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W. H. Over Museum Student Loan Kits
School loan kits are hands-on exhibits and include actual objects, audio-visual material, and reference material for both teachers and students. A variety of resource material is included in each kit in order to make them useful to all grade levels.

Kit #1: Prehistoric Culture of the Plains		Five archeological traditions or periods are presented consisting of artifacts covering the following cultures: Big Game Hunting, Archaic, and Woodland Periods, and Middle Missouri and Coalescent Traditions.
Kit #2: Arikara Culture		The Arikara were chiefly farmers living in earth lodge villages along South Dakota rivers from approximately 1400-1800 A.D. This kit includes objects used in hide preparation, sewing, and fishing.
Kit #3: Plains Indian Culture		This kit focuses primarily on the Sioux or Lakota and includes historic and contemporary objects to show the diversity of function, artistic style, and materials used in everyday life.
Kit #4: Pioneers		The purpose of this kit is to acquaint students with the life of the early settlers in South Dakota. This kit includes objects such as a candle mold, powder horn, wooden shoes, button hook, snuff box, etc.
Kit #5: Western Women		The purpose of this kit is to establish in the student an appreciation of the part women played in the development of the western United States. This objective is attained mainly by students researching particular women, areas, or events from the kit books. Included are objects such as wool carders, homemade soap, McGuffy's reader, etc.
Kit #6: Ethnic Heritage of South Dakota		This kit is divided into three parts. Part I: slide/tape program and objects relating to various ethnic groups that settled in South Dakota. Part II: a unit on "Immigrant Studies" to assist students in investigating the heritage of their own families. Part III: materials to help students develop an awareness and appreciation for the historical aspects of the built environment in the student's own community.
Kit #7: Rocks and Minerals		Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and minerals are included in order to assist in the understanding of the various types of rocks, how they are formed, and how they are used by man.
Kit #8: Fossils		Paleozoic and Cenozoic fossils enable students to learn what a fossil is, how fossils are formed, where they can be found, and what fossils tell us about life in the past.
Kit #9: Tracks and Tracking		Latex replicas of the front and back feet of twenty different animals can be used to reproduce the tracks of these animals.
Kit #10: Insects		This kit contains insects mounted in Riker mounts, which are divided into nine separate orders. Resource material provides information such as what an insect is, insect life cycles, insect classification, and collecting and mounting insects.
Kit #11: Pioneer and Indian Uses of Plants		Dry mounted specimens are included to acquaint students with some of the types of plants found in South Dakota and provide information on ways they were used by Indians and pioneers.
These kits can be borrowed statewide free of charge for a two-week period. Simply e-mail your request including your name, school, the grade level taught, mailing address, telephone number, the desired date of receipt and an alternate date. The museum staff will confirm your request or notify you otherwise. Because of the high demand for these kits, scheduling should be made as far in advance as possible. This project was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, federal agency.