The Snoqualmie Valley Museum offers several school programs. To learn more or schedule a visit email us today!
Program Description: The Land and Its People
Grades: K-12 (specific program will be geared toward each specific group) | Program Duration: 1 to 2 hours | Location: Snoqualmie Valley Museum or your classroom
The Land and Its People is an immersive, hands-on educational program designed to help students explore how the land of the Snoqualmie Valley has shaped—and been shaped by—the people who have lived there over time. Through a combination of guided instruction, interactive demonstrations, and tactile activities, students develop an appreciation for the complex cultural, historical, and ecological relationships between people and their surroundings.
Program Overview:
In this experience, students will investigate how Native peoples, early settlers, and modern communities have each interacted with and used the land in the Snoqualmie Valley. They will explore traditional ecological knowledge, pioneer homesteading skills, and contemporary environmental practices. The program emphasizes how different cultures respected and depended on natural resources, encouraging students to think critically about sustainability and stewardship.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how the Snoqualmie Valley’s environment has provided for human needs across generations
- Identify traditional Native uses of local plants and natural materials
- Learn about settler-era homesteading and resource use
- Recognize the value of sustainable relationships with the environment
- Engage with history through direct, hands-on participation
Hands-On Activity Stations May Include:
- Cedar Bark and Native Resource Use: Students handle samples of cedar bark and other native materials while learning how the Snoqualmie and other Coast Salish peoples traditionally used these resources to make baskets, clothing, rope, and more.
- Wool Spinning and Yarn-Making: Students learn how early settlers turned raw wool into yarn using carding tools and wool roving. Each student tries spinning a bit of yarn to understand how textiles were historically made.
- Butter Making: Through a guided activity, students make their butter using cream and a butter churn. This gives them insight into daily chores and food production on early farms in the Valley.
- Braided Rug Making: Through a guided activity, participants will learn how to braid fabric and discover how it is recycled to create rugs for homes. This gives them insight into the work required to make everyday objects and preserve materials that were previously time-consuming to construct.
- Land Timeline and Cultural Mapping: A collaborative exercise where students place cultural practices along a historical timeline and locate them on a valley map, reinforcing the relationship between people, place, and time.
Location & Format:
The program can take place at the Snoqualmie Valley Museum in North Bend, where students will interact with relevant historical exhibits and artifacts. Alternatively, museum educators can deliver a modified version in the classroom or school gymnasium, bringing select materials and artifacts for on-site engagement.
Instruction & Facilitation:
Programs are led by knowledgeable museum educators and trained volunteers with experience in history, education, and environmental interpretation. Our facilitators are passionate about local heritage and skilled in engaging students in meaningful, age-appropriate discussions and activities.
Program Length:
Standard sessions run approximately 60 to 120 minutes, with flexibility to accommodate class schedules. Groups are typically divided into rotating activity stations to keep students engaged and learning throughout the visit.
Group Size:
Designed for individual classes or small groups (10–35 students). Multiple sessions can be arranged to accommodate larger groups or entire grade levels.
Takeaways:
By the end of the program, students will have a better understanding of how people from diverse cultural backgrounds have lived in relationship with the land, utilizing its resources for food, shelter, tools, and clothing. They will leave with a hands-on appreciation for the skill, knowledge, and respect for the environment that have long been central to life in the Snoqualmie Valley. The program is designed to support classroom curriculum in Washington State history, social studies, environmental science, and cultural understanding.
Join us for an unforgettable experience that brings the history of the Snoqualmie Valley to life through the land we all share.
Program Description: Spinning Stories: Textiles of the Valley
Grades: Preschool–2nd | Program Duration: 45–60 minutes | Location: Snoqualmie Valley Museum or your classroom
Spinning Stories: Textiles of the Valley is a joyful and imaginative early learning program that introduces young children to the historical and cultural importance of textile-making in the Snoqualmie Valley. Designed specifically for preschool through 2nd grade learners, this program combines story time, creative coloring, and simple hands-on activities to bring history to life in a developmentally appropriate way.
Program Overview
Young learners will discover how the Snoqualmie people, pioneer settlers, and modern craftspeople have used natural materials such as wool, plant fibers, and bark to create cloth, rope, blankets, and baskets. Children will hear stories that introduce different cultures’ relationships with the land, observe real tools and examples of textiles, and try simple hands-on tasks that simulate spinning and weaving.
What Students Will Do
- Story Time: Two picture books selected to reflect textile-making, cultural practices, and themes of working with nature will be read aloud. Children will learn about how people used the land to make what they needed.
- Coloring Activity: Children receive a custom-designed coloring page featuring images of traditional spinning and weaving in the Snoqualmie Valley. This activity allows for quiet reflection and creative expression.
- Hands-On Exploration: Children will feel raw and carded wool, try simple finger-spinning with wool roving, and touch natural fibers used by the Coast Salish people, such as cedar bark. They’ll also help add pieces to a group weaving loom.
- Textile Show & Tell: The instructor will display real or replica woven items, helping students connect what they’ve learned to real-world examples.
Location & Facilitation
This program can take place at the Snoqualmie Valley Museum in a cozy story-time setting or be brought into classrooms, libraries, or community spaces. It is led by museum educators.
Program Length
The full experience takes 45 to 60 minutes, adaptable based on age and attention span. Ideal group size is 8–25 students per session.
Program Goals
The goal is to help children:
- Develop respect for how different cultures creatively used nature to meet their needs
- Experience early technology and craftsmanship through simple, sensory-friendly exploration
- Engage imagination and curiosity about history, community, and traditions
- Begin building empathy and cultural awareness from a young age