Field Trips:
Details & Resources

Dates:
School year: Tuesday through Friday (except for the first Tuesday of every month), October 2^nd, 2024 – May 23^rd, 2025.  

Summer: Tuesday through Friday, June 3^rd – August 8^th, 2025 

Sensory friendly: First Tuesday of every month during the school year (except for November) 

Times:
9:30 am – 11:00 am, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm; 
We will not be able to extend your time at the museum in the event of late arrival.

Capacity:
School year: 140 students per time slot 

Summer: 60 students per time slot 

Sensory friendly: One group of up to 60 students per time slot 

Reservation Fee:
$25 non-refundable reservation fee secures the field trip date and time. This fee will be deducted from your final payment.

Students:
Sliding scale of $3-$9 per student. Scholarships are available for Title I campuses and must be applied for on the initial request form.

Chaperones: 
Teachers, teaching assistants, and other school staff with valid district receive complimentary admission on the day of the field trip.  

Additional chaperones that are not school staff will need to reserve a ticket through General Admission.  Price per ticket for General Admission is $18  for anyone 2 years old and over.   

Thinkery Members: 
Current Thinkery Members receive waived field trip admission, limited to the adult Members named on the membership card. 

Additional chaperone discounts:
Chaperones who qualify for Museums for All can enter the museum for free on their field trip. Chaperones who are active/former military or first responders qualify for $3 per ticket on their field trip. Click here to learn more. 

Full payment must be received 15 days prior to your scheduled visit. Visits will be cancelled if payment is not received by the deadline and reservation fees will not be refunded. 

To reschedule a Field Trip cancelled for non-payment, please submit a new online request form (a new reservation fee will be required).  Reservation fees are date-specific, non-refundable and non-transferable.  The Reservation Fee will be applied to the group admission total.

Thinkery accepts payment via check or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express).  If you have a Purchase Order, please email proof of PO. to schoolprograms@thinkeryaustin.org.  Payments can be made via phone at 512-469-2333 Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm. If paying by check, please ensure that your check will be received by the payment due date. 

If you need to cancel your visit, please contact us as soon as possible at schoolprograms@thinkeryaustin.org or 512-469-6233.  All sales are final, with no refunds for canceled visits or reservation fees.  Refunds will only be given in the form of Admit One passes to Thinkery.

School Year:
Pre-Visit Information
Chaperone Planner
Bus Driver Handout
Permission Slip

Once your Field Trip reservation is confirmed, you’ll receive a confirmation email with links to all of the necessary pre-visit planning documents.

Scavenger Hunt: Pre-K – 1^st
Scavenger Hunt: 2^nd – 5^th
TEKS Table Pre-K – K
TEKS Table 1^st – 2^nd
TEKS Table 3^rd – 5^th

• Thinkery Student Review

For a safe and comfortable experience, Thinkery Field Trips require one (1) adult chaperone for every five (5) students during the school year and one (1) adult chaperone for every eight (8) students during the summer. Chaperones must be teachers, school staff with valid district identification, parents, guardians, or other adults over the age of 18 accompanying the group.   

You will be greeted by our staff at Group Entry, where you will check-in and receive a brief orientation for students, teachers, and chaperones. Groups arriving by bus should remain on the bus until they have received the orientation. The lead teacher will communicate departure times to Thinkery staff, bus drivers, and chaperones. Departure times are as follow: 9:30am -11am, 10:30am-12pm, 11:30am-1pm.  We will not be able to extend your time at the museum in the event of a late arrival.   

During orientation, the lead teacher will receive stickers to place on each student, a handy chaperone museum planner available in English and Spanish, and chaperone badges for teachers and school staff.  

Once students are grouped with their designated chaperone and have their stickers – come on in and let the fun begin!  

Timeslot extensions and refunds are not available. We will make every effort to ensure your experience is as positive as possible. However, strict adherence to timeslot is required to ensure other guests are receiving equitable time.   

Once your field trip has come to an end, please make your way to Group Entry. Chaperones will return their badges there. A Thinkery staff member will lead your group outside of Group Entry upon the completion of your visit.  

Also, please be mindful of other schools that might be entering or leaving the museum. Be prepared to share the space with other schools and plan your departure accordingly. Please take care to leave the non-carpeted area by the lockers clear for safety reasons. 

Thinkery receives a high volume of requests for group visits during the school year. To ensure a fair and equitable process, changes to field trip dates and time reservations are limited. 

If you must make changes to your reserved date and time, first contact schoolprograms@thinkeryaustin.org to cancel your existing reservation and book a new date and time. Once availability is confirmed, a new $25 reservation fee will secure the new date and time. Only one $25 reservation fee will be applied toward the final invoice. 

Changes can be made to the group size up the invoice due date by contacting schoolprograms@thinkeryaustin.org. A new invoice will be sent with the updated amount due. Changes cannot be made after the final payment has been received. 

Groups arriving with fewer students than anticipated will receive Admit One pass to Thinkery (one pass for each student that is paid for, but not in attendance). Groups arriving with additional students will be charged for their tour admission. 

Our museum staff is available to assist you in reuniting with a missing child or adult. Please provide Thinkery staff with a detailed description of the person. In the case of a missing child, our museum protocol includes monitoring our main entrance and scanning all galleries and program spaces.

We do not allow re-entry for large groups once they depart the building. 

Yes! We encourage you to explore the store during the trip to avoid long lines at the end of your visit. We also ask that you visit in your groups of 1:5.

Thinkery does not offer a space onsite for lunch. We recommend using one of the nearby parks in the Mueller Neighborhood.

• Patterson Park is located off of Airport Blvd
• Bartholomew Park is located off of 51st St.
• Mueller Lake Park, located directly across the street from Thinkery, is a neighborhood park overseen by the Mueller development. Inquiries should be sent to the Mueller Central office (contactus@muelleraustin.com)
• Town Center Park, at the end of Aldrich Street (towards Kerbey Lane), features an open lawn area suitable for picnics, a children’s playground, and sensory and rain gardens.
• Northwest Greenway, on Philomena Street near Dell Children’s Hospital, features an accessible playscape and shaded picnic area.