EDUCATIONAL FIELD TRIPS AND PROGRAMS

Make Learning Fun at the Central Washington Agricultural Museum

The Central Washington Agricultural Museum offers educational field trips and tours for schools. We look forward to the privilege of helping to educate students about the agricultural history within Central Washington and the ways of life associated with it. The Ag Museum Field Trips & Tours are an educational journey in our agricultural history. The tours are always enjoyed by young and old alike. The students will have lots of fun, along with learning the history and heritage of the Yakima Valley.

We customize the options we offer to your specific requests within the limitations of availability of volunteers for the learning stations. You should plan upon a minimum of 1 1/2 to 2 hours for your visit to the museum.

Fill out and submit the field trip/school tour request form to reserve a date.

If you have any questions check out our FAQ page or contact us or call us at 509.457.8735.

Our Teacher Resources include two Reading and Activity Books that have fun activities related to agriculture and history. These can be used to prepare your students for a visit to the Central Washington Agricultural Museum or afterwards to reinforce concepts learned while at the museum. Please feel free to use whatever you want that is appropriate for your students and time available in your schedule. It is our goal to give students a better understanding of their heritage and an appreciation of the importance of agriculture to their community and to Washington State.

Your students will have the opportunity to see farm life as it was over one hundred years ago up through the mid twentieth century. A tour of the museum grounds on the People Wagon will allow your students to see many features of the museum. In the Amos cabin your students can see what life was like living in a log cabin. The Keys Homestead is a typical 1910 era house. While visiting these cabins, there may be some hands on opportunities such as pumping water, washing and ironing clothes, etc.

There are also opportunities to see a chuck wagon, trapper’s cabin, sheepherder’s wagon and a second log cabin. The students may then get a look at early American engines and a blacksmith shop. In the Lindeman Building the students may observe a wood smith shop, early American toys, tack shop, vintage office, general store, filling station, gas pumps, and buggies. You may also see a sawmill, farmstead, wheat field and a drive through display with over 150 pieces of farm equipment.

There are a variety of things to do and see to provide hands-on opportunities for your students. For example: Butter churning, coffee grinding, rope making, and corn shelling. On occasion, we can have a live horse demonstration where the students are allowed to feed the animal with the corn they just shelled.

In the Craig Eschbach Education Building is the Olde Yakima Letterpress Museum. It is sometimes available for demonstrations during a field trip. Also, occasionally available are blacksmith shop and wood-working shop demonstrations.

While these programs are targeted at traditional classroom schools, we offer tours for home schools, scouts, daycare, and other groups. Teachers, students, and families will find the Central Washington Agricultural Museum an exciting place for further explorations of the Yakima Valley and Central Washington history. Most of the museum is ADA approved; however, there are some areas that are not.

Thank you for your interest in our education program. Your students will enjoy the tour and learn many things in regard to our agricultural history. We look forward to seeing you and your students here soon!