Educational Experiences in Utah

Travel
Written By Cassie Shepherd

Whether you live in Utah or are planning to visit — there is a lot to do in this state for an educational experience. When I sat down and started listing the places we’ve explored, I realized it would be very hard to narrow down everything into one post. Especially if I start talking about nature and hikes and the outdoor adventures. I could write an entire post about each one of these places…so, I am doing a one stop list with about 40 destinations here…and I am sure there are still lots I’m missing! I also included a few general areas you can look more into visiting for those who aren’t as familiar with the state. We’ve visited 95% of these places, but I did add a few other places we’re hoping to go to visit in the near future.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Always ask what discounts are available for home-educators. Push to speak to education directors or coordinators if the first person you talk to doesn’t know.

  • Nationally, if you have a 4th grade student, you can get a National Parks Pass for free by visiting here.

  • Remember admission to all of these places can be reimbursed through programs like My Tech High or Harmony.

  • Additionally, for those enrolled in My Tech High, you have access to either a Home Educator Verification Letter or Public School Enrollment Verification Letter. At least under the Utah Parent link you get these letters by going to section 1.2 which is under the Getting Started section. You can then use these letters for free and discounted admissions.

  • If applicable, you can always ask about co-op and large group discounts.

  • If you’re visiting Utah, and looking to load up on a bunch of experiences in the Salt Lake area, you might want to look into the Salt Lake Connect Pass. There is also a yearly pass available that local or frequently visiting families can utilize.

  • I often get asked if I had to just choose one or two places to visit - where would I go? And, it really depends on the experience you’re looking to have. If you’re traveling from somewhere that doesn’t have mountains, then I’d say skip all the museums and spend your time in the outdoors. Visit the ski resorts - Snowbird is our favorite - ride the ski lifts up and hike down if the weather is right. Or, head down to Central or Southern Utah and hit the National Parks. If you’re looking for something very unique to Utah and our history and culture - you’ll want to visit Temple Square. And, if you’re looking to hit the best museums - Thanksgiving Point is going to be the best place to go for that or This is the Place Heritage Park which is again more unique to Utah.

  • If you’re traveling - you might like this post on Road Trip Activities.

Northern Utah

  • Antelope Island: It has been a long time since I’ve been to Antelope Island, but I do know they offer field trips and have resources available to learn about earth and life sciences including ecosystems, salt experiments, and plant and animals life.

  • Bear Lake: Bear Lake is more of a vacation attraction and located in both Idaho and Utah. While we’ve visited, we’ve crossed into Idaho and toured the Paris Tabernacle which has a great story. We also really enjoyed the National Oregon/California Trail Center where the kids could ride in a simulated covered wagon and see lots of pioneer artifacts. If you’re looking for a good geology tie in - there are also multiple caves you can explore in the Bear Lake area including the guided Minnetonka Cave tour.

  • Golden Spike National Park: This locomotive tour is on our to-do list. The golden spike was the final spike that joined the Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads and they met here in Utah. When we do a more in-depth study of Utah, we’ll make this a priority for sure.

  • Hill Aerospace Museum: We have done a few other aerospace museums so we’ve never made it to this one, but I know it has some great planes and engines to see!

  • SeaQuest: Located in Layton, SeaQuest is one of my favorite places to take the kids because the animals are so interactive. You can feed a flock of parakeets, pet all kinds of fish including stingray, hold a sloth, hear parrots talk, and feed a gigantic tortoise. I took the kid’s here when we did an Ocean Unit a few years ago and back again during our recent Bird Unit.

  • Spiral Jetty: This is an earthwork sculpture that was created in the 1970’s. You can walk on it and it’s located in the Great Salt Lake.

  • Treehouse Children’s Museum: I’ve heard lots of really good things about this children’s museum, but we’ve never been there. It does look super cute though.

Salt Lake and Utah County

  • BYU Campus: Art Museum, Bean Life Science Museum, People and Cultures Museum, and Planetarium

    • All of the museums are free. The art museum features Carl Bloch’s massive oil on canvas ‘Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda.’ We love the Bean Museum because it’s perfect for younger kids too. They have a very little play area and I personally love the material on learning by faith and by science and the Boyd K. Packer gallery is also a favorite. The People and Cultures museum is super small. Don't miss the culture crates that are available for check-out! We’ve loved utilizing those at-home. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the planetarium - my twins were 4 and I remember they got pretty bored when we went so I need to go back and try again now that they’re a little older — I remember the displays being pretty simple, but I bet they’d love a planetarium show now.

  • Canyons: Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Parleys and Provo Canyon: If you’re looking more for outdoor experiences, spending time in any of the canyons is a must. Donut Falls is one of my favorite waterfall hikes and Silver Lake is also a fun place to go by Brighton Ski Resort. When it comes to snow sports, Snowbird is our favorite resort. Park City is always a big attraction because this is where a lot of the 2002 Olympics were held. Sundance is also another popular destination and if you’re here during the Fall the Alpine Loop is a favorite of ours to spend time in.

  • Clark Planetarium: This is a pretty standard planetarium in downtown Salt Lake City - hands on activities, astronaut ice cream, and the big planetarium theater — great to go t`o while studying earth and space science!

  • Clint’s Reptile Room: Reptiles are not my thing — but my kids loved it! Located in Springville, the staff was amazing and SO good at helping our kids have a very interactive experience. My son held a lot of snakes and lizards! When he’s a little older I’d love to do a reptile unit for him…and bring him back again!

  • Community Field Trips: I’m throwing this in as a reminder that community places like fire stations, small business restaurants and bakeries, police stations, city buildings, and doctors/dental offices will often be willing to either give a tour of their spaces or come speak to larger co-op groups.

  • Crandall Printing Museum: There are a few different tours you can do here: Gutenburg Tour which shows how the printing press worked. The Ben Franklin Tour which demonstrates the printing of the Declaration of Independence and information on the Revolutionary War. And, the Book of Mormon Tour which is on the Book of Mormon and how it was printed. We’re visiting this with an upcoming study of the Revolutionary War. Located in Lehi.

  • Cravings Alisha’s Cupcakes: This tour you need to schedule ahead of time and they offer a tour of the bakery with a fantastic small business success story. We did this doing our Entrepreneurship unit and it’s one of my favorite tours we’ve done. Located in Pleasant Grove.

  • Dinosaur National Monument: This is located in Vernal, but the excavation process is really neat to see. Comparatively, if you’re looking for a closer dinosaur museum - both the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake and the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point are just as great.

  • Gateway Children’s Museum: Another children’s museum in downtown Salt Lake City. We’ve never been here and I’m not sure I’ll ever go out of my way to make the effort. It’s right by the Clark Planetarium though!

Museum of Natural History

  • Hale Center Theater: We just took the twins here (in Draper) for the first time for The Little Mermaid performance and it was amazing!!! 5 stars! Such a great fine arts and theatrical experience! I think we’ll make it a priority to go to the kid’s show each year and I’m dying to read Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid with them now. Of course there are always high school and other community theaters that you can watch for performances.

  • Hogle Zoo: We love a good visit to the zoo in Salt Lake! Last year, we topped off our Zoology unit by going here!

  • Homestead Crater: This is another fun place to go for geology and earth sciences. The crater is in Heber which is such a beautiful city. You don’t have to go swimming…but I wouldn’t pass up the chance to swim in the natural hot spring! It’s unique because it’s tucked down in a cone of limestone and you actually entire in from the side and swim in this cave-like feel of a space.

  • Just Add Chocolate Workshops: A great experience for dipping treats in chocolate and ties in so well with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is more hands-on compared to Mrs. Cavenaughs (below). There are a few locations through out the Salt Lake and Utah valleys.

  • Kennecott Copper Mine: We had scheduled to go here the year of 2020 during one of our geology studies and haven’t made it back yet, but I do know the mine is a site to see so we’ll plan to go again sometime in the future! It’s located in the West Salt Lake area.

  • Loveland Living Aquarium: The penguins and shark tank are the highlights here! There is also a huge rainforest room. We did an Arctic Unit last year and this was a fun place to go for that and we reminisced when we got to our Rainforest Unit! Located in Draper.

  • Mrs. Cavenaughs Factory Tours: We went here in downtown Salt Lake the first time we read through Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and they offered a great little tour that showed the factory, we got a few chocolates, and watched a film on the cocoa bean!

  • Museum of Natural History: This is a newer museum up by the University of Utah in Salt Lake (near the zoo and This is The Place). I love the location - offers such a pretty view of the city and it has lots of engaging science and history exhibits. Everything from dinosaurs to Ute Indian artifacts. We saw a traveling Egyptian exhibit here a few years ago with a real mummy which was awesome!

  • Roots of Knowledge Tour: This is located in Orem at Utah Valley University. On the tour you can learn more about this 10 foot high and 80 pained stained glass window depicting our human story of innovation, creativity and the journey of education.

  • Temple Square: Located in downtown Salt Lake, there is SO much to do on Temple Square. We were just recently there and I hardly took any pictures and now I’m kicking myself, but if you’re traveling and looking for a unique Utah experience - this area is great because it teaches a lot about the faith community, history, and culture of Utah through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are multiple buildings to tour — you can hear the Tabernacle Choir practice or tune in to one of their live performances Sunday mornings. Organ recitals are in the Conference Center which houses the largest indoor auditorium in North America. For those who are local - we usually have to split up our time between different buildings each time we are in the area, but the Church History Museum has a beautiful art exhibit and lots of hands-on activities catered for children. The Family History Library always blows my mind is a must-do! It is also very child friendly. The Salt Lake City Temple is currently under construction it was a pretty incredible sight to see with all the scaffolding and large tunnels and workspace under the temple.

  • Thanksgiving Point Attractions: There are 5 attractions at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. All are great! There is the Museum of Ancient Life, Butterfly Biosphere, Ashton Gardens, Farm Country, and Museum of Natural Curiosity. We typically purchase a yearly membership here each year since we frequent all of these attractions. Ashton Garden's has the Light of the World Garden which is a must-see.

  • This is The Place Heritage Park: This is another place in Salt Lake that is unique to Utah and tells about our history. It is great for 1800’s studies and the Mormon pioneers. We visited here while we were studying the Doctrine & Covenants and also while we were reading Little House On The Prairie. There are lots of pioneer home replicas and my favorite building is the school house! Don’t miss the donuts, the train ride, panning for gold, and the large teepee full of Native American artifacts.

  • Tracy Aviary & Botanical Garden: Another great place we went to for our Bird study! Lots and lots of different kinds of birds to observe. We loved watching the toucans and feeding lorikeets!

  • Utah State Capitol Tour: This was another tour we couldn’t get to a few years ago because of 2020 and I am hoping we can do this later this spring as we circle back to some more of our law studies.

  • Welfare Square: Welfare square in downtown Salt Lake was established to help care for those who are in need. Great for a social studies unit. The tour includes a short historical video and then you can see all of the food and clothing distribution areas. I would say the tour is great for older children ( 9+).

Central and Southern Utah

  • Belly of the Dragon & Moqui Cave: These are near Kanab and I am putting them two together since they’re about 15 minutes apart. For the Belly of the Dragon - we just went through the tunnel which is so fun! 15 minutes south of that is the ancient history museum that is also 100% worth the stop into. Lots of ancient Native artifacts and a glow-in-the-dark rock room.

  • Creamery: Located in Beaver and a fun place to stop and break up the trip if you’re traveling between the Salt Lake and Central/Southern Utah areas. There is a little dairy area for the kids to play and learn about farm-life in.

  • National Parks

    • We do the Junior Ranger Program for all of the National Parks which I’d highly recommend. This is the passport book we choose to use and get stamped every where we go. We also collect the badges. My favorite NP is probably a toss up between Arches and Bryce. They’re both breathtaking.

  • St. George: Brigham Young House, Children’s Museum, Dinosaur Museum, Glitter Mountain, Petroglyph Hikes, Sand Hallow, Sand Hallow Aquatic Center, Snake Hallow Bike Park, Snow Canyon State Park, Temple Visitor’s Center, Tuachan, and Thunder Junction

    • We visit St. George a couple of times each year so this is a quick list of a little education and vacation. I’m sure I’m missing something on this list, but these are a few places we like to visit while we’re there. There are also a handful of places to see petroglyphs in the area. I think we’ve done the Ghost Trail, but you can visit this site to explore other areas to find them.

What did I miss? Anything else you love doing in Utah? Or can’t wait to check out? Add it to the comments below!

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