You can choose from a variety of programs that engage students and make history meaningful.
To register, please call (508) 347-0285 or email osved@osv.org for more information
Online registration available for many programs.
Self-Guided Investigation
Register Online
All grades
Admission $8.00 per student
Explore the Village at your own pace. Enhance your visit using optional themed self-guides and optional pre- and post-visit classroom activities available online. Tied to the museum’s exhibits and learning opportunities, these newly developed free resources allow you to construct a more meaningful experience.
Themes include:
Changes in the Land (all grades)
Early American Culture (grades 3 to 6)
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
The Ox-Cart Man and Family (grades K to 3)
Village Classroom
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Let us engage your students in an interactive experience through these new offerings. Each 30-minute program takes place in a Village exhibit and is led by a costumed historian. Through the application of cross-curriculum concepts and skills, these interactive lessons introduce topics in early American history using primary sources and reproductions of artifacts. Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of OSV online curriculum, self-guides, and/or pre- and post-visit classroom activities. This program is designed for individual classes of up to 25 students with their teacher.
Traveler's Trunk
Grades K to 3
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
Meet a traveler from the 1830s and discover what the objects in a traveler's trunk reveal about transportation, communication, education, economics, childhood, and early American life.
Resources:
Lesson Plan highlighting the life of a farm family (grades K to 3)
The Ox-Cart Man and Family (grades K to 3)
The District School
Grades 1 to 6
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
How did New England achieve the highest literacy rate in the country by the 1820s? Compare educational practices of the New Republic to those of today. Participate in a school lesson led by a schoolmistress or schoolmaster. Curriculum is available online.
Resources:
Lesson Plan highlighting education practices at the turn of the century (grades 1 to 6)
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
Going to Market
Grades 3 to 5
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
Who made, distributed, and consumed the goods and services available in a country store? Explore how new technologies and global expansion made merchandise from distant lands available to New Englanders. Learn about account books and their role in documenting debit and credit transactions.
Resources:
Lesson Plan highlighting the life of a farm family (grades K to 3)
The Ox-Cart Man and Family (grades K to 3)
Grandma's Trunk Tells a Story
Grades 3 to 6
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
Put the ‘story' back in ‘history'! Using a timeline and objects from pre-Revolutionary War to early 1800s, help put events and reproduction artifacts in sequence to tell the story of how the Colonies became a new nation.
Resources:
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
Primary sources related to the American Revolution (grades 1 to 6)
Lewis & Clark
Grades 3 to 6
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
In 1803, Thomas Jefferson commissioned a military expedition to find a western trade route across the continent, make peace with American Indian nations, and comprehensively record all of their scientific and sociological findings. Today, this remains one of America's greatest adventures. Using primary sources, a map, timeline and reproduction artifacts, students share in the telling of this epic journey.
Resources:
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
Going West!
Grades 4 to 6
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
Learn many of the reasons why pioneers moved west in the early 19th century and discover aspects of their lives on the frontier. Using primary sources, students convince a brother and sister to either remain at home in New England or to risk venturing into the unknown and join their brother in Ohio. With the use of reproduction artifacts, students then assist in packing for the long, arduous journey.
Resources:
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
Your Day in Court
Grades 5 to 8
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per class of up to 25 students
Discover the democratic principals and customs that our justice system was built upon. Through observation and participation in an authentic 19th-century court case under the authority of a 19th-century Justice of the Peace, students actively learn about United States citizen's freedoms and rights.
Resources:
Town Meeting Lesson Plans (Grades 5 to 8)
Hands-on Activities
Register Online
All grades
$8 per student Village admission; plus $50 per group of 10 students
Get your hands on history during a 50-minute activity led by a museum teacher in our dynamic education center. Studio activities may include games & amusements, archaeology, farm, home (cooking), remedies, plain & fancy (decorative arts), textiles or print.
Civic Programs
Anti-Slavery Petition Campaign
Grades 7 and up.
Requires pre-visit classroom preparation using online materials.
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per activity group of up to 125 students
Help end slavery and the slave trade in Washington, D.C. Use our online resources prior to your visit to explore the constitutional rights and attitudes toward slavery and abolition in 1830s New England. At the museum, students visit with Villagers and try to convince them to sign a petition to abolish slavery in the Capitol.
The program concludes with a focused group discussion moderated by a museum educator.
Anti-Slavery Lesson Plan (grades 7 and up)
New England Town Meeting
Grades 5 and up
Requires pre-visit classroom preparation using online materials.
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per activity group of up to 125 students
Participate in a Town Meeting and see how local government functions! Should the town purchase a “poor farm” to replace the “vendue” system of auctioning off the needy to the lowest bidder? Use online resources prior to your visit to explore early methods of local poor relief. At the museum, students interview Villagers to gather different points of view, then join our costumed Town Moderator at the Center Meetinghouse to debate and vote on the issue.
Town Meeting Lesson Plans (Grades 5 to 8)
Village Performances
Explore the past through engaging 30-minute presentations by costumed performers.
Tales From Long Ago
All grades
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per group of up to 125 students
Explore early New England experiences through the ancient art of storytelling and the fanciful tales of our ancestors.
The Art of 19th-Century Puppetry
All grades
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per group of up to 125 students
Discover what role puppetry played in early New England and enjoy a traditional puppet show such as Punch & Judy (glove puppets) or the more obscure art of shadow puppetry.
Meet a 19th-Century Character
All grades
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per group of up to 125 students
Meet a character such as a peddler (traveling salesman), a dentist, an immigrant, or other individual who shares details of early New England life.
Remembering the Revolution
All grades
$8 per student Village admission; plus $100 per group of up to 125 students.
Learn about life in colonial America as a Villager reminisces about revolutionary war times.
Cooking a 19th-Century Meal
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Grades 5 and up
$8 per student Village admission; plus $45.00 per person ($450.00 minimum)
Your students work as a team to prepare a hearth-cooked meal using 19th-century methods and utensils, then learn historic dining customs and etiquette as they enjoy the meal they prepared. Please allow 3 hours for the meal in addition to 1-3 hours to visit the Village. Groups of more than 40 individuals should call for special arrangements. Not available in May or June.
History on The Road
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Invite a costumed Old Sturbridge Village educator into your classroom for an entertaining, interactive cost-effective encounter. These 45-minute sessions are designed for individual classrooms of up to 30 students each. $80 per program presentation plus mileage and staffing fees if necessary.
Read student feedback letters.
The Traveler's Trunk
Grades K to 3
Meet an 1830s traveler and discover what is in his/her trunk and what it reveals about early American life.
The District School
Grades 1 to 6
Learn early education methods as our 19th century schoolkeeper transforms your classroom into a one-room school house.
Grandma's Attic
Grades 3 to 5
Imagine finding a trunk with items from your colonial-era ancestors! Explore artifacts that reveal details of the story of early New England and the events leading up to the Revolution
Your Day in Court
Grades 5 to 8
Discover the democratic principles and customs that our justice system was built upon. Through observation and participation in an authentic 19th-century court case under the authority of a 19th-century Justice of the Peace, students actively learn about United States citizen's freedoms and rights.
Going West!
Grades 5 to 6
Meet a New Englander planning to emigrate, and explore what one would take along for the journey and to start a new life in the West.
Archaeology on the Road
Grades 3 to 5
Examine reproductions of artifacts and primary sources including paintings, graphics, and documents to discover the past.
Overnight Program
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Grades 1 to 6
$50 per person (students & adults). Minimum fee $1800
One adult required for every five children (one-to-one ratio for children under age 8).
History Immersion
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Ages 6-17
Two-day program – prices begin at $150 per student; $1500 group minimum
Five-day program – prices begin at $250 per student; $2500 group minimum
These alternative education programs are specifically designed for both special education students seeking a hands-on learning experience in a stimulating, multi-sensory environment, and for advanced history scholars interested in an in-depth content-rich scholarly engagement.
Program may include dressing in an early 19th-century costume, taking on the role of an actual early New England resident, cooking over an open hearth, making a craft, attending District School, touring the Village, and interacting with the costumed historians in unique ways.
Guided Tours
To register, please call (508) 347-0285.
Guided Tour Available November, December, January, February & March
$150 per group of up to 15 students
Tour the Village with one of our museum educators as your personal guide. Tours last up to 3 hours. You choose the duration and theme of your tour.
Resources:
Lesson Plan highlighting early American culture (grades 1 to 6)
Life in Early America (grades 3 to 6)
