All field trips are on hold until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.


Guided group tours at The Printing Museum are the perfect field trip outing for school and homeschool groups (middle school through college). Group tours for 8 or more are available by appointment, Tuesday through Friday, 10:00AM – 4:00PM. They can be customized to enhance teacher lesson plans covering the following topics:

  • General Tour
  • Colonial America & Independence
  • Texas Revolution
  • Journalism and Communications

Each field trip experience can consist of three parts:

1

Gallery Tour
Docents introduce themes, key historical figures, and lead an interactive printing activity
(approx. 60 min)

2

Collection Moment
Students get time to inspect primary sources
optional
(approx. 20 min)

3

Studio Activity
optional
(approx. 45 min)

Our Field Trip Programs:

General Tour

(History, Technology, Art, Communication Studies)
See how the technology of printing developed from woodblock to modern-day machines, and transformed our understanding of ourselves and interaction with images.

Colonial America & Independence

(American Revolution, American History, Government Studies, Journalism, Humanities). Recommended for grades 6-12.
Get an up close look at how the printing press and newspapers became indispensable tools for revolution, democracy, and civic engagement.

Texas Revolution

(Texas History: Texas Revolution, Texas Republic; US History). Recommended for grades 6-8.
Encounter Texas history through the lives and writings of its early settlers and statesmen.

Journalism & Communications

(Communications Studies, Humanities). Recommended for grades 9-12.
Explore how the free press developed and the industrial revolution spurred innovation in the tools, the forms and the way we receive news.

We have lesson plans available online for a variety of subjects and topics that work with your school or community group’s tour of The Printing Museum, along with other Educator Resources.

FEES:

Field trips are one-two hours and limited to 24 persons. One chaperone per group of 20 is included for free.

  • Adults: $17
  • Students: $14

Field trip reservations require a $95 deposit, payable by credit card or check.

Discounts are available for Title I schools.

To provide an engaging and safe learning experience, tours for school groups are limited to 24 per tour, not including teachers/chaperones.

Add-On Studio Activities

An additional fee of $8 per person (with the exception of Silkscreen Activity). Plan for an additional 45 minutes for your studio activity.

  • Book Arts Activity: Take a piece of the museum experience home with this creative bookmaking activity. Participants will create a book structure and decorate it. Structures could include a 1-page booklet, sewn pamphlet stitch book, fishbone fold book, or other book suitable for your age group.
  • Gyotaku Fish Printing: Gyotaku (meaning “fish impression”) is a form of nature printing where each print is one-of-a-kind and originally used by Japanese fisherman to record their catch. Make your own unique fish prints using silicon fish molds and tempera paints.
  • Lego Letterpress: If you love letterpress and LEGOs, learn how to combine them in this playful alternative letterpress printing technique! In this fun, hands-on workshop, use LEGO tile bricks and a printing press to create your own unique letterpress work of art.
  • Screen Printing Activity: Print using a screen! Attendants will get the chance to print on paper and take their creations home.
  • Silkscreen Activity: Silkscreen your own Printing Museum t-shirt. Note, this activity is $15 for children/students/seniors and $20 for adults

Cancellation Policy:

Groups tours can be rescheduled at no cost if requests are received 3 business days in advance of the scheduled tour. Rescheduling requests received less than 3 business days in advance will incur a $50 rescheduling fee. If a group tour is canceled or the group doesn’t show, the deposit will be forfeited. The Museum reserves the right to reschedule a group tour at its own discretion. In the event a tour is rescheduled by the museum, the rescheduling fee will be waived.

Virtual Tours

Can’t Make it In-Person? Visit The Printing Museum virtually! We’ve partnered with Connect2Texas to offer virtual field trip programs. Take our general tour, or one of our specialized US or Texas history tours. We offer activity guides and worksheets for each program, to help with your lesson planning, and list the TEKS covered in our virtual programs. To learn more, visit: https://www.smore.com/swfby.

Have Questions?

If you have questions, please email tours@printingmuseum.org.