Museum Visits
NCMA park and gallery tours are conducted in an inquiry-based format to encourage active student discussion and are designed to relate to and advance the NC Standard Course of Study for relevant grades and subjects.
Pre-visit Guide to the Galleries
Pre-visit Guide to the Park - Power Point presentation
Scheduling a Guided or Self-Guided Tour
Guided Tours for Younger Grades
Art Detective Critical Thinking in the Galleries
Grades 2-3, 50 min. 90 students maximum
Students learn how to use their eyes and think critically about what they see while training to be “art detectives” in this fun and interactive gallery experience.
Guided Tours - Appropriate for Any Grade
General Museum Intro.
Grades K-12, 50 min. 90 students maximum
Students travel around the world and through time as they explore art from ancient civilizations to 21st-century America.
Art and Nature Package Tour
Grades K-12, 3 hours 60 students maximum
Schedule a Park and Gallery visit. Before or after your Park tour, take a related tour of nature depicted in great works of art in the galleries.
Foreign Language
Grades K-12, 50 min. 30 students maximum
Foreign language tours available in French, German, and Spanish; request a general tour or language-specific cultural areas.
Teacher's Pick: Special Themes
Grades K-12, 50 min. 90 students maximum
Choose an area of the collection or a specific theme you'd like to explore in our galleries and our guides will design the experience.
Please call ahead to inquire about the availability of particular galleries or works of art that you wish to view during your visit. During our expansion and renovation project, temporary and permanent gallery closures can be expected. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Self-Guided Tours
Teachers are welcome to lead their classes on self-guided visits to the Park and Galleries.
90 students maximum; duration at the discretion of teacher.
There is a self-guide folder for the Park. Please note that the self-guide folder may take a few minutes to download. For elementary teachers interested in leading their classes through the Park, there is also a backpack filled with art and nature activities that can be checked out from the Information Desk.
PLEASE NOTE: you still need to register with the Museum for self-guided tours. Click here for registration information.
Online resources
ArtNC
Visit ArtNC and discover works of art, interdisciplinary lesson plans, and printable images. Search by subject area, grade level, and geographic region. The curriculum themes model ways of integrating art into general class instruction. Each theme includes background on art from the collection, short classroom activity ideas, in-depth lesson plans, and related vocabulary.
Art Detective Previsit Activity
Explore this fun and simple previsit activity with your students before coming to the Museum for your Art Detective tour. The PDF file (requires Acrobat Reader) and PowerPoint file (requires PowerPoint or PowerPoint Reader for PC or Mac) are used together to help your students start building the skills they need to become good Art Detectives. Students learn to value careful observation as a means to drawing conclusions and making inferences about works of art.
Note: A full Art Detective Training Kit containing additional activities, images, and touchable objects is available for a two-week period of loan (the borrower pays return shipping costs). To request these materials, please call (919) 664-6820.
Third-grade Art in the Schools Program
The third-grade Art in the Schools program introduces students to works at the NCMA that teach about communities around the world. The program is divided into three partsMeet the Museum, Uncover the Stories, Explore Communitiesthat help prepare students for a visit to the Museum. The PDF file (requires Acrobat Reader) is a teacher’s version of the program, including information on the selected works, discussion questions and previsit activities. The PowerPoint file (requires PowerPoint or Powerpoint Reader for PC or Mac), which can be presented to students in the classroom, features images of the works of art and streamlined questions drawn from the teacher’s version.
We would like to know what you think of this resource. Please complete this survey, and e-mail it back to us with your comments and suggestions for how we might improve the third-grade program.
Related to the Galleries
ABCs in the NCMA (Grades K–1)
Highlights of the Collection (Grades K–12)
Previsit Guide to the NCMA (Grades K–12)
Jigsaw Puzzle Masterpieces (Grades K–12)
Related to the Park
Self-Guides to the Park (Grades K–6)
Park Picture Portfolio (Grades K–12)
Teachers’ Kit to the Museum Park (Grades K–12)
Loan Resources
Free classroom materials are available for a two-week period (the borrower pays return shipping costs). To request materials please call the Museum at (919) 664-6820.
Artifact Kits
(Preschool-Grade 2)
Each kit features background information on a selected work of art, art lesson plans, and activities incorporating music, movement, or drama. Extension activities involve reading, math, science, social studies, and healthy living. A reproduction, touchable objects, books, maps, vocabulary, and an annotated bibliography of recommended resource materials are also included in each kit.
Indian Fantasy, 20th-century art and the Plains Indians
Mummy Case of Amonred, Ancient Egypt
Sir William Pepperrell and His Family, John Singleton Copley and Colonial America
Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, 17th-century Dutch still-lifes
The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, volcanoes, 18th-century Europe, ancient Rome
Tji Wara Antelope Headdress, African art, antelopes, and Mali
Curriculum Packets
Each curriculum packet includes art reproductions accompanied by background information, discussion questions, and activity suggestions.
Slide Kits
- African Art Explorations
- The Art and Culture of Ghana
- The Ancient Americas: Mesoamerica, Central America, Peru
Transparency Kits
- Discovering America
- African Art Explorations
- North Carolina Connections
- The Art and Culture of Ghana
CD-ROMs
Color Prints
- Foreign Language Previsit Guides—available in French, German, and Spanish