Daily Life on the California Trail

What was daily life like on the California Trail for children and families? Join us to explore the everyday lives of California Trail travelers and the Shoshone people through whose lands the trail traversed — their food, clothing, possessions, chores, and fun!

Field Trip Length and Grade Range

This school field trip is designed for students in grades K through 5. The program is two hours long and can be supplemented by additional activities such as a ranger-guided hike, a scavenger hunt through the exhibit area, or a teacher-led educational activity. Groups are also welcome to bring a picnic lunch.

How to Participate

Visit School Field Trips for program dates and a registration link.

Daily Life on the California Trail - Teacher's Guide

Program Objectives

Students will:

• Explore daily life for families traveling west, including the chores they completed and the games children played for fun.
• Consider the tough choices pioneers faced when packing for a 2,000-mile journey and deciding what was essential for survival.
• Experience traditional Shoshone lifeways by using grinding stones, creating cord, and learning how Great Basin natural resources were used for survival.
• Use authentic displays and sources to make inferences about life on the trail.  
• Participate in interactive activities that emphasize memorable, hands-on experiences over rote facts, sparking curiosity and personal connections to history. 

Vocabulary and Concepts Covered

Diorama: A three-dimensional replica of a scene; at the Trail Center, dioramas represent what travelers might have been doing at different points along the Trail

Emigration: Moving away from home to settle elsewhere; ‘emigrant’ is a common term used for travelers on the California Trail

Encampment: A temporary settlement made by a group of wagons, which travelers would often circle into corrals for the night

Indigenous Americans: People who lived in the Americas before European colonization and their descendants. Other common terms include Indigenous Peoples, Native Americans, American Indians, and Tribal Nations.

Before the Field Trip

• Assign or read aloud the California Trail Overview student reading.
• Optional: Show this 26-minute overview video, "Preserving Gravelly Ford"
• Ask the students to think about the experience of traveling the California Trail. Have them consider the following questions:
  • Chores then and now: Do you have chores at home? How do your chores help your family? Now, imagine your family is leaving tomorrow to travel across the country by wagon. How might your chores change? What tasks would need to be done while traveling? What new ways could you help support your family on the trail?
  • Fun without screens: What do you like to do for fun? Now imagine you’re on the California Trail – no phones, no video games, no internet. What do you think you would do for fun instead? What are things that you think would stay the same about how kids like to have fun? What do you think has changed over time?
• Encourage students to think of questions to ask during the field trip.
• Assign students and chaperones to three wagon teams that will rotate through stations throughout the exhibit area. Carefully consider social dynamics, including whether to assign students to groups for which their guardian is a chaperone.

During the Field Trip

• Materials needed: None! We will provide leader guides with instructions and answers for the adults.
• Teachers and chaperones are responsible for facilitating activities and discussions at the learning stations. This includes fostering engagement with the material and managing student behavior.
• Example Field Trip schedule:
  • 9:00: Arrive, use bathrooms, introduction
  • 9:15: Station Rotations (three stations, 30 minutes per station)
  • 10:45: Conclusion
  • 11:00: Depart or transition to additional activities
    • Lunch: 30 minutes recommended
    • Guided Hike: 45 minutes 

After the Field Trip

• Email us your questions and feedback. We love hearing ways that we can continue to improve our programs!
• Post-activity suggestions:
  • Object Storytelling & Illustration: At the encampment station, students chose an object and imagined its story. Extend this activity by having students draw a picture that tells the story of the Oregon Trail from the object’s point of view. Encourage them to consider:
    • Why is this object on the trail?
    • How was it used at home, and how is it used now?
    • What is it like to travel across the country?
    • How might it be used in its new home?
  • Food & Family Traditions: Ask students to think about a food that is important to them or their family. Have them:
    • Interview a family member to learn the recipe and the story behind it.
    • Share the recipe and story in class.
    • Discuss as a class: How do these recipes compare to one another? How do they differ from the food eaten on the Oregon Trail? What can food tell us about people’s daily lives, both past and present?
    • You can ask a similar set of questions if you instruct students to bring in a piece of clothing that is important to them.

Related Nevada Social Sciences Standards

From Nevada Academic Content Standards for Social Studies

• SS.K.9 – Compare life in the past to life today within the community.
• SS.K.13 – Describe ways in which students and families are alike and different across cultures.
• SS.K.18 – Explain why and how people move from place to place within the community.
• SS.1.2 – With prompting and support, generate supporting questions related to compelling questions.
• SS.1.9 – Compare life in the past to life today for different cultural groups within the community.
• SS.2.14 – Identify and compare cultural practices and traditions in the U.S.
• SS.2.23 – Describe why people made decisions to move in early U.S. history, including cultural, economic, environmental, political, and social factors.