Schools and teachers: Key Stage 1
Visits last up to two hours and can include a 45 minute handling workshop and a self-guided trail in the museum. Sessions involve groupwork, discussion and problem-solving activities based on handling Museum specimens, and are linked to the new national curriculum. To arrange your visit please go to booking
Discovering Dinosaurs
Role play fossilisation and discover how fossils are formed. Children handle real dinosaur fossils; from teeth and bones to footprints and fossilised poo. They see for themselves what these objects can tell us about the world of the dinosaurs.
Download Discovering Dinosaurs Trail
Spectacular Skeletons
Discover why every animal on the planet has a skeleton, through close observation and handling of our spectacular skeleton specimens; from worms and jellyfish to lion skulls and elephant bones. In this session we investigate three different types of animal skeleton, embedding the children’s learning through mime and movement.
Download Spectacular Skeletons Trail
The Variety of Life; Classification
What’s the difference between a vertebrate and an invertebrate? How do we group all the animals on our planet? Use our touchable specimens to find out. Find out who Carl Linnaeus was and why his system of classification is so important for scientists.
The Microworld of Minibeasts; Bugs and their Habitats
What makes a ‘bug’ a ‘bug’? We investigate a range of different bugs, both carnivores and herbivores; how they grow, which microhabitats they inhabit and the roles that they each play.
Download Bugs and their Habitats Trail
Self-guided visits
If you prefer to explore the Museum without a taught workshop, why not download one of our trails? Designed specifically for Key Stage 1 children, the trails help give your visit a focus.
Download Spectacular Skeletons Trail
Download Bugs and their Habitats Trail
Online resources: the learning zone, image banks and colouring sheets
- Visit the learning zone
An extensive online resource that links topics in the national curriculum to the Museum's collections, complementing the hands-on sessions. - Birds and mammals
An image bank containing photographs of a number of Museum specimens, introducing children to some of the more common birds and mammals of Britain. - Grouping animals
Challenges children to sort animals into groups, introducing them to the major differences between birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish. - The human skeleton
Can you identify the bones of the human body? This is a series of photographs of the skeleton used in the handling sessions. - Animal skeletons
Challenges children to identify these different animal skeletons; how do they differ, in what ways are they the same? - Is it real?
Children often get confused about whether the Museum specimens they see are actually real; this image bank attempts to clear up any confusion. - Park life
A series of photographs of the plants and animals that children may see on a visit to their local park. - Sorting minerals
Minerals come in all shapes, sizes, and colours; this image bank provides good material for a sorting activity. - Mineral shapes
Challenges children to spot all the different shapes that can be seen in the variety of minerals in the Museum. - Colouring sheets
A fun introduction to a range of specimens in the Museum; perfect for a rainy afternoon.
The image banks and trails are PDF format and are all 800kB or less in size.
To read these files you will need to download Adobe Reader
Enquiries regarding education services should be sent to: education@oum.ox.ac.uk
