Immersive Education
Stark Caverns is a natural fit to bring science and history to life to enrich your school-based or home-based curriculum.
Adaptable to Education Needs
We offer two core programs – an enhanced Daily Tour where we emphasize the educational aspects of the cave, and our Classes in the Cavern Program where we have activity learning stations that are aligned with Missouri’s Learning Standards. The stations include Missouri Archeology, Settler Times, Adaptation, Geology and Maps.
School Enhanced Daily Tour
Suitable for school groups ranging from 15 participants to 125, this program allows participants to see the whole cave with the objective of learning about the cave’s unique history, geology and wildlife. This private tour option must be booked in advance.
Enhanced Daily Tour Pricing
$8 per student (if not bundled with souvenir rock bag)
$10 per student – tour and souvenir rock bag
Complementary admission for 1 teacher or chaperone for every 10 students
Complementary admission for up to 2 bus drivers
$18 parents/additional adults
Enhanced Daily Tour Additional Information
The tour is approximately 1 hour long
Students will be taken into the cave in groups no larger than 25 (including adults).
Groups will be led into the cave every 15 minutes (so for a group of 125 people, the last group will go into the cave an hour after the first group goes in).
Groups larger than 125 will need to schedule an additional time block
Picnic areas are available for sack lunches
Stark Caverns Gift Shop has a great variety of low-cost items for students and their parents
We send an invoice at the time of reservation and request a 50% deposit. Final payment will be collected upon your arrival. We accept checks, cash or credit cards for the final payment.
Classes in the Cavern
This program is suited to school groups ranging from 30 to 100 students. Developed in partnership with the Prairie Fire Museum in Kansas City, Classes in the Cavern brings history and science to life inside Stark Caverns. This program offers up to 5 interactive stations that are aligned with the Missouri Learning Standards. Ideally suited for students in grades 3 – 6, this program is a favorite of teachers striving to make these subjects fun and exciting for their students.
Classes in the Cavern Pricing
$10 per student (without souvenir)
$12 per student with souvenir (small Stark Caverns rock bag with rocks)
Complementary admission for 1 teacher or chaperone for every 10 students
Complementary admission for up to 2 bus drivers
$16 Parents/additional adults
Classes in the Cavern Additional information
If you have between 30 and 75 students, you will receive our 3 core modules – Missouri Archaeology, Cave Eco-Systems, and Earth Sciences.
If you have between 76 and 100 students, you will also receive the American Settlers module.
If your group is larger than 100, you’ll need to schedule an additional time block
The program length is 1-1.5 hours.
The students will be divided into roughly equal groups with no more than 25 per group. All students will enter the cave at the same time, but start at different learning stations, and then rotate stations every 15 – 20 minutes.
Picnic areas are available for sack lunches.
Stark Caverns Gift Shop has a great variety of low-cost items for students and their parents.
We send an invoice at the time of reservation and request a 50% deposit. Upon your arrival, we accept checks, cash or credit cards for the remaining payment
Field Trip Request Form
Thank you for your interest in booking a field trip at Stark Caverns. We are excited to make your Field Trip a fun and educational experience. Please fill out this form and click submit. We will review your request and contact you to confirm dates and preferredreservation details.
In order to provide a safe, fun, entertaining experience, Stark Caverns has put together the following guidelines for groups. Please read the items below carefully before submitting your request form.
Reservation Guidelines
We require a Minimum of 15 Students (so not including adults) to book an Enhanced Daily Tour field trip experience. We require a minimum of 30 for Classes in the Caverns.
School groups will be split into groups of 15-25 participants (students and parents combined). Tours will run every 15-30 minutes to accommodate your group size. Additional activities (hiking trails, outdoor games, sluice mining, geode cracking, and educational classroom) are available for an additional fee.
Requests for bookings with less than 15 students will not be eligible for a reservation as a school group. Regular admission rates will apply.
Reservations are required a minimum of 7 days before the requested field trip date.
All students must be accompanied by a teacher, chaperone, adult or parent at all times while on Stark Caverns property.
Cancellation must be made within 48 hours of your reserved field trip date. Failure to cancel within 48 hours will result in a $100 cancellation fee invoiced & due within 7 days.
The person making the reservation is responsible for adherence to the guidelines and paying any cancellation fees.
Field Trip Guidelines
Stark Caverns is a real, natural & living cave. Food & drink are not allowed inside the cave. Picnic areas are available and included in the field trip group rate for schools/organizations to use while visiting us.
Plan to arrive 30 minutes before their first scheduled tour.
Each group of students entering the cavern will be required to have 1-2 teachers/chaperones to help the guide keep the students engaged and following instructions.
Students must remain under control, listen, and follow all directions of the tour guide. Unruly students will be asked to leave the tour without a refund.
The school/organization is responsible for providing tax exemption letters to receive tax-exempt pricing.
All students/staff should wear appropriate clothing and shoes to explore our cavern. We recommend closed-toe and slip-resistant shoes, and a light jacket.