Join us for our next Home School Day on Friday, August 25! Home School Days offer you and your family the opportunity to explore the Village and participate in activities. This is a great opportunity for kids to gain exposure to many aspects of 1830s New England life in an interactive way. During this Home School Day, we’ll celebrate natural resources. See what’s happening on the farm, immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of nature, and learn about how early New Englanders utilized the plants, trees, and fields around them. In addition to workshops at Museum Education, help out in one of the Village gardens, take a nature walk, and more.

Register for one of the in-person programs with the Village’s knowledgeable staff or explore the Village on your own using self-guides, scavenger hunts, and more. All activities will take place at Museum Education unless otherwise noted.

Admission and Ticketing

On Home School Day, homeschoolers (ages 4-17) get in at the discounted rate $12 and one adult is admitted per home school youth at the discounted rate of $17. Additional adults above the 1-to-1-ratio are admitted at the full rate of $30. As always, members get into the Village for free.

Workshops are an additional fee.

Click here to purchase standard daytime admission for August 25, 2023

Things to know:

• Unless otherwise noted, workshops will take place inside or outside the Museum Education building. You may park at Museum Education during the day; click here for directions.
• The Museum Education building closes to the public following workshops due to our afterschool program
• Home School Days are rain-or-shine programs.
• Pre-registration is required for all activities listed below, unless otherwise noted.
• All events are limited to 10 students, unless otherwise noted.
• Please respect the age requirements for the workshops. They are set for the benefit of our educators and all program participants.
• These are not drop-in programs and our staff will have a list of registrants for each workshop.
• Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel your workshop tickets. As these workshops are in high demand, refunds for workshop fees will only be given up to one week prior to the event date, or in the case of cancellation by Old Sturbridge Village.
• Students’ guardians must stay in close proximity of the program location for the entire duration of the activity for safety reasons.
• Workshop times are approximate. Please stay close by during your child’s workshop.
• Meeting locations for these workshops may change. Stay tuned to your email or signage at the Visitor Center on the day of the program for any potential location changes.
• When visiting the Village, please note that children must be accompanied by an adult when visiting the Miner Grant Store or Ox & Yoke Mercantile. Guests are welcome to eat at picnic tables around the campus but due to limited space, guests are not permitted to dine in the Bullard Café unless purchasing food.

Check back the week prior to the event for more information on in-Village activities.

Hands-On Workshops

Hearth cooking: Rock Cakes | 50 Minutes | $7 

Register for 10:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Register for 1:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT

Follow a 19th-century “receipt” for rock cakes, a fruity cookie from New Hampshire. While the rock cakes bake, we will talk about what is starting to grow on the farm. Ingredients will include: butter, currants, eggs, milk, lemon, flour, sugar, nutmeg, apple juice

Ox Cart Man | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 5+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 5+) SOLD OUT

After reading this classic book by Donald Hall, we will go to the Asa Knight Store for a store exchange and scavenger hunt. Then, make an oxen craft to take home. This class meets outside the Asa Knight Store in the Village.

Charlie Needs a Cloak | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 1:00 (Ages 5+) SOLD OUT

After reading the classic book Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola, we will talk about how sheep’s wool becomes warm clothing. Try out carding paddles, weave a little bit, and then try on a cloak yourself!

Make a Passenger Pigeon Sculpture | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:30 (Ages 6+)
Register for 11:30 (Ages 10+)
Register for 1:00 (Ages 8+)

During the Village’s time period, the passenger pigeon migrated in huge flocks, filling the skies of North America. An important source of food, the passenger pigeon was driven westward and then eventually hunted into extinction. Participants in this workshop will hear the story of the beautiful passenger pigeon, learn a little about early American naturalists, and shape their own bird from clay.

Needle Felting | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT
Register for 1:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT

Try out this fun craft that involves sculpting wool into shapes using special needles! We’ll also explore the ways in which people utilized natural resources in both useful and artistic ways in the 1830s.

Pond and Stream | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT

Explore OSV’s ponds and streams and see what you can discover living in the water! Work as a team to catch aquatic lifeforms with nets and jars and describe what you find before returning them to the water. For the best experience, wear footwear that can get wet!

Back to School | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT
Register for 1:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT

It’s the end of summer, which means that many 21st-century students are heading back to their studies, at home or at a school. In the 1830s, though, rural kids were needed at home in the fall to help on the farm. Learn about what school was like for students in the 1800s: who went to school at this time, what they learned, and more. Participants will sew a school book, participate in a school lesson, and learn a schoolyard game.

Make a Marbled Tea Towel | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT

In the 1830s, it was common to find books with colorfully marbled covers and endpapers. During this workshop, we’re going to follow the same method…but make a marbled tea towel! Participants will also learn about textile production during the Village period and the types of patterns and designs used to decorate fabrics.

Food Preservation on the Farm | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 8+)  SOLD OUT

Even though it’s only August, 19th-century rural families had to think about how to make their food last through the long New England winter. Participants in this workshop will explore the ways that people kept their food from spoiling through drying, salting, temperature control, and other methods. We will make a brine, prep apples for drying, and try out a root cellar box.

Make a Set of Wooden Houses | 50 Minutes | $7

Register for 10:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT
Register for 11:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT
Register for 1:00 (Ages 6+)  SOLD OUT

Practice your sanding and painting skills as we make a set of wooden houses inspired by toys in OSV’s collection! We’ll explore the toys and games that kids played during the 1830s and try out a few ourselves!

Extended Open-Hearth Cooking: Farmhouse Breakfast | 90 Minutes | $12

Register for 10:00 (Ages 10+)  SOLD OUT

Work together over an open hearth to create a delicious and hearty breakfast like the ones farm families would have enjoyed on a 19th-century morning. While breakfast cooks, we will examine cookbooks from the period and learn more about their authors. Ingredients will include: ham, potatoes, cucumbers, eggs, flour, butter, cheese, bread

 Make a Toolbox | 90 Minutes | $12

Register for 1:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT

Practice some basic woodworking skills while making a simple and useful toolbox! Try out several implements on your own and learn about tool safety.

Looking at Lighting | 90 Minutes | $12

Register for 1:00 (Ages 11+)

Artificial lighting makes such a difference in our everyday lives and quality of life, but we often take it for granted. Join a curator for a tour of the new exhibit For the Purpose of Illumination. After, we’ll visit the tin shop to learn more about lighting devices in the 19th century and make our own simple sconce.

Embroidery for Beginners | 90 Minutes | $12

Register for 1:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT

During this workshop, participants will examine examples of embroidery from the Village’s collection. How did people learn embroidery, and why? Then, we’ll learn some basic stitches to create our own hand-sewn project.

19th-Century Inspired Creative Writing | 90 Minutes | $12

Register for 10:00 (Ages 8-10)
Register for 1:00 (Ages 10-13)

During this workshop we will read excerpts from fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from (or about) the Village’s period. We will discuss the similarities and differences of life in New England during the nineteenth century to our present time. What is the importance of the written word to our understanding of children’s lives? How is life the same today as in the 1800s, and how is it different? How will people in the future gain an understanding of life now? These are some questions we will explore. Students will have time to make a hand-sewn journal and write a journal entry or poem based on what we have learned.