Guided Tours are:
- Appropriate for ages 3 and up and available for all levels, from preschool to college students and adults.
- Offered in French or English.
- Available from Tuesdays to Thursdays between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.
- The maximum number of participants varies according to the tour. Please see below for more details.
- Guided tours vary between 60 and 90 minutes depending on the tour. Groups are welcome to stay at the museum for an extra hour after the activity to continue exploring.
- If you are interested in a tour but your group age doesn’t correspond to the listed ages for it, please redpath.museum [at] mcgill.ca (contact us).
- To book a tour, please complete this form.
Costs
| Student or participant |
$12 / student or participant (taxes included). Minimum fee of $150 (taxes included) for groups of less than 13 participants. |
| Accompanying person |
Free for 1 accompanying person / 15 participants. Beyond this ratio, a fee of $12 (taxes included) applies for each additional accompanying person. |
Themes and Topics
Pre-K to Kindergarten (children 3 to 5 years old)
1. Dinosaur Detectives (Pre-K and Kindergarten)
Visit the museum and learn how to recognize dinosaurs and become a dinosaur detective. Guided by our educators, go around the museum to try to find dinosaurs using your new skills as a dinosaur detective. You will get a reward every time you find a dinosaur!
Age: 3 to 5 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration around the museum galleries. Please note that during winter months, groups will need 15 to 20 minutes before the activity to prepare (remove winter jackets and boots), and 15 to 20 minutes after the activity to prepare to leave (put back on winter jackets and boots). In winter months, please plan for 90 minutes total from the time the group arrives to the time the group leaves the museum.
Materials provided: Printed passport with images of the dinosaurs represented in the museum.
Group Size: maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
2. Storytime and Treasure Hunt (Pre-K and Kindergarten)
Come to the museum and listen to a fun story animated by one of our educators and then visit the museum, guided by our educators, to discover incredible things around the museum.
Age: 3 to 5 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration around the museum galleries. Please note that during winter months, groups will need 15 to 20 minutes before the activity to prepare (remove winter jackets and boots), and 15 to 20 minutes after the activity to prepare to leave (put back on winter jackets and boots). In winter months, please plan for 90 minutes total from the time the group arrives to the time the group leaves the museum.
Materials provided: a printed guide for the treasure hunt.
Group Size: maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
Elementary School
1. Dinosaur Detectives (Elementary cycles 1 and 2)
Visit the museum and learn how to recognize dinosaurs and fossils and become a dinosaur detective. Then go around the museum, first accompanied by an educator and then on your own, to try to find dinosaurs using your new skills as a dinosaur detective. You will get a reward if you find all the dinosaurs!
Age: 6 to 9 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration (a mix of guided and self-guided exploration) around the museum galleries.
Materials provided: Erasable worksheet with clues to find dinosaurs around the museum and clipboard.
Group Size: maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
2. Big and Small at the Redpath Museum (Elementary cycles 1, 2 and 3)
From a portion of a bowhead whale skull to stromatolites formed by bacteria, discover some of the biggest and smallest objects and specimens in the Redpath’s natural history collections.
Age: 8 to 12 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration around the museum galleries.
Group size: Maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
3. Evolution and Extinction (Elementary cycle 2 and 3)
Come to the museum and learn about the history of life on Earth, from its origins to the age of the great dinosaurs during the Mesozoic to life as we know it today. In this activity, you will explore the evolution of different forms of life and the role that the great extinctions played in shaping life as we see it today.
Age: 8- 12 years old
Duration: 90 minutes, including 45 minutes of guided tour and 45 minutes of free exploration.
Group Size: Maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
4. Ancient Egypt: Time Capsule (Elementary cycles 1, 2 and 3)
Come to the museum and find out how pyramids are like time capsules from which we can learn a lot from the past without having to build a time machine. Learn about Ancient Egypt’s daily life and how archeologists have learnt about this fascinating ancient culture.
Age: 6-12 years old
Duration: 90 minutes, including 45 minutes of guided tour and 45 minutes of free exploration.
Group size: Maximum of 20 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 3 groups of 16 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
Secondary School (available as of April 2023)
1. Evolution and Extinction (Secondary I to IV)
Come to the museum and learn about the history of life on Earth, the geological time scale, and the role that evolution and extinction have played in shaping life as we know it. This program uses dinosaurs as an example of a major extinction.
Age: 12 to 15 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration (a mix of guided and self-guided exploration) around the museum galleries to learn about the history of life on Earth.
Group Size: maximum of 25 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 2 groups of 25 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
2. Finding Life (Secondary III to V)
From the point of view of a space explorer who arrives on Earth looking for life, learn what this explorer would have found at certain points of the planet's history, maybe only bacteria, or big dinosaurs, or a world dominated by mammals? Accompanied by our educators, learn to identify the signs that tell us that there is life on a planet, the general classification of living things and how consensus in science is established, using the definition of life as an example.
Age: 12 to 15 years old
Duration: 1 hour, including a 15-minute presentation in the auditorium and 45 minutes of exploration (a mix of guided and self-guided exploration) around the museum galleries to discover examples of past and present living forms.
Group Size: maximum of 25 participants with a maximum of two adult companions. Please note it is possible to accommodate up to 2 groups of 25 participants at the same time on Wednesdays, please contact us for further details.
Adults
1. General Tour
Learn about the history of the Redpath Museum as you walk through the galleries and discover its fascinating collections guided by one of our educators.
Age: From 16 years old
Duration: 1 hour
2. Egypt
Accompanied by one of our educators, explore the Redpath Museum’s Ancient Egypt exhibition while learning interesting things about this extraordinary culture.
Age: From 16 years old
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation Policy
Our cancellation policy is available upon request. redpath.museum [at] mcgill.ca (Contact us) to know more.