Fun & Learning: School Programs

Bring Your School to the Aquarium

Hook your students with our fun programs at the Downtown Aquarium. We offer two options for schools visiting the Downtown Aquarium. You can choose between a Self-guided Tour or a Classroom Program. Book your school trip today! Registrations with payment are due 2 weeks in advance. Call (303) 561-4444 or email AQDenverEdu@ldry.com for availability.

Book Your Field Trip Today!

Making reservations

Reservations for School Fieldtrips must be made at least 2 weeks in advance for Self-guided tours and at least 3 weeks in advance for Classsroom programs. Time slots are filled on a first-come/first served basis and time slots fill quickly, especially during the high volume months of March, April and May.
For the best experience, you may want to plan to come in lower volume months of September, October, November, January or February.
All School Fieldtrips and programs must pay full payment at the time of reservations. Changes to the final number of people will be noted on the day of your trip and you will be either refunded or charged for the difference after the fieldtrip.
Payment can be made by credit card (preferred) or checks. We can not accept cash for fieldtrips.
Rescheduling and cancelations: Your payment is non-refundable after 2 weeks. If you need to reschedule please contact us with at least 1 week notice. In the case of inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances, we will work with you to reschedule or refund.
Once your reservation and payment is made you will receive an emailed confirmation. Please read all confirmation materials for important information on logistics like check-in, parking and expected behavior of students and chaperones.

Fieldtrip Policies and Guidelines

School reservations must have a minimum of 10 students, or pay for the minimum of 10 students. We can accommodate up to 200 students in a half hour time slot. If your group is larger than 200 you will be booked in staggered time slots.
1 adult is free with every 5 paid students (1:5 chaperone ratio). We require at least a 1:10 ratio regardless of the age of students. Teachers and school staff need to be counted in the chaperone ratio. School staff who are Paras/Special Needs/Medical attendants are free and are expected to work specifically with students that require the additional help. Parents are not considered Paras/Special Needs Attendants.
All adults accompanying students must actively monitor the students’ behavior and stay with students at all times. We require a signed behavior contract by all chaperones to be turned in at check in. Any group displaying disruptive behavior will be told to leave without a refund. Future trips may be subject to denial.
Additional adults over the chaperone ratio can either be added to the school reservation at the discounted group rate or they will have to purchase their own tickets at the box office at the regular admission rate.
We do not have space for lunch or coat storage. Lunches can be kept on the bus, in chaperone cars or the students may carry their own in a backpack. There are grassy areas and picnic tables outside the aquarium to eat lunches. We do not have indoor space for eating lunches, so if it is raining or snowing, please plan accordingly.
Students are asked to wear nametag stickers, provided by the school, with the name of the school and contact teacher. Adult chaperones are provided with a chaperone sticker as their ticket.

Checking In for your Reservation

Make sure to read your confirmation information thoroughly and share with all teachers, adult chaperones and school staff. This will include information on where to have busses drop off, park and where to check in and other important logistics.
Check in is located at the Nautilus Ballroom entrance. Busses should pull up to the drop off lane curb right before the stop light. For the safety of your students, please leave your students on the bus, while the contact teacher checks in.
Once directed to offload students to come in the bus can park in the Aquarium lot directly across the street from the aquarium.
If you are scheduled for a Classroom Program, you will be told where to have your students wait for their aquarium educator. If you are 10 or more minutes late for your classroom program, it will be canceled. You can still do a self-guided tour of the exhibits. We do not have the ability to shorten or reschedule programs that day if you are late.
Busses and school/organizational marked vans are able to park in our lot free. You will be given a code for bus parking in your confirmation materials and at check in. Please make sure to share with your Bus/Van drivers. Personal cars must pay for parking at the kiosk $8 per car (credit card only).

Self-Guided Tours

Self Guided Tour entry times begin at 10am and times are staggered through the day
Cost: $6.50 per student ($9.50 for college students).We require one adult chaperone for every 5 students; adults in this 1:5 ratio are free, teachers are considered chaperones and count in this ratio. Chaperones must remain with the group at all times. Additional adult tickets can be purchased by the school in advance for the group rate, using the reservation form. If you choose not to pre-purchase extra adult tickets, they can purchase their own on the day of the fieldtrip for the regular admission rate.
Reservations with payment needs to be made 2 weeks in advance. Please call 303-561-4444 to inquire about last minute availability if there is less than two weeks to your preferred date.We will do our best to accommodate if there is space available.
Reservations and payment MUST be received by us at least 2 weeks in advance of your fieldtrip.

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Classroom Programs

Sit back, relax and leave the teaching to us! Put your students in the hands of our expert Aquarium educators for exciting classroom lessons on conservation, adaptation, food webs, habitats, locomotion and defense. Classroom programs are 40-45 minutes in length and are all correlated with the Colorado Model Content Standards. Classroom programs also include admission to the exhibits for a Self-Guided Tour at no extra fee.

Cost: $9.50 per student ($12.50 for college students). We require one adult chaperone for every 5 students; adults in this 1:5 ratio are free, teachers are considered chaperones and count in this ratio. Chaperones must remain with the group at all times. Additional adult tickets can be purchased by the school in advance for the group rate, using the reservation form. If you choose not to pre-purchase tickets, they can purchase their own at the box office on that day for the regular admission rate. Additional adults and siblings are not admitted to the classroom programs due to space constraints.
Reservations with payment is required 2 weeks in advance. Please call to inquire about last minute availability if there is less than two weeks to your preferred date.We will do our best to accommodate if there is space available.
Days: Tuesdays - Fridays; 9:30am, 10:30am, 11:30am or 12:30pm

Splish! Splash! Water Bash!

Grades: PreK – 2nd (PreK students must be at least 3 years old)
Encourages our youngest learners to explore water through play! This hands-on program will have students discovering which animals live on land or in the sea, experiment with the properties of ice and water, and put your boat to the test- can it stay afloat? This early childhood program incorporates nature play, inquiry learning, gross motor and fine motor skills. Meets NGSS- K-LS1-1, K-ESS3-2, 1-PS4-1, 2-PS1-3, 2-PS1-4, 2-ESS2-2, 2-ESS2-3 and Colorado State Standards-SC.P.1.1, SC.P.1.2, SC.P.2.1, SC.P.3.1 , SC.P.3.2, SC.K.1.1, SC.K.2.1, SC.K.3.2 –SC.1.1.1

Sensational Sharks

Grades: PreK – 2nd (PreK students must be at least 3 years old)
Explore the ways sharks experience the world by testing out shark senses! Can you see like a shark? Help match a batch of sharks, find out their favorite foods, build a shark body, and see how you measure up to a shark. This early childhood program incorporates nature play, inquiry learning, gross motor and fine motor skills. Meets Colorado State Standards- SC.P.1, SC.K.2.1, SC.P.2.1, SC.K.3.2, SC.P.2.2, SC.P.3.1, SC.1.1.1, SC.2.1.1, SC.1.2.1, SC.2.2.2

Habitat Highlights

Grades: PreK – 2nd (PreK students must be at least 3 years old)
Explore a variety of habitats and the organisms that live in them. Habitats look very different from one to the next, but they all have food, water, shelter and space. Animals and plants are living organisms that need different things to survive. This early childhood program incorporates nature play, inquiry learning, gross and fine motor skills. Meets the Colorado State Standards - SC.P.1.1, SC.K.2.1, SC.P.2.1, SC.K.3.2, SC.P.2.2, SC.P.3.1, SC.1.2.1, SC.2.2.1, SC.1.2.2, SC.2.2.2

Coral Communities

Grades: 3rd – 5th
A coral reef is a colorful habitat that many animals call home. Discover what coral is and how important they are to the ocean habitat. Meets Colorado State Standards - SC.3.2.1, SC.3.2.2, SC.3.2.3, SC.3.2.5, SC.4.2.1, SC.4.3.4, SC.5.2.1, SC.5.2.2, SC.5.3.5.

Fintastic Sharks

Grades: 3rd – 5th
Discover how different species of sharks have adapted to become apex predators. Uncover unique anatomy and behaviors to see how sharks spend their time. With dynamic demos and interactive exploration, find out why sharks are necessary to keep the ocean ecosystem in balance. Meets Colorado State Standards – SC.3.1.1, SC3.2.1, SC3.2.1, SC3.2.3, SC3.3.1, SC 4.2.1, SC5.1.3, SC5.2.2 and NGSS 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2

Fabulous Fish

Grades 3rd – 5th
Fish are equipped with amazing adaptations. Students will learn about both behavioral and physical adaptations that allow fish to survive in a diverse amount of conditions. Meets Colorado State Standards - SC3.2.1, SC3.2.2, SC3.2.3, SC3.2.5, SC4.2.1

Jawesome Sharks

Grades 9th - 12th
Play the hunger games to see how your shark survives. Put shark adaptations to the test to find out how competition for resources and environmental change can drive natural selection. Learners will participate in hands on activities that demonstrate why sharks are the ultimate survivor! Meets Colorado State Standards - SC.MS.2.2, SC.MS.2.5, SC.MS.2.8, SC.MS.2.10, SC.MS.2.11

Invertebrate Investigations

Grades 6th- 12th
Did you know that invertebrates account for 97% of the animal species on earth? Take a closer look at some of these amazing creatures in our hands-on lab, designed to introduce students to the practice and complexity of classification. Meets Colorado State Standards SC.MS.2.1, SC.MS.2.2, Sc.MS.2.5, SC.MS.2.11, SC.MS. 2.12, SC.HS.2.3, SC.HS.2.4, SC.HS.2.7, SC.HS.2.9, SC.HS.2.10, SC.HS.2.13

Squid: Inside & Out

Grades 6th – 12th
Join us for an in-depth look at the world’s largest, fastest and most specialized invertebrate – the squid! Students will learn about the squid’s interesting body parts both inside and out as the dissect one in partner teams. Meets Colorado state standards - SC.MS.2.2, SC.MS.2.5, SC.MS.2.4, SC.MS.2.11, SC.HS.2.3, SC.HS.2.7, SC.HS.2.4, SC.HS.2.12

Aquarium: The Inside Story

Grades 6th – 12th
Look behind the scenes at the chemistry, biology and technology of keeping thousands of aquatic animals healthy and a million gallons of water inhabitable. Learn about the nitrogen cycle and three types of filtration used in the aquarium’s water cycle. Meets Colorado State Standards – SC.MS.2.5, SC.MS.2.7, SC.MS.2.12, SC.MS.3.4, SC.HS.2.3, SC.HS.2.4, SC.HS.3.6

This class is also available for College Classes at $12.50 per student.

Note: This program is also available to college students at the cost of $12.50/student

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Outreach Programs

Downtown Aquarium Educators hit the road to bring aquatic education to your classroom. We will bring fun and interactive topics to you!

We will travel up to 60 miles radius from the Downtown Aquarium. Travel fee is priced per mile and is added to the program fee.

Questions? Call us at 303-561-4444. Click here to book a program.

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Student Projects

We are glad to help students answer questions for a research project. If your class has a project on ocean or aquatic animals, habitats or careers, please have your students compile questions into one email and email us at AQDenverEdu@Ldry.com. Please allow 5 business days for us to research and respond to your students. Due to time constraints of our staff, we are not able to accommodate live or phone interview requests.

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Teachers Night Out

The Downtown Aquarium wants to thank you for your work as a teacher. Join us after school for a special evening for educators. Learn about fieldtrips, classroom resources, professional development and network with other educators. Appetizers will be provided. Call our Education Department at 303-561-4444 for updated dates and times and to RSVP.

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