Educational Programs
2. Pioneer Sampler
Please note: Teachers will lead their classrooms through the following activities:
Your students will gain a deeper understanding of what life was like for children living on the open plains of Colorado in the 1860s. Classrooms will travel as a “family group” to each activity and have hands-on experiences with the homesteading related activities you select from the following two lists.
Please select either three activities (1.5 hours at the base price of $3.00 per child) or five activities (2 hours at the base price of $3.25 per child)
Butter Making: Shake cream in a jar until it turns into creamy butter and then enjoy the tasty treat on a cracker.
Celebrations: Celebrate a happy occasion pioneer-style. Enjoy the rhythm and fun of pioneer-era music and dance.
Farm Chores: Draw water from a well, wash laundry on a scrub board, sweep the boardwalks, beat the rugs, and feed the chickens.
Four Mile House Tour: A guide dressed in period clothing will lead your group on a tour of Denver’s oldest standing house (only for children ages 7 and older and for groups with 50 or fewer people).
Pioneer Games: Play simple games like stilts, sack races, hoop & stick races, tug-o-war, jump rope, race wooden horses and more.
Native American Games: Learn games that taught young American Indians life skills such as hunting and survival on the plains.
Prairie School: Learn what it was like to be a student in a country school long ago. Your group leader will become a school marm or master and can really play-up the strictness characterized by this time period.
Gold Panning: Pan for gold just like the '59ers – your students, however, are guaranteed success!
Footprints on the Trail: Create tracings of the animal tracks pioneers might have encountered on their trek west. See and feel some animal hides that correspond to the footprints.
The following activities can be substituted or added to either Traveling the Cherokee Trail or the Pioneer Sampler for an additional 50 cents per child per activity:
Pollinate Your Mind: Learn all about bees, from pollinating to harvesting; from historic and modern beekeeping practices to why bees are so important. Students will also enjoy a honey stick.
Quilt Craft: Glue small squares of pre-cut fabric onto paper to make a design from the colors and patterns of the fabric - for ages 7 and younger.
Woodstove Cooking: Mix and bake a home-style recipe and sample it at the end of the day’s activities – for ages 5 and older.
Jack Rabbit Hit: Make a Native American corn- husk toy which is similar to a badminton birdie in appearance, but played like hackie-sac – for ages 7 and older.
Sand Painting: Draw Native American symbols and “paint” over them with colored sand - for ages 7 and older.
Tin Punch Ornament Create an ornament by piercing a design into an aluminum square - for ages 8 and older.
Other Program Options:
Traveling the Cherokee Trail
Winter Wonder Days
Westward Ho!
Reservation Information, Tips and Forms
Field Trip Reservations:
Download the Reservation Form here.
Tel. 720-865-0814
Fax 720-865-0801
