Education Programs

Experiential programs for schools, youth, seniors, and tourist groups offer a focused look at key themes of the site. All of our programs can be customized to meet your specific class size, travel schedule, and learning objectives.

Onsite education programs are available mid-May to Labour Day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Please note that depending on group size and grade level, some programs may require adaptation - contact us for details and a program schedule that best meets your group's needs. We can accommodate up to 60 students. Bookings for school programs opens on February 1st. Please call 780-431-2311 or email fort.george@gov.ab.ca.

Onsite programs are approximately 1.5 hours in length. Recommended supervisor to student ratio is 1:10. A 1:8 ratio is preferred for ECS to Grade 2. If the number of supervisors exceeds the 1:8 ratio, additional admission fees may apply.

Many schools choose to participate in 2 programs for a full-day visit and enjoy a picnic lunch. Weather in May and June is highly unpredictable. Our programs are mostly outdoors, so both students and supervisors should be prepared with appropriate footwear, hats, and coats.

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General Tour (Grades 3 and Up)

The General Tour or the Littlies Tour is an essential part of every school visit!

This program takes your students through our modern interpretive gallery, then along a wooded trail to the sites of the archaeological remains of the 2 forts. Your students will stand where history really happened and achieve a solid foundation for learning.

Students will learn:

  • The stories of the Indigenous and European people who lived, worked, and traded at the forts
  • The purpose and context for trade in the 1790s
  • The role of culture and community in the fur trade

Grades 3 and up

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 1.5 hours

Cost: $3 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 10

Curriculum Connections

  • Grade 3 - Quality of Life
  • Grade 4 - Stories, Histories, and People of the Alberta Government
  • Grade 5 - Histories and Stories of Ways of Life in Canada; Shaping an Identity
  • Grade 7 - Towards Confederation

Littlies Tour (Daycare - Grade 2)

The General Tour or the Littlies Tour is an essential part of every school visit!

Get ready for your students to use their imaginations, sing a song, and even dress the part as they discover the story of the forts from long ago. Designed with younger students in mind, this exploration of life in the fur trade has students feeling the soft furs, getting dressed in historic costumes, visiting the moose hide tipi, discovering the importance of the bison, and trying their hands at trade. The story is captured on an adventure board for those who want to tell it again.

Students will learn:

  • Respecting cultural diversity
  • Appreciating literature, the arts, and the creative process

Grades: ECS to 2

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time:1.5 hours

Cost: $3 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 8

Curriculum Connections

  • The Land: Places and People - Relationships Between People and the Land

  • Grade 1 - My History My Community
  • Grade 2 - A Community in the Past

Bison Hunt (Grades 1-2)

Before the arrival of fire arms, hunting bison required participation and cooperation of the whole community to succeed. Each student will learn about the uses of the bison and then create their own stick horse "prairie pony". Then they will participate in a simulated Bison hunt where they will test their skill and speed as they cooperatively drive our friendly bison into a traditional hunting pound.

Students will learn:

  • The importance of the bison in everyday life
  • The collective nature of a bison hunt
  • About the vast bison herds of the past
  • Respect for cultural diversity
  • Appreciation for the arts

Grades: 1-2

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 1.5 hours

Cost: $3 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 8

Curriculum Connections

  • Strands
  • Culture and Community / Economics and Resources
  • Grade 1 - My History My Community
  • Grade 2 - A Community in the Past

Fur Factor: Voyageur Skills (Grades 2 and Up)

Students learn while having fun participating outdoors in a series of team competitions based on the skills and abilities needed at the forts in the 1790s.

Students will learn:

  • The diversity and physical intensity of the work involved in life before modern technology
  • The history and geography of Canada
  • Initiative, leadership, flexibility, and persistence through team competition

Grades: 2 to adult (core concepts remain the same while specific skills and challenge level reflects age and group size)

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 1.25 to 1.5 hours

Cost: $3 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 10

Curriculum Connections

  • Culture and Community
  • Grade 2 - Community in the Past
  • Grade 4 - People of Alberta
  • Grade 5 - Shaping Identity
  • Grade 7 - Toward Confederation

Archaeology: Puzzle of the Past (Grades 3-6)

Archaeology is all about discovering the past and how people lived. Students will work in teams to excavate, record, and solve the puzzle of the past found in our dig simulation boxes. This program brings the purpose, practices, and processes of archaeology to life.

Students will learn:

  • To use critical and creative thinking skills
  • Purpose, practices, and processes of archaeology

Grades: 3-6

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 1.5 hours

Cost: $3 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 10

Curriculum Connections

  • Time, Continuity and Change
  • Grade 4 - Alberta: Celebrations and Challenges - Archaeology
  • Grade 5 - The Land, History and Stories

From the Bounty of the Land (Grades 4 and up)

This program is combined with the general tour.

Two hundred years ago the European fur traders brought few items other than tools and trade goods to the fur posts, and depended on the Cree people and the land for what they needed to survive. Your students will learn how the people of the forts used the plants, animals, and natural resources found in and around the site for food, medicine, housing, transportation, and tools.

Students will learn:

  • How the people used the resources of the physical world
  • Ecology and diversity of life

Grades: 4 and up

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 3 hours (A combined program with the General Tour)

Cost: $6 per student

Adult to student ratio: 1 to 10

Curriculum Connections

  • The Land: Places and People, Economics and Resources

  • Grade 4 - Celebrations and Challenges, The Land, Histories and Stories
  • Grade 5 - Histories and Stories of Ways of Life in Canada

Trappers & Trade (Grades 4 and Up)

This fur trade role-playing game is based on the real historical competition between the 2 forts at this site.

Students become clerk traders from the forts or take on the historical identities of trappers coming to trade. The companies compete for furs while the trappers bargain at the forts and trade among themselves to get the items they want. Students are immersed in the fur trade, trade using the Made Beaver Standard, and discover for themselves the power of competition.

Students will learn:

  • The history and geography of Canada
  • How Canada's early economic systems fit within a global context
  • How to solve problems in business using mathematics
  • Critical and creative thinking skills in problem-solving and decision-making
  • Managing time and resources

Grades: 4 to adult

Dates available: May 24 to Labour Day

Total time: 1.5 Hours

Cost: $3 per student

Curriculum Connections

  • Economics and Resources, Power, Authority and Decision-making, Global Connections
  • Grade 4 - Stories, Histories and People of Alberta, Histories and Stories of a Way of life in Canada, Shaping an Identity
  • Grade 7 - Towards Confederation
  • Grade 9 - Issue for Canadians: Economics

Trappers & Trade PDFs (Grades 4 and Up)

This fur trade role-playing game is based on the real historical competition between the 2 forts at this site. Students become clerk traders from the forts or take on the historical identities of trappers coming to trade. The companies compete for furs while the trappers bargain at the forts and trade among themselves to get the items they want. Students are immersed in the fur trade, trade using the Made Beaver Standard, and discover for themselves the power of competition.

Students will learn:

  • The history and geography of Canada
  • How Canada's early economic systems fit within a global context
  • How to solve problems in business using mathematics
  • Critical and creative thinking skills in problem-solving and decision-making
  • Managing time and resources

Grades: 4 to adult

Purchase resources digitally as an in-class teaching resource

Total time: 1.5 Hours

Cost: $25

Curriculum Connections

  • Economics and Resources, Power, Authority and Decision-making, Global Connections
  • Grade 4 - Stories, Histories and People of Alberta, Histories and Stories of a Way of life in Canada, Shaping an Identity
  • Grade 7 - Towards Confederation
  • Grade 9 - Issue for Canadians: Economics

Game Contents

This is the same game used in the onsite and outreach programs. The digital files contain the instructions, forms, and playing pieces in PDF format, ready to be printed off. There is additional background information on the forts, trade, and life in the forts. This package is intended to create one complete game and to produce spare parts should any get lost or damaged.

To Play

Before playing the game the first time, you will need to print and assemble the game components. Additional materials including dice, protective sheet covers, hard candies, and wipe-off pens are required. Complete materials list and assembly instructions are included.

To Purchase

Please send a cheque or money order made out to the Government of Alberta for $25 along with mailing instructions to:

Program Coordinator
Fort George and Buckingham House
8820 112 Street
Edmonton, AB
T6G 2P8