Upcoming Events

Learn how to harvest rainwater to keep your home cooler, reduce utility bills, and promote biodiversity in your own backyard!

Did you know that by harvesting water in a well-mulched basin, you can keep moisture in the soil for up to two months?! That moisture can produce lush bird and lizard habitat, and keep your home cooler, reducing utility bills. On this tour you will learn how to redirect rainwater from problem areas and how to calculate the amount of water can be collected off of your roof. We will also cover greywater, storage, related ordinances and incentives, shading, windows, slopes and diversion pipes. Participants will see many strategies that can be applied to their own home and neighborhood.

Celebrate Indigenous art and culture at the Indigenous Arts Fair on Saturday, November 14th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Desert Museum!

Meet talented artists, watch live demonstrations, and shop authentic handmade jewelry, pottery, paintings, and more. Experience tradition, creativity, and connection in a vibrant outdoor setting. Free with admission!

Join us on December 3rd to learn more about coatis, play games, make a craft, and see our coati Zucchini. Each year on World Coati Day, we stop to recognize and create conservative awareness for all species of Coatimundi.

Join the Desert Museum on an unforgettable trip across the border, complete with a visit to a UNESCO World Heritage Site! This trip is an adventure in Ecology, Geology, History, and Flora and Fauna (yes, there will be birding, and tide pooling!). It's bound to be filled with memories of a lifetime.

Ring in the ‘Noon Year!’ with all of your favorite animal friends! Ditch the midnight ball drop and watch our giant Spadefoot toad leap into 2027 with the Desert Museum at noon!

Littles can dance the day away with Old Pueblo DJ, get their face painted, or catch a puppet show in the Warden Oasis Theater. There will be arts and crafts stations, games, and other fun, educational activities, too!

10:30 am Puppet Show
12:00 pm Leap into the Noon Year
12:30 pm Live Animal Theater Program

Celebrate the new year without missing bedtime?! It's the ultimate New Year's Eve party for your littles!

This event is included with Museum admission.

You're invited to dig into the rockin' world of minerals on Saturday and Sunday, January 16 & 17 from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of this popular event.

You will lava our mineral sale, with selections for novice to seasoned collectors and all proceeds benefiting the nonprofit Desert Museum! Shop for your own mineral and fossil treasures at rock-bottom prices! We have new additions from some local collectors this year. Enjoy fun, hands-on activities for families, visit geology and fossil activity stations around grounds where children can collect free rocks, minerals, and fossils in their own egg carton collection box (available at the entrance).

Saturday Specials:
– Wire Wrapping: Guests can buy a favorite small rock/mineral and (for a fee) a volunteer will wire wrap it for them.
– Echos of the Desert: The Inspiration and Creation of Our Cave a presentation by Curator Emerita Anna Domitrovic. Discover the story behind our caves at 11:00 a.m. in the Warden Oasis Theater. Anna will share the process, planning, and work that went into bringing this unique feature to life.

Sunday Specials:
– Ask a Geologist Rock Readings - Curator Emerita Anna and Expert Ore Geologist Volunteer Frank will be available to answer questions from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Guests can bring in their favorite rock/mineral and Anna and Frank will interpret the story behind their treasures.


May the quartz be with you on your rock/mineral journey! This event is included with Museum admission.

Join the Desert Museum for an incredible 5 day excursion across the border. Our voyage of discovery includes the Seri Museum in Nuevo Bahía Kino, a visit to the Prescott College Research Station, a panga ride to the mangroves of Isla Tiburón, birding in the estuary of Laguna de la Cruz, a walk in a cardón forest, and of course, meetings with the Seri people themselves with a very special opportunity to participate in the Indigenous Language Day Festival. Our guide, retired ASDM cultural conservationist Jesús García, enthusiastically shares the culture of this desert people as well as the natural and geological history of the Central Gulf Coast subdivision of the Sonoran Desert. Our adventure also includes time on the beach of Kino Bay with its intensely blue water, as well as daily helpings of fresh seafood and opportunities to support the Seri with purchases of their handcrafted goods.

Join the Desert Museum and its Costa Rican partner, the Monteverde Institute, for an unforgettable exploration of extraordinary landscapes, biodiversity, and conservation. Tiny Costa Rica holds an astonishing 5% of the world’s species and protects a quarter of its land area in parks and preserves. This journey takes us through some of its most diverse ecosystems, from coast to cloud forest, while using nature journaling as a tool for observation and discovery. Along the way, Desert Museum naturalists reveal surprising connections between Costa Rica's tropical environments and the Sonoran Desert, offering a perspective few travelers experience. We visit key birthplaces of the country’s conservation ethos and explore their legacies of habitat protection and restoration. Through guided field excursions, we encounter remarkable plants and animals such as bromeliads, blue-crowned motmots, and white-faced monkeys. Most importantly, we meet local biologists, farmers, and community members dedicated to celebrating and safeguarding biodiversity to create sustainable livelihoods for people and the natural world upon which we all depend.

Note: You will need a valid passport book to take this trip. Your passport book must be valid for at least 6 months after our travel dates.

Register by clicking the "learn more" button below, then scroll down to this trip.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Girl Scouts and troop leaders enjoy an overnight experience complete with animal encounters, a night hike exploration, a sleepover in the Packrat Playhouse, and dinner and breakfast. Participants preregister with Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona.

Join the Desert Museum through Baja! Packed with lessons in Ecology, Geology, Birding, Whale Watching, Cowboys and Ethnobotany–this trip is filled with core memories waiting to be made.

Led by the incomparable Jesús García and geologist/raconteur, Fred Nials, we travel by motorcoach down the entire length of the Baja Peninsula.