WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Storrowton Village Museum is offering a chance to experience the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who is best known for penning the Little House on the Prairie books.

A variety of 19th century activities inspired by the Little House books will take place throughout the day on July 14 – such as washing laundry on washboards – for the Museum’s Little House Family Day. Visitors will have opportunities to play old-fashioned prairie games on the Village Green, learn about foraging on the frontier and make corn husk dolls. Jay Blain will be teaching the foraging workshop, where participants can learn about finding food on the prairie through hunting, farming, and gathering.

“Visitors will come away with an idea of how people lived, worked, and had fun back in the day. This year, we opened up the schedule to give guests time to visit our museum’s historic buildings, staffed by awesome volunteers,” said Storrowton Education and Communications Specialist Sarah Platanitis. “The event helps Storrowton further its mission because it helps foster an understanding of and interest in New England’s past through experiential programming for all audiences.”

This year’s Little House Day will include a new scavenger hunt. Anyone who completes the hunt will receive a small prize.

Guests will also be able to interact with Rosalie Silliman, a Laura Ingalls historical interpreter, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Silliman will present about Ingalls’ life as a teenager and young schoolteacher.

The Ingalls family has roots in the region reaching back to the 17th century, and lived in such places as Corinth, Vermont, and Grafton, New Hampshire, before they moved westward.

Wilder experienced adventures on the American frontier that have captivated the imaginations of children for over 100 years, whether on the written page or via the popular television series based on her books.

“Laura Ingalls Wilder was a pioneer girl, through and through. She was a teacher and a writer, most famously known for a series of eight books and other works based on her life,” said Platanitis. “She was rebellious, self-sufficient, and wrote about the daily lives of girls and women without sugarcoating anything.”

The popular television show “Little House on the Prairie” was adapted from her books and made the Ingalls family a well-known part of American culture.

However, Wilder has recently emerged as a controversial figure. The American Library Association announced that the children's literature award that honored her would be renamed the “Children’s Literature Legacy Award” because of the portrayal of Native Americans and African Americans in her books.

Platanitis told Reminder Publications she believes these attitudes can serve as an educational opportunity.

“As a child, Ingalls saw a world from a cultural lens that didn’t see diversity very well. These might feel shocking today, but it reflected a common attitude of the day,” she said. “Thankfully, today we can see and talk about this limited perspective.”

Inspiration for the event came after former Storrowton Director Dennis D. Picard visited Genesee Country Village & Museum and the Wilder Homestead in Malone, New York. He wanted to call attention to Ingalls’ connection to New England – most people are most familiar with the parts of her story that happened in Wisconsin, Missouri, South Dakota and Kansas, said Platanitis.

Tickets for Little House Family Day are $8 in advance via storrowtonvillage.com – through July 13 – or $10 on the day of the event. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information, visit storrowtonvillage.com/p/tours-and-events/little-house-family-day or call 413-205-5051.