School Visit: Domain of the Dinosaurs

Book a guided tour of the exhibition Domain of the Dinosaurs and a facilitated creative workshop for school groups of all ages.

Discover Ireland's only known dinosaurs and creatively respond to the world millions of years ago in our age appropriate activities.

School visits cost €75 and run for 1 hour.

We welcome schools - Tuesday to Friday, 9:15am, 10:30am and 11:45am.

Advance booking with the education department is essential. Once you book your place our team will be in touch.

Contact education@glucksman.org or +353 21 490 1844 for further details.

The current school’s programme will run from 2 December to 10 April 2026.

This season school visits will include a 30 minute tour followed by a 30 minute creative activity. The creative responses developed by students will be presented in our school’s exhibition Ancient Worlds: Young people reimagine Ireland’s geological past which will be on view to the public in Gallery 1 at the Glucksman from 16 April to 31 April 2026.

Domain of the Dinosaurs

For the first time in nearly 200 million years the world of the Irish dinosaurs is back! The Domain of the Dinosaurs presents over 250 fossils including bones from the only known dinosaurs found in Ireland. The exhibition includes life-sized skeleton casts of Megalosaurus and Scelidosaurus, and transports us back in time to a remarkable ancient world that is almost completely unrecognisable compared to our contemporary environment. The Domain of the Dinosaurs also features newly commissioned Irish art, with special curated events planned.

Choose one of the options relating to the age of your class group.

Primary School Junior Cycle

1. Coillte: Living in the dense coniferous forests of the Triassic period were creatures like temnospondyls. After learning about these primitive amphibians, students will create a collaborative cut-out artwork that captures life in our fascinating world 200 million years ago.

2. Trackways through time: The tour of the exhibition Domain of the Dinosaurs will introduce students to a host of ancient creatures big and small, and this creative workshop will encourage students to imagine the marks left behind by one of those creatures. Working with modelling clay, participants will design artworks for public exhibition. This workshop will include the opportunity for students to handle real fossils.

Primary School Senior Cycle

1. Lacewings: In this collaborative creative workshop, students will make a large scale artwork inspired by a fossil lacewing. During the Jurassic period, ancient lacewings had striking colour patterns on their wings, like those we see in butterflies today. Using collage, illustration and stencilling, students will work together to create an artwork that can be proudly displayed in our upcoming schools exhibition.

2. Postcards from the distant past: What did the landscape of the world look like millions of years ago? Taking the insights from the guided tour, students will make illustrations of the supercontinent Pangaea. This workshop will include the opportunity for students to handle real fossils and rocks from the Mesozoic.

Secondary School Junior Cycle

1. Ammonite Art: Experiment with drawing materials to create your colourful reproduction of an ammonite, an extinct marine animal. Students will use pencils, markers and pens as they trial imaginative approaches to mark making. This workshop will include the opportunity for students to handle real fossils.

2. Illuminating our ancient world: Create colourful responses to the Mesozoic era in this imaginative workshop. Using watercolour paint, students will draw inspiration from the newly commissioned artworks and the ancient fossils on display in the exhibition The Domain of the Dinosaurs and will create their own work for public exhibition.

Secondary School Senior Cycle

1. Farraige: Learn the art of paper folding in this session that invites students to create prehistoric underwater creatures. Using folding, pleating and manipulation techniques, participants will create robust sculptures inspired by the exhibition Domain of the Dinosaurs.

2. Footprints in Time: Learn basic drawing techniques in this workshop that invites students to observe and capture the detail of a fossil. Using graphite and fabriano paper, students will create drawings of one or more fossils, including an ammonite. This workshop will include the opportunity for students to handle real fossils.