Online Pre-registration Begins on Tuesday, August 19th
OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE
« Home School Day «
Tuesday, September 16th
RAIN or SHINE
ê 9:30-5:00 Museum Hours
« Admission $7 per person, free for Members and children under 3
« Additional fees apply to some activities
« Pre-register online today!
Let’s kick off the school year together!
==========================================================
Old Sturbridge Village is your history learning laboratory where your students can explore and experience key concepts and themes of early American history, technology, language arts, science, music, and civics. Use our museum’s recreated early 19th-Century New England Village and landscape with its staff of trained educators, interpreters, and craftsmen to create a memorable learning experience.
Home School Day Schedule
All Activities subject to change - weather permitting.)
9:30-12:00 Visit with a Shoemaker
9:30-12:00 Visit with a Cooper
& 12:30-5:00
9:45 Flag Raising on the Common
10:00 to 11:50 Ride the Stagecoach ($5 fee, under age 3 free)(5 minute ride)
& 1:30 to 4:50
10:00-4:00 Quinebaug River Boat Ride ($3 fee, under age 3 free)(15 minute ride)
10:00 Broom Making Demonstration
10:00 Sawmill Demonstration
10:00 P 19th Century School Lesson at the District School
10:00 * STUDIOS at Museum Education (50-minute activity)
10:30 Orientation Tour meets in front of the Center Meetinghouse
10:30 Tunes and Tales from Tavern and Hearthside in the Parsonage Barn
11:00 Hot-Air Balloon Demonstration on the Common
11:00 Gristmill Demonstration
11:00 * STUDIOS at Museum Education (50-minute activity)
11:30 Punch and Judy Puppet Show in the Parsonage Barn
11:30 Carding Mill Demonstration
11:30-12:30 Picnic on the Common (Grass provided; blankets recommended)
12:00 Orientation Tour meets in front of the Center Meetinghouse
12:00 Meet the Animals at Freeman Farm
12:30 Musket Firing Demonstration near Bullard Tavern
1:00 * STUDIOS at Museum Education (50-minute activity)
1:00 P 19th Century School Lesson at the District School
1:00-4:00 Visit with a Printer
1:00 Tales of a Yankee Peddler in the Parsonage Barn
2:00 Broom Making Demonstration
2:00 Punch and Judy Puppet Show in the Parsonage Barn
2:00 * STUDIOS at Museum Education (50-minute activity)
2:00 P 19th Century School Lesson at the District School
2:30 Sawmill Demonstration
2:30 Join a 19th-Century Baseball Game by the Center Meetinghouse
3:00 Gristmill Demonstration
3:00 Tunes and Tales from Tavern and Hearthside in the Parsonage Barn
3:00 The Family Kitchen Garden in the garden near the Freeman Farmhouse
3:30 French and English (tug-o’-war) on the Common
3:30 Carding Mill Demonstration
3:30 Milking Demonstration
4:00 Sawmill Demonstration
4:00 Hot-Air Balloon Demonstration on the Common
* Online Pre-registration. At the Museum Education Building. Please wait outside.
P Online Pre-registration. At the One-Room Schoolhouse. Please wait outside.
Also, see ongoing demonstrations in Fenno (spinning or weaving), the Freeman House (hearth cooking), the Tin Shop, Cooper, Pottery, and the Blacksmith Shop.
Horse-drawn ride around Mill Pond, which is included with Admission, does not run between 1:00 and 2:30.
Hands-on Studios
Get your hands on history during a 50-minute activity led by a museum teacher.
$3 per person, per Studio. Pay to participate. Pre-register online.
Due to space limitation, please limit the number of non-participating family members entering Studio area. For those not participating, an additional family activity area will be open for fun and frolic while you wait. Maximum 10 participants per Studio.
Studios begin at 10:00, 11:00, 1:00, 2:00
@ the Museum Education Building
Plain & Fancy 10:00 (ages 9 and up) 11:00 (ages 5 and up) 2:00 (ages 5 and up)
Examine objects for the home and learn a technique that was used to decorate 19th- century household goods. Make a reverse “glass” painting.
Farm 10:00 (ages 11 and up) 11:00 (ages 9 and up) 1:00 (ages 15 and up ) 2:00 (ages 7 and up)
Explore the seasonality of the Farmer's Year, gender roles, and family life on the farm. Hands-on farm-related activities may include corn processing, fence building, or auguring. Sew a seed packet.
Games 10:00 (ages 7 and up & 11 and up) 11:00 (ages 11 and up) 1:00 (ages 5 and up ) 2:00 (ages 5 and up & 13 and up)
What did children do for fun? Participate in popular children's activities from the 19th century and create an 1830s game or toy to take home. Learn some new and old games and make a hanging spiral snake.
Home Remedies 11:00 (ages 15 and up) 1:00 (ages 11 and up ) 2:00 (ages 9 and up)
Create a simple home remedy and explore herb use and patent medicines. Make comparisons to health practices today. Make an herbal sachet.
Archaeology 11:00 (ages 11 and up) 1:00 (ages 9 and up )
Examine the 1830’s as an archaeologist. Learn the process of archaeology through the examination and classification of “artifacts”. Take home an plaster impression of an “artifact” that you mold.
Home 10:00 (ages 7 and up & 15 and up) 11:00 (ages 5 and up & 13 and up) 1:00 (ages 7 and up & 9 and up ) 2:00 (ages 11 and up)
Experience cooking 19th-century style, using common household tools and recipes. Cook over the open hearth, explore innovations, and compare family life then and now. Make a batch of cookies and lemonade.
Wood 10:00 (ages 13 and up) 11:00 (ages 9 and up) 1:00 (ages 11 and up ) 2:00 (ages 15 and up)
Use a variety of hand tools to reproduce a useful 19th-century wooden object. Discuss safe tool use. Make a spaddle to use in your kitchen cooking.
Print 10:00 (ages 9 and up) 11:00 (ages 7 and up) 1:00 (ages 13 and up ) 2:00 (ages 5 and up)
Be an apprentice (receive an apprentice hat) and learn about the trades of printing, bookbinding, or paper marbling. Use tools and equipment common in a printing office and examine and create printed materials.
Textiles 10:00 (ages 13 and up) 11:00 (ages 7 and up) 1:00 (ages 9 and up ) 2:00 (ages 11 and up)
Take part in the process of 19th-century textile production. Card and spin wool, weave cloth, and discuss fashion and the beginnings of the industrial revolution. Take home a sample weave or carded wool.
Celebrations 10:00 (ages 5 and up) 1:00 (ages 7and up ) 2:00 (ages 9 and up)
Learn about the personal special events, local and national holidays that people chose to celebrate in the early 19th-century. What traditions were established? What do you continue to celebrate today? Make a set of toy houses to take home.
School Lesson in the One-Room Schoolhouse
Led by a School Mistress or Master. Experience the one-room schoolhouse through role-playing. Practice your ABC’s & 1, 2, 3’s. Each scholar receives “19th-century schoolbook”.
- $3 per person (Pay to reserve a seat in the one-room schoolhouse.)
- PRE-REGISTER ONLINE TO RESERVE A PLACE FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILD
- Scheduled Lessons 10:00-10:30, 1:00-1:30, 2:00-2:30
- 50 participants per Lesson
- Please leave strollers outside the Schoolhouse.
==========================================================
Nature Walks at Your Leisure: The first in a new series of trails inviting exploration of environmental history. Signs along trails identify trees and plants native to New England and their historical significance, evidence of glaciation, and man's influence on the New England landscape over time. Choose one or complete the circle and walk them all!
Pasture - entrance behind the Freeman Farmhouse
River - entrance near Sawmill
Woodland - entrance behind the Center Meetinghouse
==========================================================
Hands-on at the Craft Center in the Village
- Pay to participate at the Craft Center.
- 9:30-4:30
- Space limited. Please be prepared to wait for your
opportunity to work one-on-one with a Craftsman.*
Tin ($5) - Make a tin candleholder. (ages 6 and up)
Candle Dipping ($5) - Take home a hand-dipped candle. (ages 6 and up)
Pottery* ($10) - Make a clay pot. (ages 12 and up)
9:30-11:30 & 1:00-3:00 ONLY
Blacksmithing* ($10) - Make an iron decorative hook. (ages 12 and up)
9:30-11:30 ONLY (CLOSED-TOE SHOES REQUIRED!) | 
