
Modernization
Learn more about government’s intention to modernize the museum to protect our historic holdings and provide better access to our collections.
Learn more about government’s intention to modernize the museum to protect our historic holdings and provide better access to our collections.
We value your support and generosity. Your support helps us care for our collection and fund exhibitions, learning programs and environmental research.
Join us for ever-changing activities that use our amazing collections and superb exhibitions as the starting point for fun family learning.
This handbook, the first created by and for Indigenous peoples, provides practical information to help communities with the repatriation process
Visit the Research Portal to learn how the Royal BC Museum's natural history, human history and archival collections inspire and inform our research
Learn how the BC Archives provides access to records of enduring value to the province for public researchers, scholars and genealogists.
Discover the Natural History of British Columbia
We are currently not booking Digital Field Trips. Check back here for updates!
Can’t get here in person? No problem. If you have access to a computer with a camera, a wired high-speed internet connection, a large screen and sound, we can deliver a Digital Field Trip to you and your learners! Digital Field Trips are live, two-way, interactive virtual learning experiences. We can see and hear you, and you can see and hear us.
Digital Field Trips are inquiry based and staff led. We can adapt Digital Field Trips for different grade ranges, home learners, or for adult, senior, community-group or post-secondary audiences.
Program Length: 45 minutes
Program Description: Explore a variety of Indigenous innovations and technologies practiced by First Nations' peoples of BC. While sharing and discussing, RBCM's Indigenous Learning Program Developer will highlight three to four innovations and practices of BC First Nations with the visual support of objects and images.
Program Keywords/Vocab: First Peoples', Technology, Innovation, Dugout Canoes, Weaving, Adornment
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
Program Format: Depending on participants curricular needs, interests and abilities this program may be adapted or modified to suit learners and learning outcomes
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades 6-12 First Peoples and Social Studies, example of Content
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $120
Availability: Tuesdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 45 minutes
Target Audience: Grades 3-7
Program Description: Archaeologists use historical thinking and scientific methods to understand the past. This virtual, interactive learning program with a museum educator explores how archaeologists think and work in the field using images, videos and objects from the Royal BC Museum. Together we’ll explore what archaeology can teach us by practicing the inquiry, analyzing and communication skills archaeologists use when examining objects and landscapes and working with living descendent communities.
Program Keywords/Vocab: Archaeology, Artifact, Shell Midden, Primary Source, Stratigraphy, Ancestor, Descendent, Decomposition
Program Format:
Learning Objectives
BC Curricular Connections: Grades 3-6 Social Studies and Science, examples of Big Ideas, Content, and Competencies
First Peoples Principle of Learning:
Cost: $120
Availability: Wednesdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 30 minutes
Program Description: In 1858, when gold was discovered in the Fraser River, what is now known as British Columbia became a destination for hopeful miners from around the world. For every gold seeker who rushed here, there were factors that drove them from their homelands and dreams that enticed to a new and foreign place. The impacts of the gold rush on British Columbia were large, and lasting.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Colonialism, Immigration, Migration, Prospectors, Discrimination, Diggings, Sluice, Waterwheel
Target Audience: Grade 4
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grade 4 Social Studies, examples of Big Ideas
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Cost: $75
Availability: Thursdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 30 minutes
Program Description: Explore the different ways dinosaurs used their bodies to survive in their habitats millions of years ago. Through the inspection of plant and dinosaur fossils, students will discover how dinosaurs found food and interacted with their environments. They’ll even learn how animals on earth now give us clues about how dinosaurs looked and behaved.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Environment, Adapt, Habitat, Carnivore, Herbivore, Fossil, Paleontologist, Feature, Survive, Predator, Prey. Evidence, Climate
Target Audience: Grades K-2
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades K-2 Science, for example
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Cost: $75
Availability: Mondays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 30 minutes
Program Description: Learn about the Ice Age and the Woolly Mammoths who lived there. Using images, video and objects we will learn about how Woolly Mammoths adapted to survive in the Ice Age. There are lots of opportunities for questions and interaction.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Climate, Glaciers, Tundra, Mammals, Extinct, Herbivores, Keystone Species
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades 1,3-4 Science, examples of Big Ideas
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $75
Availability: Thursdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 30 minutes
Program Description: BC is vast, and the diversity of plants and animals that live in this part of the world is equally vast. This 30-minute tour of the natural history gallery at the Royal BC Museum will travel back in time to meet woolly mammoths and leap forward to examine how our landscapes will shift as a result of a changing climate. But mostly we’ll look at the weird and wild things living within our oceans, forests and even backyards.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Biodiversity, Habitat, Lifecycle, Teeth, Fur, Claws Native, Invasive, Paleontology, Scientists, Data, Observation
Target Audience: Grades K-8
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades K-8 Science, examples of Big Ideas
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $75
Availability: Thursdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 20 minutes
Target Audience: Grades K-3
Program Description: Plants and animals have features and behaviours that help them survive. Learn about some BC plants and animals and the amazing ways they survive and thrive in our local environments through this snapshot visit to the natural history gallery.
Program Keywords/Vocab: Adaptation, Structure, Feature, Behaviour, Landform, Habitat, Ecosystem
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades K-3 Science, examples of Content
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $50
Availability: Wednesdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 20 minutes
Target Audience: Grades K-8
Program Description: If we dive deep into the waters off the coast of BC, we’ll find a world of sea mammals: whales, seals, sea lions, otters and dolphins. These intelligent and often social animals can tell us a lot about the ocean. In this tour, we will explore how they live, how they interact with each other, and what we can do to help keep their environment healthy. The tour will include an up-close look at the Seashore Diorama of the Natural History gallery, along with fascinating specimens to investigate as a class.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Oceans, Ocean Literacy, Mammals, Cetaceans, Pinnipeds, Biodiversity, Galleries, Dioramas, Specimens, Taxidermy, Form, Function, Survival
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades K-8 Science, examples of Big Ideas
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $50
Availability: Thursdays – 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Program Length: 20 minutes
Program Description: British Colombia is home to people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. From farms to cities, people have adapted and developed communities to best fit their needs and wants.
Program Keywords/ Vocab: Diversity, Community, Home, Needs, Wants, Resources, Environment, Immigration
Target Audience: Grades K-2
Program Format:
Learning Objectives:
BC Curricular Connections: Grades K-2 Social Studies, examples of Big Ideas:
First Peoples Principles of Learning:
Cost: $50
Availability: Mondays at 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm
Distance programs for post-secondary classes are also available. These programs range from 45-60 minutes and cost $175. Please contact dft@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca for more details.
We offer a webinar version for most digital field trips. Webinar format allows for interaction with learners through a chat window, rather than through videoconferencing (with some exceptions). This makes facilitating large groups in a digital space manageable. Webinar Add-on cost is $50 in addition to the cost of the Digital Field Trip. Ask us about this option if:
Webinar Add-on cost is $50 in addition to the cost of the Digital Field Trip