Educational Programs

Consider Guelph Civic Museum and McCrae House your community classroom, where history comes to life in inspiring and enriching ways. For school groups, our programs are designed to support the learning objectives of the Ontario curriculum through inquiry-based learning practices. For community groups, our programs provide unique, engaging life-long learning opportunities.

To book your program

Complete the downloadable form below and send to [email protected].

Educational Program Request Form

Direct any questions to [email protected] or 519-836-1221 ext. 3552

Subscribe to our Educational Programming Email List


*Special, time-limited opportunity!*

And then what happened… Black Canadian History: The Untold Stories

Grades 7-8 | 120 minutes

Featuring Tracy Lee and Denise L. Francis, in collaboration with Guelph Black Heritage Society

Led by performance artist Tracy Lee, this special program weaves music, storytelling, and an interactive presentation, spanning over 200 years of local history. Lee highlights the remarkable contributions and legacy of Black Canadian settlers who paved the way for future generations, leaving a profound impact on Ontario’s history and inspiring positive change.

This program takes place at the historic Heritage Hall, headquarters of the Guelph Black Heritage Society. Following Lee’s performance, the students will tour the BME Church building (constructed in 1880) and learn about the freedom seekers, their descendants, and the vibrant community within the dynamic Essex Street neighbourhood.

Guest educators: 

Tracy Lee is a proud 5th generation Black Canadian with ancestral roots in North Buxton, Queen’s Bush, and in the St. Catharines, Niagara, and Brantford region. Lee has lived in Guelph for over 20 years.

Denise L. Francis is the Program Coordinator at Guelph Black Heritage Society. She has dedicated over 20 years to volunteering in Guelph, with a focus on sharing African, Black, and Caribbean culture and working closely with youth and seniors.

Curriculum Links:

  • Canada, 1800-1850: Conflict and Challenges
  • Understanding historical context, events, and consequences
  • Canada – past and present: Investigation of historic events, developments, and ideas
  • Perspectives on a changing society

Available: May 12-May 16
9:30-11:30 a.m. | 12:30-2:30 p.m. (daily)
Capacity: 60 students
Location: Heritage Hall (83 Essex Street Guelph, ON, N1H 3K9)
Fee: $20 per student

*Special, time-limited opportunity!*

The Story of the Hairpipe

Grades 6-8 | 120 minutes

In collaboration with Chippewas of Nawash artist Naomi Smith (Neyaashiinigmiing, Ontario)

Taught through the history and practice of traditional beadwork, the students will explore Indigenous creative processes and teachings. Naomi Smith will lead the students on a historical journey, showcasing traditional and contemporary beadworks. Smith will share about the historic challenges facing Indigenous peoples, and provide insight into her Indigenous world, which is a unique blend of traditional teachings and colonial experiences. Each student will create their own hair-pipe bracelet.

About the artist: 

“Honouring our traditions is my voice within and beyond my Culture and Community. Traditionally there is no word for ‘art’ in Native languages, yet artistry and visual expression are critical in defining who we are as First Nations people. It is this path I wish to exemplify through my teachings and my work.”

For over 25 years, Naomi Smith has focused on sharing teachings about the Indigenous people of the Woodlands and Northeastern region from historical and contemporary perspectives, often through the story of beads.

Curriculum Links:

  • Heritage and Identity
  • Exploring forms and cultural context of art
  • People and Environments: The perspective of diverse communities in Canada
  • New France and British North America, 1713-1800
  • Canada, 1800-1850
  • Creating Canada, 1850-1890
  • Canada, 1890-1914
  • Colonial and present-day Canada

Available: April 14, 16, 17, 22, 24, 28, 30
9:30-11:30 a.m. | 12:30-2:30 p.m. (daily)
Capacity: 30 students
Location: Guelph Civic Museum
Fee: $20 registration, plus $15 hairpipe kit per participant

We Are Connected

Grades K-3 | 75 minutes

Reflecting on the history of the place we now call Guelph, students will connect the past to the present to understand change over time. Through community connections, and centered in local perspectives, students will explore the history of natural and built features of the local landscape while discovering their own relationship with the land and water around us. Learning modules include Where the Rivers Meet, the City Gallery, interactive time in our feature exhibition Art As We Are, and a Community Beehive creative activity.

 

Left: Creativity station in “Art as We Are” exhibition; Right: “Where The River Meets” exhibition

Curriculum Links

  • Kindergarten: Understanding the natural world and the need to care for and respect the environment
  • Grade 1: Characteristics of local community and change over time
  • Grade 2: Investigate traditions of multiple communities and celebrating their own
  • Grade 3: Development of municipalities in Ontario, and early steps of reconciliation

Available year-round
Capacity: 45 students
Location: Guelph Civic Museum

Choice and Change: Yesterday & Today

Grades 4-6 | 90 minutes

Through a community-centered lens, students will discover the history and present-day function of local government. Different levels and types of government, role of government, and responsible citizenship are all explored to better understand the power of choice to make the changes they wish to see in their communities. Learning modules include Indigenous rights to self-government, finding your voice, creating change, and an interactive experience in the exhibition Art As We Are. 

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Youth in Action, left to right: Autumn Peltier, Water-rights Advocate; Downtown Guelph Pride Walk; Father and Son at the 2020 Black Lives Matter Solidarity Protest, Guelph.

Curriculum Links:

  • Grade 4: identify and describe social relationships and systems of structure within local communities
  • Grade 5: assess the effectiveness of actions taken by one or more levels of government, reflecting on government and citizens working together
  • Grade 6: identify the perspective of diverse communities in Canada

Available year round
Capacity: 30 students
Location: Guelph Civic Museum

History in the Making

Grades 7-8 | 120 minutes

An exploration of how history is uncovered, shaped, and told.

Students are introduced to the process of researching and telling stories from history. They will explore Guelph Museums’ feature exhibitions, Art as We Are and Darkness and Light: Inside the Ontario Reformatory; take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museums’ collections, and use primary sources to learn about the lives of diverse preteens who lived in Guelph between the years 1827 and 1914. Learning the history of the social climate in Guelph students take the time to reflect on their role in museums. Museum educators will guide students in an interrogation of the subjectivity and bias that have traditionally affected the telling of historical stories.

Left: students will debate: what “belongs” in a museum? ; Right: Images from “Art As We Are” exhibition

Curriculum Links:

  • Canada, 1800-1850: Conflict and Challenges
  • Understanding historical context, events, and consequences
  • Investigation of historic events, developments, and ideas

Available year round
9:30-11:30 a.m. | 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Capacity: 30 students
Location: Guelph Civic Museum

Doctor, Soldier, Poet: The McCrae Story

Grades K-4 | 75 minutes
Grades 5-8 | 90 minutes

Legacy of Lt. Col. John McCrae, Remembrance, and the First World War.

Offered year-round at McCrae House, this program is centred in diverse understandings of the First World War, including lived experiences of Lt. Col. John McCrae, doctor, soldier, and author of “In Flanders Fields.” Recognizing that remembrance and reflection are practiced at all ages, this program is specifically designed for two age brackets: K to Grade 4 and Grades 5 to 8.

All students will explore McCrae House, engage images and artifacts of the First World War, and experience the Memorial Gardens. K to Grade 4: students will learn about the origins of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance through a hands-on planting activity. Grades 5 to 8: students will learn how wartime writers, past and present, use poetry and spoken word to express their experiences of war.

Lt. Col. John McCrae & Bonneau, circa 1916 Guelph Museums M1998.9.1

Curriculum Links:

Grades K to 3:

  • Understanding local and global communities, investigating
  • Citizenship through community, identity, relationships, respect, stewardship
  • Past and present traditions and heritage, understanding chronology
  • Active listening, awareness of signs and symbols

Grades 4 to 8:

  • Discovering how Canadians participate in the world in different ways
  • How human activities cause social, practical, environmental, and economic consequences
  • Oral communication, reading, writing, and media literacy

Available year round
Capacity: 30 participants
Location: McCrae House

John Galt & The Instant City

Mike Ford & Murray Foster
Grades 7-12 | 60 minutes

A musical history presentation that explores John Galt and the founding of Guelph in a new light.

Guelph’s founding story traditionally centred on John Galt’s arrival in Canada in 1827 to build a Scottish settlement. The story celebrated the building of a vibrant colony. It did not convey the destructive impact of colonization on Indigenous Peoples who lived on this land from time immemorial.

John Galt and the Instant City reconsiders the founding story of Guelph, sparking critical thinking about our past, illuminating truth, and inspiring action towards reconciliation.

Funded in part by Musagetes Fund, a grant from the Guelph Community Foundation and Government of Canada, Museum Assistance Program. Filmed on location at River Run Centre by Ward 1 Studios.

Still image of ‘John Galt and the Instant City’ performance video with feature performers Mike Ford and Murray Foster

Curriculum Links:

  • Canada, 1800-1850: Conflict and Challenge
  • Canada, 1982-Present
  • Origins and Citizenship: The History of a Canadian Ethnic Group
  • Canada: History, Identity and Cultures
  • Understanding Historical Context: Events and Their Consequences

Available year round
Location: Online
Fee: Free

Self-Guided Museum Tours

We welcome your group at McCrae House and the Civic Museum for self-guided experiences. We provide an orientation at the start of your visit, as well as materials and suggested activities to make the most of your time at the museum.

McCrae House is the birthplace of Lt. Col. John McCrae, doctor, soldier, and writer of “In Flanders Fields.” Exhibitions at this site focus on McCrae’s life in Guelph, his artistic pursuits, his medical and military service, and the impact of his legacy. The museum provides space for reflection and contemplation, inside the house and outside in the Memorial Gardens.

The Civic Museum features past and present stories of the place we call Guelph, through semi-permanent and special exhibitions, including interactive installations in the Families Gallery and the City Gallery.

Special exhibitions at the Civic Museum include:

Location: Guelph Civic Museum and/or McCrae House

Museum Everywhere

Lectures, science challenges, musical performances, and more at your fingertips

Available at no cost at Museum Everywhere

Access a variety of educational programs anytime, from anywhere. Check back regularly for new additions.

Bookings

$6.25 per participant, per program (unless otherwise noted; $9.50 per participant for two programs on the same day; $62 minimum fee. Teachers, education assistants, and classroom volunteers are admitted free.

Liability insurance fees may apply. Self-guided exploration of the Museum before or after the program included in the fee.

Payment by VISA, MasterCard, American Express, debit, cash or cheque payable to Guelph Museums is required in advance. All fees are subject to applicable taxes. $20 administration fee will apply if payment is not received on or before the booking date.

Cancellations must be received two business days in advance or a $40 cancellation fee applies.

 Terms

For groups of children, we require one adult chaperone for every six children.

Programs are available during regular museum hours, as well as on evenings and weekends