Summer Camps 2025
We are excited to offer a variety of summer activities from camps at the Museum to field experiences! Many of our camps will run multiple times. Price includes all supplies, materials, and transportation. Lunch will not be provided by the Museum. Our single day camps will run from 10 am to 2 pm, unless otherwise stated.
Space is limited and registration is required, no same day registration.
Museum Members received a 10% discount. If you did not receive your discount code please email ambertews@isu.edu
Single Day Outdoor Camps
Hike and Learn About Pocatello Plants
Ages: 11-13
Cost: $55
A walk/hike in a different area every week where there are multiple significant stops to describe common plants in the area. The features of the plants and how they can be used or affect the surrounding environment will be covered. The participants do not need to attend any previous camps in order to understand this material.
Select Date to Register:
Trilobite Hunting with the Museum
Date July 30
Ages 11 - 18
Cost $148.50
Despite being inland now, oceans have been a big part of Idaho’s history over the geological past. Join museum paleontologists looking for trilobites in the mountains outside of Paris. These ancient arthropods roamed the sea bottom in what is now Idaho for hundreds of millions of years. Due to the travel times, this camp will start early and return to Pocatello late.
Single Day Camps at the Museum
Paint-A-Critter
Ages 5-9
Cost $25
Want your young ones to experience the wonder and excitement of a museum, and create a fun, hand-made toy at the same time? Join us for Paint-A-Critter. With four different animals to choose from, your kid will want to collect them all. Participants will get a tour of the museum, a lesson about the ancient animal they are painting, and will paint and take home a fun rendition of one of Idaho’s iconic prehistoric critters.
Select Date to Register
Identifying Stone Points Workshop
Ages 10 and up
Cost $55
People have been using stones from their surrounding environment for hundreds of thousands of years to make tools, all over the globe! Learn how to identify various stone tool types, what you should do if you find a stone tool out “in the wild,” and see some stunning examples from our collections in this class. This class is open to adults and archaeology-interested youth ages 10 and up.
Select Date to Register
Mammoth Microfossils
Ages 10-13
Cost $45
Not all fossils are huge. Tiny fossils, buried in the rocks and dirt around dig sites, can offer scientists insights into the animals and plants that lived along giant mammoths. Join museum scientists in this camp to get your hands wet and separate real Ice Age fossils from the surrounding rock (called matrix) and help the museum better understand the lost worlds of the Ice Age in Idaho’s panhandle.
Select Date to Register:
June 16, June 20, June 23, June 27, June 30
July 7, July 11, July 14, July 18, July 21, July 25, July 28
Help Find Microfossils
Ages 10-13
Cost: $35
Want to discover fossils from Idaho’s past, but aren’t interested in sweating under the hot sun or breaking rocks? We have just the camp for you! In our climate-controlled lab you can look for fossils using a microscope. This 10am-2pm class gives you the basics of fossil ID and sorting, and allows you to advance real science as you separate tiny fossils from the rocks and dirt that surround them. Relaxing and satisfying, the microfossils sorting camp is perfect for the fossil-obsessed indoor student.
Select Date to Register:
Idaho Dinosaurs Day Camp
Ages 11-14
Cost: $50
Help us find Idaho’s dinosaurs! We’ve collected tons of rocks that have Idaho dinosaur bones in them over the years, but we haven’t had the chance to dig into them to figure out what they are. This is where you can help us uncover real Idaho dinosaur fossils! The fossils you find will help us better understand the Age of Dinosaurs here in Idaho. All tools and equipment provided.
Select Date to Register:
Plants, the Museum, and You!
Date June 10
Ages 12-18
Cost $70
Learn to press plants and flowers with our museum scientists! This is a fun hobby that can also provide real, important data for scientists. Tour our herbarium and spend the day mounting plants in our collection, as well as making your own take-home plant press and mounted specimen!
Learn Fossil Preparation for Teens
High School Learners
Date: August 5
Cost $66
This one-day class is designed to teach teens and adults the basics of preparing fossils in a museum laboratory setting. Participants will receive a tour of the museum and collections and direct, hands-on instruction in our paleontology lab on real fossils. Participants will also learn about volunteer opportunities at the museum if they would like to continue their training and prepare more fossils at the IMNH. Spaces are exceptionally limited due to the size of the lab.
Learn Fossil Preparation for Adults
Ages: 18+
Date: August 12
Cost $66
This one-day class is designed to teach teens and adults the basics of preparing fossils in a museum laboratory setting. Participants will receive a tour of the museum and collections and direct, hands-on instruction in our paleontology lab on real fossils. Participants will also learn about volunteer opportunities at the museum if they would like to continue their training and prepare more fossils at the IMNH. Spaces are exceptionally limited due to the size of the lab.
Multi Day Camps
Idaho Dinosaurs Field Camp
Date July 23 and 24
Ages 13 -18
Cost $230
Ready to get your hands and feet dirty while digging up real Idaho dinosaurs? This two day camp is perfect for the future paleontologist. Day one (10am-2pm) will be spent at the museum, viewing exhibits, touring our collections, and getting familiar with Idaho’s dinosaurs. The second day will start early (8am) and participants will travel to Idaho’s Cretaceous rocks to look for dinosaur fossils in the wild, assisted by some of Idaho’s preeminent paleontologists. Return to the IMNH will be late in the afternoon owing to the distances traveled.
Build Your Own Dinosaur Leg
Dates July 17 and 18
Ages 11-18
Cost $110
Are you fascinated by 3D printing and modeling? Do you know how these technologies are used to make dinosaur exhibits? The Mount-A-Limb Camp offers you the opportunity to create your own museum-worthy exhibit for your home! You will be able to mount a 3D printed leg of our state dinosaur, Oryctodromeus, and learn real museum mounting techniques that you can use in a future museum career. You’ll also be able to paint your dinosaur leg; learn realistic painting techniques or make it wild and colorful.
