FieldyVancouver Island
← All outings
Museums and history

Stone Tool Collection: Indigenous Artifacts Program

BC Forest Discovery Centre3 hr 25 min by bus · 48.9 km
✓ Fits your group
A long dark red wooden building with FOREST DISCOVERY CENTRE painted along the front, seen from above, with a paved car park and tall evergreens behind it.
Cost
$10 a child
$160 for 16 children
Ages & size
Grades 3 to 3
Up to 30 children
Duration
1.5 hours
Year round
Days not published
Book by
Not published
Plan this trip
Fieldy handles all communication and booking for you.

What it actually looks like

Photos from BC Forest Discovery Centre's website
Our note
Children get to handle the actual objects, which is unusual and is what makes this one stick. It is written to the Grade 3 social studies standards, so a younger or older class may need it adjusted when you book.

What the children do

An interactive program built around the Marsh Collection, a set of Indigenous stone tools gathered on this site between 1951 and 1964, when it was the Cowichan Tribes S'amunu Village and later Somenos Lake Farm. Students compare the artifacts, work out what they were used for and discuss who used them. The centre says the program meets the Grade 3 Social Studies learning standards. Price is per student and GST is added on top.

Hold and turn over real stone tools, sort out which ones look alike and work out what each was for, then take a short walk to see the ground where they were found.

Good to know

Portable washrooms and an outdoor picnic area are on site. Whether this program runs indoors in poor weather is not published, so ask when you book.

Sources disagree. Their web page and their printed program brochure give two different email addresses for the same education coordinator. If one bounces, try the other, or ring the office. We use the one from their tours page.
Sources disagree. Their brochure splits the forest programs into two tight grade bands while their web page says the same programs suit kindergarten right up to grade seven. If your class sits outside the narrow bands, say so when you book and ask whether they will adapt it.
Sources disagree. Their brochure says school programs run in May, June and September, while their web page says they run right through the season from Easter to Thanksgiving. Ask for the month you want and see what they say.
Washrooms
Wheelchair accessible portable toilets are on-site whenever the museum is open to the public.
Lunch space
Many of our visitors bring a picnic lunch to enjoy a pleasant break in the picnic area on our lower grounds during their visit. Visitors may leave and re-enter the site.
Rain backup
Needs confirmation
Strollers
Needs confirmation
Wheelchair access
Most main areas of the site are wheelchair accessible, including the main entrance and exhibit hall, the gas and steam trains, antique vehicle building, most heritage buildings, and the main walking trails. A few of the heritage buildings as well as the speeder are not wheel chair accessible at this time.
Bus parking
Designated parking stalls are available for people with mobility disabilities.
Nearby park
Needs confirmation
Restrictions
Only Certified Guide & Service dogs are permitted in our food service areas and on board our trains.. Group rates do not apply for the Halloween Train or the Christmas Express

Getting there

2892 Drinkwater Road, Duncan, BC V9L 6C2

On foot
10 hr 38 min
too far with this group
By bus
3 hr 25 min
includes a 9 min wait
Driving
1 hr 36 min

The dark pin is Victoria.

View larger map →

Details checked on 2026-09-03 against the venue’s own pages. Something wrong? , it takes one tap. · Venue page · (250) 715-1113