Have you ever wanted to walk with dinosaurs? Take a tour of Museum of the Rockies’ famous Hall of Horns and Teeth on this live, VIRTUAL exploration! This tour covers the Late Cretaceous Period, which was the last, most dynamic period of the dinosaurs before the devastating extinction 66 million years ago. Virtually visit our world-class collection of Tyrannosaurus rex to see how they grew and changed from tiny tyrant to bone-crushing adult; get nose-to-nose with Triceratops, see dinosaur skin fossils, and explore the ancient ecosystems in which the dinosaurs lived.

Explore dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods! Take a virtual tour of the Museum of the Rockies’ famous Hall of Giants where HUGE, long-necked sauropods ruled and Allosaurus was the largest predator of its time. This tour covers our most famous residents – “Big Al” the Allosaurus, sauropod dinosaurs, the sickle-clawed predator Deinonychus, the burrowing dinosaur, Oryctodromeus; and plesiosaurs that once swam Montana’s ancient seaway.

Want to bring history to life? Explore Montana’s rich Paugh History Hall artifacts from the 1890s and into the 20^th century. From gold panning to fur trapping, to life in the 1890s, this virtual history tour explores the many dynamic stories that our artifacts can tell. If interested in this tour, please specify what aspect of Montana history you would like your tour guide to focus on or feature.

Join us to learn all about Montana’s dinosaurs! From Tyrannosaurus rex to Triceratops, Montana is home to some of the world’s most famous dinosaur discoveries. In this program, you will learn where some of Museum of the Rockies’ best fossils have been discovered in the state and why Montana’s geology is perfect for discovering some of the world’s most famous dinosaurs.

How do scientists categorize dinosaurs? Giant, long-necked sauropods, frilled ceratopsians, and duck-billed hadrosaurs are only three of the five groups of dinosaurs that we will explore in this program. Join us to learn more about the lives of these incredible dinosaurs and see real dinosaur fossils up close. Bring your curiosity and questions!

Rocks, rock! While rocks aren’t living things (or even squishy, for that matter!), they still go through cycles – changing and morphing from one type to another over BILLIONS of years’ time. Learn about the three basic rock types with paleontologist Ashley Hall, and how sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks form and change through Earth’s dynamic forces.

What can we learn about dinosaurs by looking inside of their bones? Join Museum of the Rockies Paleohistology Lab Manager Ellen-Therese Lamm to explore her unique role in science and discover how researchers use microscopic information to piece together details about extinct animals.

The Hell Creek Formation in Montana and surrounding areas contains the fossils of some of the last non-avian dinosaurs to walk the Earth. Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, and more all roamed the area about 66 million years ago. Join MOR's John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology Dr. John Scannella to travel back to the end of the Cretaceous Period and meet the dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation!

From discovery to seeing enormous dinosaurs in the museum, a fossil’s journey is fascinating. MOR Paleontology Lab and Field Manager, Lee Hall, will tell the story of the process of paleontology - from first discovering a fossil in the field to exhibiting entire dinosaurs in a museum in a fun and engaging way. From very young students to high school, this program will help illustrate the importance of paleontology and its role within the sciences, and as an exciting career for students interested in studying the history of life on Earth.

We all have skeletons in our bodies, but have you ever wondered why we have a skeleton? Learn about the evolution of the skeleton, what your bones do for your body, and how your skeleton is not so different from dinosaurs as you might think! Join MOR Paleontology Field Professional Lee Hall for a journey through time, evolution, and biology and learn all the wonderful secrets of your skeleton!

What did T.rex look like growing up? Through Montana’s rich fossil record, paleontologists have pieced together what these incredible dinosaurs looked like - from tiny hatchlings to bone-crushing adults. What did their eggs look like? Did they have feathers? What did a teenage T.rex look like? Join Scott Williams, Paleontology Lab and Field Specialist to learn about the dynamic life of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Birds are dinosaurs, and they are hard working parents! Birds care for their babies by providing food and protection so that they can grow strong enough to leave the nest, but what about their ancient dinosaur relatives? Dinosaur parental care was a real mystery until the discovery of Maiasaura nesting grounds in northern Montana. Join MOR Paleontology Field Professional Lee Hall for a trip to Montana’s ancient dinosaur nursery, where you will learn about dinosaur nests, eggs, and babies and why Maiasaura really was the “good mother lizard”!

How much of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise is based in reality, and what is movie magic? Can scientists recreate dinosaurs from ancient amber? Does life really find a way? Learn about the process of paleontology with a real paleontologist and the paleobiology of the world’s most famous dinosaurs through the lens of these popular films.

Have you ever wondered how dinosaur bones are discovered? How do you become a paleontologist? Schedule one of our museum’s own paleontologists to talk to your class or school to answer all your students’ hard, fun, and challenging questions about dinosaurs.

What happens to a dinosaur bone after it comes back from the field? Talk to one of our museum’s fossil preparators about the tools of the trade and what it’s like to clean fossils for their job.

Imagine pulling a stone tool out of the dirt. An object no one has seen for almost 13,000 years! Archaeologists seek to uncover the ancient human past through the objects people leave behind. Archaeology can open your mind to new questions and spark creativity and critical thinking. Learn how archaeologists study the past through objects, start asking important questions, and reconstruct human lives. “Stones, Bows, and Bones; Elementary Archaeology” invites students from grades three through five to start learning about the world of archaeology.

From mammoths, sloths, stone tools, and cities, North America has a rich and fascinating archaeological record. Explore recent archaeological discoveries and learn how people lived in ancient North America. “Digging Deep; Archaeology of North America” uncovers how archaeologists reconstruct the past, how they know what they know, and how new discoveries change science and our understanding of the world. Museum of the Rockies invites students from grades six through twelve to dig deep into the ancient human past of North America.

Join Living History Manager Peter Mousseau for a deep dive into the fur trade. What was the fur trade? Learn how beaver, bear, and other mammal pelts helped shape the United States as a country, how it began, which animals were the most valuable, and how it brought settlers farther and farther into the west in search of more valuable fur. During this program, see the ups and the downs, as well as the main historical figures involved in the trade and the effects we still see from this period in time today.

How did mining shape Montana as a state? Join Living History Manager Peter Mousseau and learn how mining for metals such as gold, silver, and copper drove expansion into the territory of Montana, as well as how it shaped the political landscape through men, like the “Copper Kings”. Exploring this important interaction of historical figures and natural land resources helps us better understand Montana through the lens of its past.

Do your students love history? What is it like to work in a museum? Schedule our museum’s Curator of History, Michael Fox, to answer questions about our museum’s history collection from Montana and the mysteries they contain that are yet unsolved.

What is a forest? Discover the components of a forest ecosystem through the case study of Yellowstone National Park. This hybrid virtual program pairs the materials in the Yellowstone Forest Ecosystem outreach kit with the expertise of a live Museum of the Rockies educator. Give your students the opportunity to touch real skulls and pelts of various animals, as well as examine rubber tracks, books, and more! Lessons focus on food webs, animal adaptations, species diversity, and human impacts.

Dig in and explore paleontology, biology, and geology through hands-on fun! The kit includes interactive lessons that provide students with the context necessary for studying dinosaurs by introducing them to the geologic timeline and key events in Earth’s history. This hybrid virtual program pairs the materials in the Dinosaur Basics Kit with the expertise of a live Museum of the Rockies educator. Students will study the differences between avian and non-avian dinosaurs, make observations about the size and measurements of different dinosaurs, and draw comparisons between the habitats and biological characteristics of modern animals and dinosaurs.