Guided visits at the DMA are provided free of charge. Docents lead engaging, age-appropriate tours for students in a variety of themes that encourage students to engage with works of art, develop and express ideas and opinions, and make personal and academic connections. Learn more about tour themes below, and get answers to our frequently asked questions here.
Guided tours are available at 11:00 a.m., noon, and 1:00 p.m., and are limited to 60 students per hour.
Special Exhibition Tour Topics
Interested in bringing your students to see a paid exhibition for free? Please request this on your original form (either Guided Visit Request Form or Self-Guided Visit Request Form) at least three weeks before your requested date. With less than three weeks' notice, students will be required to pay the ticket price to visit a special exhibition.
Check back soon for tour topics available during the 2022-2023 school year.
Check back soon for tour topics available during the 2022-2023 school year.
Recipes for Art
Learn how artists use the ingredients of line, shape, and color as their "recipe" to create endless varieties of art. Tours include multisensory activities, sketching, stories, movement, and more. (Recommended for K–1st grade; limited to 30 students per hour.)
Me and My World
Explore people and places in art through stories, clues, and gallery activities. (Recommended for 1st–2nd grade; limited to 30 students per hour.)
Stories in Art
Have fun learning to "read" stories in art from a variety of times and places. (Recommended for 2nd–3rd grade; limited to 30 students per hour.)
A Looking Journey
Take an interactive journey through the magical world of art by looking carefully, thinking critically, and paying attention to what you feel. (Recommended for 4th grade; limited to 60 students per hour.)
Arts of the Americas
Explore the arts of ancient American peoples, American Indian cultures, the Spanish and British colonies, and modern Mexico and the United States. (Recommended for 5th grade; limited to 60 students per hour.)
Arts of Mexico and Central and South America
Ancient times to the 20th century. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Ancient American Art
Ancient art from Mexico and Central and South America. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Colonial to Modern American Art
17th- to 20th-century United States. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Arts of Europe
Classical times to 20th-century Europe. Limited to 60 students per hour.
Arts of the Ancient World
Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia, and the Americas. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Arts of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific
Ancient to 20th-century Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Contemporary Art
1945 to the present. Limited to 30 students per hour.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math)
Explore the connections between science, technology, engineering, art, and math throughout the Museum’s collection. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Collection Highlights
Learn about notable highlights throughout the Museum's encyclopedic collection. Limited to 60 students per hour.
The DMA offers guided tours for special education classes and groups with special needs. Trained Access Docents guide groups through a one-hour tour of the Museum's collection, utilizing multisensory activities that foster an inclusive learning environment meant to engage a range of abilities. Limited to 30 students per hour.
Arturo's Preschool is a free program for preschool, homeschool, and daycare groups serving children ages 3–6. Take an up-close look at a work of art, read a featured picture book, and try out games and movement activities connected to artworks. Then explore ideas with an art–making activity. Program themes and projects frequently change, so there is always something new to do.
Preschool experiences are offered in two formats: pre-recorded videos and art kits. To adhere to social distancing guidelines, we are currently not offering an in-person Arturo's Preschool program.
Upon your request, we’ll share a link to a video version of your chosen program along with a list of recommended supplies for the art-making activity. Videos range in length from 10 to 25 minutes and include stories, games, artful conversation, and a demonstration of an art-making activity. Themes include:
“Push and Pull”
Explore the ups and downs of gravity.
“Art Rocks”
Follow the journey of Earth rocks and art rocks and learn more about what a rock can be.
“Busy Bugs”
Learn how bugs helped make the art in Moth to Cloth: Silk in Africa.
“The Tiny Seed”
Search for plants and flowers "growing" in the art galleries.
“All the Water in the World”
Look for ponds, rivers, and more in works of art, then use water to create a masterpiece.
“Color Experiments”
Search for warm and cool colors in works of art, watch color science experiments, and make your own rainbow art.
Designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and confidence, these kits offer all the materials students need to create an art project in the classroom or at home. DMA staff will deliver these free art kits to schools within Dallas city limits. Themes include:
“Watercolor Windows”
Inspired by a pair of colorful stained-glass windows, this kit includes watercolor paper, bleeding tissue paper, a black crayon, and a foam brush for students to create their own take on a stained-glass window.
“Textured Gold Medals”
Inspired by gold treasures of the Greek and Roman civilizations, students will design a medal fit for a winner. This kit includes a cardboard circle, wax sticks, gold aluminum foil, and string.
“Painted Paper Patterns”
Inspired by the shapes and colors in Moth to Cloth: Silk in Africa, this art kit will inspire your students to paint, print, and pattern! Students will receive construction paper, black paint, a glue stick, a printing utensil, and instructions.