Great Links to Museums
Span the Globe
Travel across time, continents, and cultures through museums worldwide. Find the museums in your region or take a virtual tour with your home computer.
Northwest
Alaska's Museums
Find dozens of tours, from the Alaska Native Heritage Center, to the Imaginarium, to the Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park
Nebraska: Edgerton Explorit Center
The science center's Kids' Corner is loaded with hands-on home experiments!
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
OMSI showcases online exhibits in their Science Online section. They also have valuable teaching resources -- including lesson plans and activities.
South Dakota State Agricultural Museum Delve into the history of agriculture offered by this unique museum! Points of interest include the kids' activities and stories of "Barn Again!"
Washington: Seattle Art Museum
This is a great site for families, and kids. Activities, engaging games (Egyptian Wig Arranging!) and stories, behind the scenes looks, and more.
Southwest
California: SJSU Virtual Museum of Math, Science, and Technology
Choose a scientist and you'll find background information and references-- a quick and easy resource for educators and students!
New Mexico: Museum of International Folk Art
This site features lesson plans and background information that will help teach your students about different cultures. Take a tour of the galleries to learn about the museum.
New Mexico: Office of Cultural Affairs
Find websites celebrating New Mexico's 400 years of cultural arts, historic preservation, monuments, and museums.
Texas: Houston Museum of Natural Science
Explore exhibits through virtual tours: Visit the butterfly center and take an insect quiz!
Utah: Genetic Science Learning Center
Look to the Genetic Science Learning Center for the most extensive and detailed resources about the science of genetics. Teens can also find online and hands-on activities, and science fair ideas.
Midwest
Arkansas Air Museum
A great resource for those interested in the history of aviation, the planes, and their engines. This is the state's oldest museum, and most of its airplanes still fly!
Illinois: Museum of Science and Industry
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has interactive exhibits like a walk-through heart!
Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Among many exhibits, you can learn about the origins and history of Modernism at this beautifully styled site. You'll find curator's notes, a Modernism timeline, and a search feature. The larger museum also has a KidsWorld.
Northeast
Maine: Hudson Museum at the University of Maine
This museum focuses on traditional and contemporary cultures. You can participate in virtual tours about beadwork, basket making, and Mayan ceramics. Educators can find "curriculum connections" that include pictures and audio clips relating to popular books such as Dogsong by Gary Paulsen.
Massachusetts: New England Aquarium
Visit this site for cool kids' activities, including "Be a Penguin," a virtual tour, as well as lesson plans and activities! You'll also find valuable information about sea life.
New York: American Museum of Natural History
This site offers a wealth of interesting information and amazing graphics relating to natural history. Go on virtual tours of current exhibits or examine the education pages to find "expeditions" for you and your kids to explore!
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Learn more about the collections at one of our nation's most famous museums. This link takes you directly to an alphabetical index of archived exhibits and collections. Browse at your leisure, and be sure to click on the link to the Art History timeline. It's a great overview from prehistory through 500 A.D., with more to come. Also on this page are links to special exhibitions and the museum's online collection.
New York: The Museum of Modern Art
Take your children on an Art Safari, an interactive way to help kids appreciate art. As you look at a piece, you will be prompted by audio and written questions to write what you see in the box provided. In the "Create Art" section, you can use shapes to create your own drawings on the screen. If you want to submit your work, it might be posted on the site! Parents will want to click on "Introduction for Adults" before proceeding.
Washington, D.C. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The Smithsonian Institute lives up to its reputation! Educators can find virtual tours, educational resources, Internet activities, and an extensive list of links to other air-and-space websites.
Washington, D.C. The National Gallery of Art
has assembled a great collection of online learning resources. Take a tour of the collections or of the building architecture, then broaden your art history expertise with in-depth studies of artists and art forms. Also try the virtual tours of exhibits current and past.
Southeast
Georgia: Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University
In their Odyssey Online, you can journey to explore the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and nineteenth to twentieth century sub-Saharan Africa.
International
Australian National Maritime Museum
Visit Australia's most-visited maritime museum! Explore the history of the museum's famous boats, take virtual tours of the vessels, and hear some great ship lore.
England: Tower of London
This tour provides extensive information about the history of the Tower of London. You will also have the chance to try out English recipes and games!
France: The Louvre
It started out as a medieval fortress, became the palace of the kings of France, and has been a museum for the last two centuries. Learn more and take a virtual tour of its galleries.
France: The WebMuseum, Paris
A free site full of famous paintings from Europe and Japan. Developed by a techie, this site is a true labor of love.
Spain: The Prado Museum
Each month the Prado invites you to look at, "One work, one artist," where you learn how to look at a painting and analyze it to its finest detail. Select other tours as well.
International Folk Art Museum
Here's a great spot to learn about different cultures through their art. Tour these galleries and learn about the museum and folk art.
International UFO Museum & Research Center
End your museum world tour with a stop at Roswell, NM. Get an inside look at the whole UFO question and Roswell's part in it. Features a kids' club, too.
