• Learn at Home

    Resources for students and families

    Special thanks to Tacoma Creates for supporting our Learn at Home resources.

     

    Kids Activities

    Arts and crafts materials for Tacoma-area kids

    We're hosting socially-distanced Craft Saturdays.

    Museum craft kits for at-home activities

    We are offering take-home craft activities. Pick up your craft kit each month from the museum's front porch using social distancing etiquette on designated Saturdays.

     

    2023 Craft Saturday Events

    January 21 - Create a Rabbit for the Lunar New Year

    February 25 - Construct A Winter Snow Globe

    March 18 - Make a Pioneer Toy

    April 8 - Paint a Bird House

    May 6 - Pioneer Craft & Music Fest

    June 3 - Build a Boat

    July 17 - Craft a Rainbow Spinner

    August 12 - Weave a Dragonfly

    September 30 - Tacoma Fiber Fling

    November 4 - Design a Woodland Critter Mask

    December 9 - Decorate an Ornament & Food Drive for St. Leo's Food Connection

     

    More details on our Facebook page.

    Instructional videos for our past craft activities are available on the Museum's YouTube channel.

    We're bringing the museum to you.

    Museum activity packets in Tacoma neighborhoods

    Our volunteers regularly deliver activity packets to over 100 Little Free Library locations throughout the Tacoma area. Inside each folder are 6 activities designed for kids and a book. The learning materials are designed for children ages 3-12.

     

    Take a look inside our Little Free Library museum activity packets with this 1-minute video.

     

    Keep an eye out for our signature green folders at Tacoma Little Free Libraries throughout the year. Also look for our community booth on select summer dates at the Tacoma Farmers Market.

  • Learn at Home Lesson 1 - Designed for 3rd and 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes reading, social studies, writing and art. It provides students with an opportunity to learn about Job Carr’s life before he traveled west along the Oregon Trail. Students conduct a close reading of a first-person historical narrative, complete a timeline of sequential events, and create an illustrated storyboard of these events.

     

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

    Learn at Home Lesson 2 - Designed for 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes math, reading, writing, and social studies. It provides students with an opportunity to learn about important landmarks along the Oregon Trail. Students use a grid map to plot a route across the western United States, complete a close reading activity about Oregon Trail landmarks, and write an opinion paragraph about which landmark was most important to the pioneers.

     

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

    Learn at Home Lesson 3 - Designed for 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes reading, social studies and art. It encourages students to think critically about what the Puget Sound area looked like when settlers first began to arrive. It provides students with an opportunity to compare and contrast primary and secondary historical sources.

     

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

    Learn at Home Lesson 4, Part A - Designed for 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes social studies, P.E., math, and writing. It provides students with an opportunity to learn about daily life and transportation in Washington territory for the era prior to statehood.

    • In Part A, students increase their knowledge of local geography, maps, and trip planning to understand how tribal members and early settlers traveled around Puget Sound.

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

    Learn at Home Lesson 4, Part B - Designed for 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes social studies, P.E., math, and writing. It provides students with an opportunity to learn about daily life and transportation in Washington territory for the era prior to statehood.

    • In Part B, students write a narrative story about an imagined journey during the 1860s, before the arrival of the transcontinental railroad.

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

    How Has Tacoma Grown?

    Learn at Home Lesson 5 - Designed for 4th grade students, this lesson plan includes social studies, reading, and math. Students examine historical photographs to learn more about the development of the city of Tacoma, including the importance of the transcontinental railroad. They compare and contrast the past with the present by analyzing a historical advertisement. Students also use census data from 1870 to 2010 to graph the population growth of Tacoma.

     

    This material is adapted from the Museum's award-winning traveling trunk curriculum for schools.

  • A Day In The Life of a Pioneer Child

    Find out more about daily life for Tacoma children in the 1870s in this 4-part series.

    • What style of clothing did pioneer children wear?
    • What types of chores did kids do?
    • What did they eat for breakfast?
    • What did pioneer children learn at school?
    • What did kids eat for lunch?
    • What did they play at recess?
    • What types of toys and games pioneer kids play?
    • What did children do on rainy days?
    • What kind of music did they listen to?
    • What did pioneer children eat for supper?
    • How did kids clean up at the end of the day?
    • How did they sleep?
    • Test your knowledge with a crossword puzzle
    • All answers can be found in the 4-part Day In The Life series
  • Homemade Butter

    Get a taste of pioneer life with this easy recipe

    Draw Job Carr

    Use this tutorial from local artist Benjamin Davis?

    Old Town Scavenger Hunt

    Take a walk and explore the neighborhood where the city of Tacoma began to develop. Find out about the people and places that were important in the history of this area.

    This scavenger hunt begins and ends at Job Carr Cabin Museum in Old Town Park -- 2350 N 30th St, Tacoma.

    Hot & Cold Game

    Play an indoor pioneer game

    Hard Tack

    Make a batch of pioneer biscuits

    Art Scavenger Hunt

    Draw a picture of items you see in your home and neighborhood.

    Winter Activity Bingo

    Ideas for keeping kids active on chilly days in the Pacific Northwest

  • Activity Pages

    Downloadable resources for school or home

    Can you help Job Carr follow the dots along the Oregon Trail map?

    Can you find the names of the tribes Job Carr may have met on his journey west?

    Can you find the words about trains?

    Can you use the letters to create new words?

    Can you connect the Oregon Trail word pairs?

    Can you solve the clues to find out more about Job Carr?

  • Annual Coloring Contest

    Congratulations to our 2022 winners!

    Entries were selected by public vote at the Tacoma Fiber Fling.

    ColoringContest_QuiltDesign_Gracelynn

    Patchwork Quilt Design

    Age 7-12 category: Gracelynn

    ColoringContest_QuiltDesign_Aadhya

    Patchwork Quilt Design

    Age 0-6 category: Aadhya

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