ADMISSION

Students: $6/youth (ages 3-18)

Teachers: FREE

Adult Chaperones: 1 FREE:15 students

Additional Adult Chaperones: $12/person

Farm Wisconsin Memberships are valid with field trips. Please notify us beforehand with members’ names.

ADD TO THE EXPEREINCE

Beginner STEM Lab: $2/student

Advanced STEM Lab: $5/student

Lunch Clean-Up Fee: $10 flat rate

Junior Ice Cream Scoop: $2/dish

Farm Wisconsin is open for school group bookings most Monday-Fridays from 9am-3pm. All dates are subject to availability as we do have maximum limits for attendance and programming available each day.

Most field trips visit for around three - four hours. It takes about two hours to go through exhibits, birthing barn and farm tour, which then leaves you plenty of time for your required orientation upon arrival, lunch time, and other activities like Barnyard Adventures, STEM labs, and/or lunch.

Complete the field trip request form online anytime or call 920-726-6009 Monday-Friday, from 9am-4pm. A minimum of two weeks advance notice is required to secure the group rate for field trips and book activities. Group rates are only available for groups of 15 or more students with advance reservations. To keep your reservation, we will require final headcount and full payment for your visit at least one week prior to your visit date. No changes to diminish headcounts will be allowed or accepted after the one week deadline. There will be no refunds or credits given for persons missing or absent on the day of your trip.

Reservations are preferred two weeks in advance. Availability is on a first-come, first-serve basis, so advanced booking is highly encouraged, especially near the end of the school year. For groups to keep their reservation, we will require final headcount and full payment one week prior to the visit date.

Our physical address is: 7001 Gass Lake Road, Manitowoc, WI 54220

We are located directly off I-43, south of Manitowoc.

We have hands on experiences for students preschool-aged through post-secondary school.

Connecting your students’ minds to the wonder of Wisconsin agriculture is our goal. Please select appropriate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities/programming for your students.

Program capacities vary depending on the program. For educational STEM, there is a five student minimum. Maximum capacities range from 15-20 students per session, depending on the activity/program desired and/or the venues available. If your group contains more students than the limit allows, we will split your group and run multiple sessions to accommodate all students. All programming is subject to availability. Additional fees apply.

If you have any attendees that need special accommodations, considerations, and/or who have any special needs we should be aware of, please let us know in advance. This would include, but is not limited to, attendees who are in wheelchairs, students with individual aides, anyone who is an English Language Learner and is bringing their own interpreter, and/or attendees who are deaf or hard of hearing that are bringing their own interpreter. Knowing this information in advance helps us prepare better for your group and allows a better experience.

Field trips must have one (1) adult chaperone for every 15 students/children attending. An adult constitutes as any teacher, aid, school/organizational staff and/or parent that will be attending with the group. Failure to meet the required number of adults the day of your trip will result in a $20 charge for each missing adult, or loss of a program due to limit support.

You can bring more adults than the ones required to fulfill our 1:15 ratio. However, those adults do no receive free admission. Only one adult per 15 children in attendance will receive free admission to the discovery center. Any additional adults outside of this 1:15 ratio will be charged an admission fee of $12.

Proper adult chaperoning helps to provide a quality visit for your group, for our other groups, guests, and members. As such, all adult chaperones are required to provide the following support by:

• Actively supervising the students/children assigned to them in all parts of the discovery center (including the Farm House Store, cafe, STEM, theater, and lunch areas).
• Staying with their assigned students/children at all times and enforcing all of our rules and policies.
• Making sure the students/children in your group stay with their adult chaperones at all times. (Unchaperoned students/children will be detained and unable to explore or experience exhibits without proper supervision)
• Being solely responsible for the behavior, well-being, and the discipline of their assigned students/ children.
• Being responsible for knowing the group’s schedule and getting the group to scheduled lunches or programming at the appropriate times.
• It is the group leader’s job to make sure that all of the adults chaperoning are aware of their responsibilities.

Should you need to cancel or reschedule your visit, you must do so at least one (1) week prior to your visit date. Rescheduling requests made before or by this deadline will be allowed and we will work with you to find a mutually agreed upon new visit date. In this case, your payment will be applied to the new visit date.

Cancellations or rescheduling requests made after the one (1) week deadline, or groups that are no shows, will receive no refunds or credits. Cancellations due to school/organization weather closures will not be penalized.

In said cases, please contact the Brand Manager- [email protected] as soon as possible. If the reservation has not been canceled or rescheduled by the one (1) week deadline, all contracts become valid and enforceable.

Your FINAL headcount must be submitted one (1) week prior to your visit date. Submitting your final headcount is extremely important especially if you have additional programming included on your reservation or are eating lunch here. We have limited amounts of space and capacity limits on all STEM, theater, and lunch areas, in addition to general building capacity limits.

The full payment for your visit must be submitted one (1) week prior to your visit date. We reserve the right to cancel your visit if your payment is not received by this due date. There will be no refunds or credits given for persons missing or absent on the day of your visit. No decreases in headcount or changes to your programming will be accepted after the one-week deadline. Farm Wisconsin will not offer a refund if your headcount decreases after the one (1) week deadline.

To make payment, you may pay with a check (payable to Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center), cash, or with a credit card over the phone by calling 920-726-6000. If paying with a check and sent via the mail, allow enough time to submit your payment to your bookkeeper with adequate time for them to process it and to mail it out. As noted above, we reserve the right to cancel your visit if your payment is not received by your indicated due date. For check payments, please make checks payable to: Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center.
         Attn: Field Trips
         7001 Gass Lake Rd
         Manitowoc, WI 54220
Farm Wisconsin accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover Card payments over the phone by calling 920-726-6000 during open hours (Friday-Saturday, 9am-4pm).

Yes, Farm Wisconsin memberships may be used to cover the admission cost. Please notify Farm Wisconsin staff ahead of time with members’ first and last names during booking.

We require that the group leader share these rules with all the students/children AND adults chaperoning in your group prior to your visit.

• No running, shouting, or horseplay. · Adult chaperones must stay with their students/children at all times. Unchaperoned students/children will be detained unable to explore or experience exhibits without proper supervision.
• No food, gum, or beverages are allowed on exhibit floors, in the Birthing Barn, or in the theaters.
• Respect other groups and individuals in the discovery center.
• Farm Wisconsin is a hands-on, self-guided discovery center. Exhibits are “user-friendly,” but they can be damaged. Therefore, exercise care in their use and respect discovery center property.
• Please have an adult by the sand table to help keep all sand in the table.
• Birthing Barn: Please be mindful that the students will be seeing blood and smelling different aromas than they are typically used to. 
• “Quiet Zone”: Please remind the students that this is a quiet zone EVEN IF a cow isn’t in labor.
• Students MAY NOT enter the Birthing Barn without an adult. Please remind them that this is a “Quiet Zone” and can cause stress to our cows.

These rules are to keep everyone safe and to allow maximum enjoyment of our programs and facilities for your group, other groups in attendance, our Members, and the general public. Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center reserves the right to expel any person or group behaving in a manner we deem unfit. In said cases, that person or group will be asked to leave the building immediately and they will not receive any refunds or credits. Persons or groups that are asked to leave may also jeopardize their chances to reserve or attend future visits to Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center.

Unless otherwise stated, if you are arriving by bus, buses will need to drop off your group at the main entrance at Farm Wisconsin, which lies on the south end of our building. Please remain on your bus(es) until your group is greeted. Should we need your bus to drop you off in a different location, this will be noted in your confirmation materials and listed in your schedule.

Once greeted, you will enter the main entrance doors where a Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center Staff member will be waiting to welcome you, collect your actual headcount, give your group a brief, 10-15-minute orientation, and distribute any other further information.

School Bus

• Please have the bus driver pull up to the front, main entrance of Farm Wisconsin to drop off students and adults.
• Please have the students stay on the bus until you have checked in with the front desk.
• After drop-off, the bus driver can park the bus in our bus parking lot which is located on the east side of the building (follow the driveway around the playground and park by the Conference Center entrance.)
• Once the bus driver has parked, he or she will need to check in with the receptionist to get any updates needed. (i.e. if taking a farm tour, the time to leave and where to meet, lunch drop off)
• Bus drivers do get free admission and are able to enjoy the Farm Wisconsin experience during the time of the field trip.
• Please make sure they know to be at their designated places ten (10) minutes beforehand.

Cars, Vans, Small School Buses

• Please park in the main parking lot and enter through the front, main entrance of Farm Wisconsin. If you are planning on eating lunch here, please park in the bus parking lot near the Conference Center entrance

Timely arrivals are ESSENTIAL. Please plan in advance and do everything possible to arrive on time. Make sure to allow enough travel time to account for weather, traffic, road conditions, etc.

If your group is going to arrive later than your scheduled arrival time, please contact Farm Wisconsin at 920- 726-6000 as soon as possible. All scheduled programs begin at the time stated on your confirmation and contract. Late arrivals may result in the cancellation of discovery center activities (including any labs, programming, movies, and/or tours) without refund regardless to the reason behind the tardiness, even issues with busing. No refunds or credits will be given for missed programming and programming cannot be held or pushed back for groups that arrive late.

Upon arrival, the first question you will be asked is the actual count of how many total students and total adults you have in your group. This is the total amount present at that moment, NOT the amount that you submitted or have paid for. Please be ready to be flexible, noting that some things do occasionally change in the schedule. Having this information will get your group off on the right foot! It is a safety requirement that we know the exact number of people in our building on a particular day, so your field trip cannot begin until we have those numbers. Please come prepared with this exact count ready to relay to our staff.

Please assign your students to your adult chaperones BEFORE your arrival at Farm Wisconsin. Materials and space are only prepared or available for the amount of attendees listed on your confirmation. Please respect this number and split your group up as we have specified in your confirmation materials. Please inform your adult chaperones of group splits and make sure each one knows their group’s schedule for the day. Schedules within the same school/organization may differ depending on programs requested or lunch times available.

Even though our name says Farm Wisconsin, we are a tourist destination. There is no need for barn/old clothes or boots during your visit. You will remain on the bus throughout the tour of the dairy farm. Please wear comfy shoes as we will be moving around a lot!

Farm Wisconsin has a coat rack available to use upon your arrival. You will not be needing them for the dairy farm tour as the bus is warm. Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center assumes no liability for lost, stolen, or damages items. Please advise all students and adult chaperones to leave valuable items at home

There is a $10 clean-up fee for groups that wish to eat brought-in lunches at Farm Wisconsin. Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center does have a lunch room available to eat packed COLD lunches. However, you must let us know upon reservation that you will require a lunch time as a time and space must be pre-arranged. Due to the number of seats available in our lunch room, we pre-assign all groups a specific lunch time. Your group may be split up for lunch times based on seating availability and/or programming.

It is a courtesy for us to store lunches and provide help unloading for groups. However, to remain so, we do require assistance from each group in regards to containing their lunches. As such, we will require that all groups who have reserved a lunch time MUST bring their lunches contained in suitable containers labeled with your group name/letter. Such suitable containers include boxes, coolers, laundry baskets, plastic storage totes, etc. No containers will be provided to you.

Due to programming, other scheduling issues, or lunch space capacities, groups my be divided into different lunch times. Thus, we highly suggest groups separate their lunches into separate containers based on lunch times and label those containers with the group letter. When groups arrive, lunches will be collected and stored for your group.

Yes! Our Farm House Store merchandise reminds us of the dedication our Wisconsin farmers have for producing healthy food in a clean and sustainable way. You’ll find a wide variety of farm-themed gifts, toys, and snacks. Whatever you choose, you’ll remember your trip to Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center.