Educator Resources

Discover the many components of Pike Place Market that make it Seattle’s dynamic heart and soul. Before a visit, share these resources and activities with students to provide knowledge and concepts to make the Market experience even more meaningful and fun.

Please check here during the school year for new and revised activities.

As you begin to plan a visit to the Market, start by reviewing these helpful documents:

BORROW A RESOURCE BAG

In addition to online materials, a Resource Bag can be checked out for up to three weeks. Contents include:

Educator Guide with activities
International Touch Kit with goods from different countries
Storybooks to share with students
DVDs about Pike Place Market
Community Storyboards about people of the Market

Bags must be picked up and dropped off at the main office in the Market, open Mon.-Fri. 9am – 5pm.

GET INVOLVED WITH THE MARKET COMMUNITY

Educators and their students are encouraged to connect with helping services at the Market. Here are ways to get involved:

Do a Food Drive or Volunteer for the Pike Market Food Bank
The Food Bank serves more than 1,000 clients each week. Regardless if it’s a school-wide food drive or a food drive of your class, the Food Bank appreciates each donation. Contact the Food Bank directly for info about what foods they need most.

Create Care Kits for Elders of the Pike Market Senior Center
Students and their families collect socks, gloves, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, soap, shampoo and other personal care products for members of the Pike Market Senior Center, many of whom face housing insecurity. Contact the Senior Center to inquire.

Do an Art Supply and Children’s Book Drive for the Pike Market Child Care and Preschool
Preschoolers love to create art like many of your students. Contact the Preschool to find out what supplies they need most. Also inquire about what anti-bias children’s books from their list you can provide.

ONLINE CLASSROOM RESOURCES

Activities, while designed for grades two through five, can be adapted for other ages and skill levels, and they were created to complement a myriad of subject areas in the classroom.

Subject: History

Presentation: The Big Picture of the Pike Place Market
Description: An introduction to the history and many parts of Pike Place Market.
Length: 45 minutes
Download: The Big Picture of the Pike Place Market [PDF of Images]
Script that corresponds with images

Reading Assignment: November 30, 1907 Dedication Speech Reader's Theater
Description: Students read actual text of Seattle City Council member Thomas Revelle’s public dedication.
Length: 20 minutes
Download: Script [PDF]

Online Game: “Now and Then” Digital Photo Matching Game
Description: Click on each of the eight old photos and drag it to what it looks like today. Students compare and contrast photos so you can stimulate discussion of why the Market still looks old thanks to historic preservation.
Length: 20-30 minutes
Download: Now & Then - Match old market photos with current photos [Interactive]

Role Playing Activity: Join the Cause! How Victor Steinbrueck Helped Save the Market
Description: Students analyze and evaluate the importance of believing in a meaningful cause like saving the Pike Place Market from demolition. Students will role-play taking a stance, with half the class “for” and half the class “against.”
Length: 30 minutes
Download: Victor Steinbrueck, Tale of a Market Hero [Teacher Activity Guide]
Sketches [PDF of 6 Drawings] from Market Sketchbook by Victor Steinbrueck (25th Anniversary Edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1996. Used with permission.)

Subject: Language Arts

Activity: Vocabulary and Concepts Unique to Pike Place Market
Description: Build vocabulary and analyze concepts, such as the “Meet the Producer” tradition, Daystall, consumer, busker, historical district and more.
Length: 30-45 minutes
Download: Market Words and Ideas
  Glossary of Market Words
  Market Vocabulary Worksheet
  Market Vocabulary Worksheet Answers
  Crossword Puzzle
  Market Jumble

Subject: Social Studies

Online Game: What Do You Hear in the Market?
Description: Students practice listening skills and build familiarity with how our senses help create a unique sense of place, distinguishing the Market from other Seattle neighborhoods.
Length: 30 minutes
Download: Sounds Game - Identify what you hear! [Interactive]
Worksheet for Sounds Game

Activity: Online Farm Map of Washington State
Description: Click on each of the 13 icons and learn about some of the Market’s farmers from western and eastern Washington. For a research/writing exercise, have students take notes about facts for each farm.
Length: 30-45 minutes
Download: Interactive Farm Map of Washington State [Interactive]

Role Playing Activity: Join the Cause! How Victor Steinbrueck Helped Save the Market
Description: Students analyze and evaluate the importance of believing in a meaningful cause like saving the Pike Place Market from demolition. Students will role-play taking a stance, with half the class “for” and half the class “against.”
Length: 30 minutes
Download: Victor Steinbrueck, Tale of a Market Hero [Teacher Activity Guide]
Sketches [PDF of 6 Drawings] from Market Sketchbook by Victor Steinbrueck (25th Anniversary Edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1996. Used with permission.)

Lesson Plan: One Market For All
Description: An 8-page insert published in April 2017 by The Seattle Times in partnership with Newspapers in Education and 4Culture. Curriculum Guide features five lesson plans (for grades 3+):

Immigration (key topic: social justice)
Connecting Japanese Internment (and its Effects on the Market) Through Art (key topic: history and social justice)
Linking the Past to the Future (key topics: civics, citizenship, social activism)
How Many People Does it Take to Sell a Product? (key topic: entrepreneurship)
Starting a Business: Brainstorming Your Talents and Creating a Business Plan (key topic: entrepreneurship)

Download: One Market for All as a digital book
Curriculum Guide

Role Playing Activity: Create a Classroom Market
Description: Students become entrepreneurs by deciding what to sell other students, naming their businesses and determining how to produce their goods or services.
Key Concepts: Supply and demand, goods and services, business plans, currency.

Role Playing Activity: Create Jigsaw Groups at the Market
Description: Divide the class into four or five groups. Assign a Market topic to each group. Examples are international shops, service businesses, seafood, public art, Daystall vendors. Each group becomes the “expert” for their topic. Each student has a specific role; Photographer, interviewer, recorder, navigator are examples. Each group, with a chaperone, travels through the Market to research their topic. Back at school, each group shares what they learned with the entire class.
Key Concepts: Collaboration, public speaking

Subject: Art

Activity: Through Many Lenses: Different Ways to See the Market
Description: Ask students what images and landmarks they recognize in the Market neighborhood in these artist renditions created for past Market celebrations.
Length: 30 minutes
Download: Market History Posters
Posters 1 – 5 [PDF of Images]

Role Playing Activity: Join the Cause! How Victor Steinbrueck Helped Save the Market
Description: Students analyze and evaluate the importance of believing in a meaningful cause like saving the Pike Place Market from demolition. Students will role-play taking a stance, with half the class “for” and half the class “against.”
Length: 30 minutes
Download: Victor Steinbrueck, Tale of a Market Hero [Teacher Activity Guide]
Sketches [PDF of 6 Drawings] from Market Sketchbook by Victor Steinbrueck (25th Anniversary Edition, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1996. Used with permission.)

Your feedback as an educator is welcome. Send suggestions to Marketing@PikePlaceMarket.org.

Pike Place Market