Field Trips: Summer 2025
Discover, Create, and Explore—Summer 2025 Field Trips at the Museum of the City of New York!
Take your camp or summer group on an unforgettable journey through the heart of New York City’s history, culture, and art! Our interactive field trips bring the city to life through dynamic exhibits, hands-on activities, and creative projects that inspire curiosity and connection. Led by expert educators, each experience is designed for different age groups, ensuring an engaging and meaningful visit.
Choose your adventure in English, Spanish, or as a bilingual experience. / Elige tu aventura en inglés, español o como una experiencia bilingüe.
Book your trip today and let the city’s stories unfold!
Summer Field Trip Request Form
Please scroll down for field trip descriptions, FAQs, rates, and more information.
Summer 2025 Field Trip Experiences at MCNY | Offered July 8th to August 22nd, 2025
Activist New York
Engage your students with New York City’s long history of social activism spanning 350 years. Students will examine original artifacts and visuals while a Museum Educator facilitates discussion on topics ranging from immigration to Civil Rights, trans activism, and the current Movement for Black Lives. Please select 2 or 3 of the case studies on view when booking.
Hands-on Learning: Students will participate in the tradition of activism by creating a wearable button championing the change they would like to make. This field trip aligns with the NYCDOE’s Civics for All curriculum and initiative.
Themes: Civic Engagement, Cultural Identity, Our Communities
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 9 –18.
The Making of New York: From Mannahatta to the Five-Borough City
Students will discover what has changed and what has stayed the same over time in New York City as they explore the gallery Port City: 1609-1898. Learners will hear stories from an experienced Museum Educator as they see and interpret original artifacts, including a Lenape ceremonial club, a slice of a wooden pipe that formed the original water system of the city, Jacob Riis photographs, and original models of the Statue of Liberty.
Hands on Learning: Participants will get to touch historical objects and reproductions and complete a drawing activity.
Themes: Change Over Time, Technology & Innovation, Our Communities, Cultural Identity
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 5-18.
The Greatest Grid: Urban Planning in New York City
Build a model city and become an urban planner! Guided by a Museum Educator, learners will examine maps and historical photographs to learn how Manhattan’s street grid system was built and how it changed over time. Participants will learn about NYC’s zoning districts – residential, commercial, and manufacturing/industrial – and other land uses, such as parks and streets, before discussing the places and resources communities need.
Hands-on Learning: The group will construct a model city and take home the model buildings, parks, and structures they create. Please note: This program takes place within the Museum's classroom and does not involve a visit to the galleries.
Themes: Our Communities, Technology & Innovation
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 5 – 10.
New York Art Then and Now: Creative Expressions
Art is everywhere in NYC! Guided by a Museum Educator, learners will explore how artists from the 1920s to today have used dance, music, visual arts, and poetry to create and respond to the city’s changing cultural landscape. Learners will examine artifacts from Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s bronze-cast tap dance shoes to a sculpture of a graffiti-covered subway car to the Dominican instrument guïra y pullero.
Hands-on Learning: Available only to scheduled groups, students will engage even more of their senses as they touch – and smell! - objects and listen to music to accompany the artifacts on display and create their own NYC-inspired drawing.
Themes: Arts, Cultural Identity, Our Communities, Change Over Time
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 5-18.
NYC Graffiti: From the Subway to the Museum
The young people who launched New York’s age of graffiti in the 1970s went on to significantly influence global pop culture. This guided field trip centers on the stories of multiple writers – graffiti artists – as they transitioned their practice from illegally writing on subway cars to creating paintings on canvas and exhibiting in galleries and museums around the world. In the process, students will build knowledge and practice in art criticism, engage multiple perspectives on graffiti, and learn about Hidden Voices including Martin Wong and Lady Pink.
Hands-on Learning: Students will investigate the styles of the writers as they develop their own style through sketching.
Themes: Arts, Cultural Identity, Our Communities
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 5 - 18.
“And…Scene!” NYC through the Movies
What’s better than watching 1 film about NYC? Watching 400 all at once! In this field trip experience, students will engage in an immersive 21-minute film depicting New York City life across time, boroughs, and cultures. This unique narrative film, created for the Museum’s 100th birthday and shown across 16 screens, was crafted from clips of almost 400 feature films and documentaries from the 1920s to today.
Hands-on Learning: After the film experience, students will transform from the role of observer to creator as they take center stage in a collaborative New York City-themed game of charades - clapperboard included!
Themes: Arts, Cultural Identity, Our Communities
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 9 – 18.
Rhythm & Roots: Dance in NYC
Come explore the varied dance forms of New Yorkers past and present and the ways the dance floor has created and transformed cultural communities across time. From ragtime’s early days in the 1890s to the popularization of mambo in the 1940s, a Museum Educator will guide students as they explore how multiple styles of dance and music originated and were popularized in New York City through engagement with costumes, instruments, photographs, and even a clip of hair!
Hands-on Learning: Students will handle touch objects that bring the artifacts in the museum to life. At the tour’s conclusion, they will be invited to learn a short, choreographed dance - individual or paired – from one of the styles featured in the exhibition.
Themes: Arts, Cultural Identity, Our Communities
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 8 – 18.
Making Miniatures: An Up-Close Look at the Stettheimer Dollhouse
What makes a house a home? Bring your students to explore the Stettheimer Dollhouse, a beloved highlight of the Museum’s collection, handcrafted by Carrie Walter Stettheimer with miniature furnishings and tiny artworks by notable artists like Marcel Duchamp and Gaston Lachaise. Learners will explore the different rooms within the dollhouse and search for patterns, colors, and shapes as they learn about Stettheimer and the values that shaped her design choices.
Hands-on Learning: Following the field trip, learners will create a mixed media room of their own inspired by the dollhouse.
Themes: Arts, Change over Time
60 minutes. Recommended for ages 5 – 11.
Summer Field Trip Information
Times: Tours are available Tuesday—Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. or 11:30 a.m., and last 60 minutes. Some afternoon accommodations can be made on a case-by-case basis.
Cost: The pricing of in-person field trips is different based upon your camp’s location. All pricing is a flat rate that includes up to 35 children and adult chaperones. Please see the relevant section below for group pricing.
Experience: All of our tours are guided by an experienced museum educator and include hands-on, interactive activities. Chaperones are expected to stay with the group at all times.
Booking: Advanced reservations are required and must be made by using the Field Trip Request Form. Please note that due to the volume of requests, it may take up to two weeks to receive a response from our School Programs Scheduling Team. Field trips are booked on a first-come, first-served basis.
Late Arrivals: Please plan to arrive at the Museum 10 minutes prior to your scheduled program. If an emergency situation comes up and you’ll be arriving late, please call our School Programs team at 917.492.3334 or email schoolprograms@mcny.org. The Museum reserves the right to shorten or cancel a program for groups that arrive after their start time. There will be no price adjustment or refund for late arrivals.
Summer Field Trip Pricing
| Summer Group Type | Price per Group |
| All Summer Groups (up to 35 students per group) | $175 |
| "I'm a Neighbor": Groups located in zip codes 10029, 10035, & 10037 | Free |
Note: We reserve the right to limit reservations to two groups per school per day. Teachers and chaperones are included for free in the group fee pricing.
Please fill out the Field Trip Request Form to request a trip.
Summer Field Trip Request Form
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