Teachers & Schools


NEW FOR 2024

TEAM BUILDING IN THE VILLAGE

Available year round
Cost: $18.50 per student (Except where noted)
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Some skills never go out of style. The Village’s new interactive team building programs promote perseverance, responsibility, helpfulness, respect, and positivity.

Enjoy fun and learning against the backdrop of the heritage Village!

Choose from:

  • Innovation & Imagination (grades 4-6): Students work in groups and travel back and forth in time to analyze and describe a variety of unique objects!
  • Skills & Strategies (grades 7 and 8): Using the historic Village as a backdrop, students work together to solve challenges!
  • Great Village Bake Off & Amazing Chase (grades 6 and up): In groups, students decipher a historical recipe and take part in an exciting scavenger hunt throughout the Village! Cost: $22 per student

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

students participate in a team-building program at Black Creek Pioneer Village

 

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Black Creek Pioneer Village offers education programs suitable for all grade levels, all year round. All of our programs are based on the Ontario curriculum for Social Studies, History, Environmental Studies, The Arts, and Health and Physical Education.

PRICING:

  • Half Day Programs: $14.00 per student*
  • Full Day Programs: $18.50 per student*

*Except where indicated.

 

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WINTER EDUCATION PROGRAMS

NEW! HEARTH COOKING AT THE VILLAGE

Available January 16 to April 26, 2024
Cost: $22.00 per student

This winter, students get busy cooking over a fire in the historic Half Way House to create a variety of treats!

Make soft cheese, soda bread, waffles, and grind spices. Learn all about the ingredients and kitchen tools available in 19th century Ontario.

This full-day program also includes a tour of select village buildings, and lots of fun and games!

End the day by tasting the culinary delights you’ve created!

Program Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

CHRISTMAS PAST

Available as of November 27, 2024 (Wednesdays to Fridays only)
Cost: $16.80 per student

The traditions and celebrations of the different cultures that make up the Village provide a very special Christmas visit. Engage in a variety of unique activities in homes and trade shops.

All groups participate in the following activities: interactive storytelling, traditional dancing, and indoor games.

PLEASE NOTE: Christmas Past is a full-day program – 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

costumed educators tend to heritage garden at Black Creek Pioneer Village

MANY HANDS

Available January 16 to April 26, 2024
Cost: $22.00 per student

This indoor program takes place in a cozy heritage log house! Cook on a real wood stove, churn, and prepare butter, card wool, and learn to use a spinning wheel.

In our workshop weave on a barn loom, engage in wood working, and explore various tools, then enjoy a snack made with “many hands”.

Spend the second half of the day exploring select buildings in the historic Village.

Program Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

student learns traditional 19th century baking techniques

PARLOUR PLAYTIME

Available January 16 to April 26, 2024
Pricing: $18.50 per participant

Come into our Victorian parlour to play just like people from long ago! Play with toys, try traditional games, dance, engage in interactive storytelling and make a special craft.

This play-based program is perfect for preschool to grade 1 students and takes place indoors.

Program Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

student plays with traditional Victorian wooden toy

EXPERIENCE & EXPLORE THE MAPLE SEASON

Available from March 5 to April 12, 2024 (excluding March Break)
Pricing: $18.50 per participant

Head out to the sticky trail to discover how maple trees are identified and tapped for sap. Explore tools and artifacts used for this delicious tradition and explore how 19th century people prepared for the maple syrup season. End the visit with a taste of delicious maple syrup!

Program Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

a maple tree is tapped to produce sap for making maple syrup

BACK TO SCHOOL

Available year round, excluding July/August
Pricing: $18.50 per participant

Join our costumed schoolteacher and spend a half day as a student in our 1860s schoolhouse. Work on a slate, participate in a spelling bee, play 19th century games and practice the 3Rs.

Spend the second half of the program exploring select buildings in the historic Village.

Program Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

students experience lessons in a traditional 19th century school house

 

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SPRING & FALL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

costumed educator demonstrates tinsmithing techniques

ON-SITE TOUR + SKILL BUILDING WORKSHOP
Duration: 3 hours plus 30-minute lunch break (full day program)
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Build on knowledge gained in the interactive tour to develop skills and deepen understanding. Choose from different workshops that combine learning, skills development, and active fun!

  • Includes guaranteed lunch space for 30 minutes

PROGRAMS AVAILABLE

INVENTED: PROPELLED BY IMAGINATION
Suitable for Grades 3 to 8

Explore the historic village and learn how the 19th century was time of rapid change!

Visit our newest interactive exhibit, Invented: Propelled by Imagination, and discover how the scientific advancements of that era shape how we see the world today. Delve deep into breakthroughs in botany, computer science, geology, physics, and medicine!

See how inventors, writers, and illustrators of diverse backgrounds imagined a different future and birthed a new genre: science-fiction – where the impossible becomes possible!

  • Cost: $18.50 per student
  • Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Full day program)
  • Maximum number of students per day: 60 students
  • Available: May to December 2023

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

display on the subject of Colonialism and Imperialism from the Invented - Propelled by Imagination exhibit at Black Creek Pioneer Village
interactive display highlighting the work of 19th century artist Jean Marc Cote from the Invented - Propelled by Imagination exhibit at Black Creek Pioneer Village
display highlighting 19th century scientific advances from the Invented - Propelled by Imagination exhibit at Black Creek Pioneer Village

SENSORY ADVENTURES
Suitable for Junior Kindergarten to Grade 2

What would you find on a farm long ago? Use your senses and learn about the roles that family members, farm animals, and plants played on a family farm.

Choose from the following workshops:

  • Stories, Games & Toys: Play with an assortment of games and toys from the past and enjoy an interactive story to further understanding about everyday life long ago.
  • Explore the Garden: Use your senses and explore our village gardens. Plants seeds to take back home and watch them grow!
  • Get Crafty: Continue the fun and create seasonal heritage craft with our talented educators.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

grey goose with goslings at Black Creek Pioneer Village

YESTERDAY’S CHILD
Suitable for Grades 2 to 3

Discover the everyday lives and challenges of different communities that lived and worked in 19th century Ontario. Topics covered include food, clothing, education, recreation and work, and the roles of children.

Choose from the following workshops:

  • Artifact Discovery: Discover how different types of objects teach us about the everyday lives of people in the past. Get hands on with artifacts from our collection and learn about different types of artifacts, how to identify them, and why they are important. Please bring a photo or picture of an object that is important to you to share with your class.
  • Nature in the Village: Go on a nature hike around the village and discover how newcomers to Canada used plants, animals, and the environment around them. Identify plants, explore heritage gardens, and discuss the impact growing communities had on the land and waterways. What lessons can we learn from the past?
  • Outdoor Sports & Games A: Play a selection of 19th century sports and games and examine archival photos and artifacts. (Dancing, hoop & stick, lacrosse)
  • Wonderful Wool: Learn how wool is processed by learning to card, spin and weave wool on a barn loom.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

student learns how to weave wool on a loom

SOCIETY & CHANGE
Suitable for Grades 6 to 8

Enter the world of Confederation-era Canada. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate Canada’s past through the eyes of women, children, and the various religious and ethnic groups that contributed to our country’s development.

Choose from the following workshops:

  • Artifact Discovery: Discover how different types of objects teach us about the everyday lives of people in the past. Get hands on with artifacts from our collection and learn about different types of artifacts, how to identify them, and why they are important. Please bring a photo or picture of an object that is important to you to share with your class.
  • Outdoor Sports & Games B: Play a selection of 19th century sports and games and examine archival photos and artifacts (baseball, graces, stilts
  • It’s Time to Debate! Participate in a lively debate at our Town Hall. Debate topic: Temperance. Teachers are sent an information package to prepare for the debate ahead of their visit.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

students learn to play traditional Victorian stick and hoop game

BUILDING A COMMUNITY
Suitable for Grades 3 and up, ESL groups

Explore the Village as you travel to trades shops and houses and discover the many challenges that faced communities in the 19th century. Study various perspectives on the economic and social realities of the day. Learn about survival and how to how to build a community.

Choose from the following workshops:

  • Artifact Discovery: Discover how different types of objects teach us about the everyday lives of people in the past. Get hands on with artifacts from our collection and learn about different types of artifacts, how to identify them, and why they are important. Students are asked to bring with them a photo or picture of an object that is important to them to share as part of the workshop.
  • Meet the Flynns: As a refugee dual faith family living in the Toronto Region, the Flynns faced many challenges similar to those faced by newcomers to Canada today. What was it like to be a refugee working class family in the Toronto Region? How did their ethnic background and religion impact their lives? How did gender influence their experiences? Visit their home and place of work and engage in a variety of hands-on activities!
  • Nature in the Village: Go on a nature hike around the village and discover how newcomers to Canada utilized plants, animals, and the environment around them. Identify plants, explore heritage gardens, and discuss the impact growing communities had on the land and waterways. What lessons can we learn from the past?

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

costumed educators tend to heritage garden at Black Creek Pioneer Village

BACK TO SCHOOL

Join our costumed schoolteacher and spend a half day as a student in our 1860s schoolhouse. Work on a slate, participate in a spelling bee, play 19th century games and practice the 3Rs.

Spend the second half of the program exploring select buildings in the historic Village.

Call (416) 667-6295 to book

students experience lessons in a traditional 19th century school house