impact of the steamboat, the steam locomotive, and the telegraph on life in America
Give examples of technological advancements and their impact on business productivity during the development of the United States (such as the steamboat, steam locomotive, and telegraph).
Compare maps of the same place at different points in time and from different perspectives to determine changes, identify trends, and generalize about human activities.
*If you would like to receive both the Social Studies AND Science programs, there is a $2 additional fee per child.
Train rides are subject to weather and other conditions outside the museum’s control. Train ride tickets will be given for a later date if the train is unavailable during the tour time.
This program covers the following Georgia Performance Standards for 2nd, 5th, and 8th grades:
2nd Grade
5th Grade
8th Grade
Target audience: Elementary school classes
This program is for the elementary art student. The program is a hands on experience and available to grades K through 5th. This is a new option for elementary art teachers to take their classes on a field trip. The program uses the guidelines of the Georgia Performance Standards and will last 2.5 hours. It is an elementary art program that gives the student a sensory experience to learn about art. There are 4 parts to the program.
Part 1: Children will get a unique art appreciation lesson taught by a state certified art educator. They will explore paintings related to the railroad by famous artists. Some of the artists we will learn about are Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edward Hopper and Thomas Hart Benton, to name a few. We will explore the elements of art as well as the principles of design through the paintings. The lesson will be adapted for the appropriate grade level, K-5th.
Part 2: Children will get an art experience. They will have a hands on experience making a 3D paper project related to their lesson and experience at the museum. They will each make their own to take home.
Part 3: What better way for a child to learn about art then to have it come to life! This part of the program gives students a tour through the museum that will focus on the actual items they have just seen in the paintings. In the tour they will see such things as train cars, locomotives, uniforms, railroad tools, go through an actual depot and much more.
Part 4: The final part of the program gives children the experience of riding a train. This experience, will immerse them into the various paintings they have seen as they imagine riding the train that is in the works of art. They won’t have to wonder what it is like to ride on a real train anymore. They will walk away knowing that experience by the end of their visit.*
Georgia Performance Standards for each grade level that will be covered:
*Train rides are subject to weather and other conditions outside the museum’s control. Train ride tickets will be given for a later date if the train is unavailable during the tour time.
(If the table above with descriptions of different age-appropriate tours is not working, click here for the text.)
Field Trip Planning Resources
Target Field Trip™ grants are awarded to schools nationwide. Applications are accepted between August 1 and October 1. For the latest information, see the Target Field Trip™ website.
