• Dunes and Sangre de Cristo Mountains at Sunset

    Great Sand Dunes

    National Park & Preserve Colorado

Parks as Classrooms

Field Trips

Great Sand Dunes is a fascinating classroom! Bring students here to learn about our unique geology, ecology, and human history. Plan your own lessons or arrange for a ranger-guided program.

Curriculum Materials

Search by grade level, by subject, or setting. This complete K-12 curriculum includes lesson plans for the classroom, the schoolyard, or onsite at Great Sand Dunes. Many elementary level lesson plans. Middle school lessons are web-based. High school "Town Hall" lesson spans multiple days.

Guest Speakers

Rangers are available to come to your classroom during the fall and winter months to help supplement your in-class curriculum. All programs are free and run 45-60 minutes. Get a few teachers together (or your whole school!) to coordinate multiple classrooms on each day.

Traveling Trunks

Ever wanted to bring a ranger's 'bag of tricks' into your classroom. Reserve two weeks with a travelling trunk full of standards-based curricula, a teacher's guide, supplemental reading, and lots of materials to do experiments.