Event Partners
The Seattle Public Library at the Burke Museum
Date & Time
Free First Thursday
Thursday, August 7, 2025
10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
This event is in the past.
Tickets
FREE admission for
Free First Thursday
Enjoy activities with The Seattle Public Library as part of their annual Summer of Learning program.
This year's theme is Reading, Learning & Growing is for Everyone!
All Summer of Learning participants are invited to attend this FREE end-of-summer celebration with their friends and families, which includes FREE access to all Burke Museum exhibits. Families will have the opportunity to learn more about dinosaurs, fossils, Northwest Native art, plant and animal collections, and cultural belongings from across the globe.
OUTSIDE
Burke Meadow
12–6 p.m.
– Explore the Burke’s own Meadow out front with a guided activity and learn more about how the meadow changes through the seasons
LOWER LEVEL
10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
– Create a puppet using Coast Salish shapes
– Visit our fishing, celebrations, tools, canoes, food, and home-life themed activity stations.
10:30 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. | 1:30 p.m.
How the Mouse Moved the Mountain Storytime
4–7 p.m.
Learn more about the lives of incarcerated Japanese Americans during WWII with our partners from Densho
FLOOR 1
Welcome Booth
– Pick up your Husky Hunt activity
– Visit The Seattle Public Library table
Artist Studio
12–7 p.m.
Meet Kuldeep Singh in the Artist Studio as they expand the histories of 'patachitra' style textiles from Burke's collection and make patterns inspired by objects in the museum.
Burke Store
Check out our featured book display.
FLOOR 2
Partner Spotlights
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Explore an ecological detective activity and learn more about what animals are in our local intertidal zones at a beach bucket scavenger hunt with SEAS.
2–8 p.m.
Join Dr. Chan's Quantitative Plankton Ecology Lab and take a closer look at zooplankton under a microscope to learn how they interact with their environment.
2:30–8:30 p.m.
Touch and sort microfossils from Hell Creek, Montana with the DIG Field School team.
Open Door Activities
12–3 p.m.
Orcas and marine mammals with Lily from the Seattle Aquarium.
3–6 p.m.
Get involved with the SLIME Pacific Northwest Project with Burke malacology collections manager Melissa Frey.
Photo Booth
Dress up like a woodland forest animal and strike a pose!
FLOOR 3
Open Door Activities
3:30–6:30 p.m.
Join Paige Wilson Deibel and Caroline Strömberg to learn about paleobotany, including plant fossils of all sizes and recent field work.
4–7 p.m.
Talk with Chris, a paleontology volunteer, to learn about using comics and zines as a way to share about his work in the prep lab and create one of your own!
4:30–7:30 p.m
Learn about the Freedom of Information Act with the Burke archaeology team.
About the Summer of Learning program
Summer of Learning at the Seattle Public Library provides:
– Fun and educational programs that reflect the diversity of Seattle
– Activities to support reading, learning and growing for everyone
– Engaging experiences that center youth voice and interests
Learn more about the 2025 Summer of Learning program »
About The Seattle Public Library
The Seattle Public Library brings people, information and ideas together to enrich lives and build community. Our 27 welcoming neighborhood locations provide access to physical collections of books, DVDs, CDs and Wi-Fi hotspots, in-person information assistance, community meeting rooms, device charging stations and high-speed Wi-Fi. Our online Library at spl.org offers digital e-book, e-audiobook and streaming video collections, virtual educational programs for all ages, research databases and more. Our mobile and outreach services bring Library resources directly to communities with mobility, transportation, or other access issues; and we also offer one-on-one assistance with job searching, business resources and tutoring. The Library serves a Seattle population of over 737,000 people, partners with eight other regional library systems in reciprocal borrowing agreements, and circulates 10.7 million physical and digital items per year. We believe that the power of knowledge improves people's lives and that free, unrestricted access to information and knowledge is everyone's right.
