Calling all classroom educators!

Join us for a cozy open house on Saturday, January 28. Learn more about OSV’s field trip options, from self-guided visits to hands-on workshops. Sign up for a workshop yourself and explore how our offerings fit with your curriculum and how you can tailor a visit to OSV to suit your students’ needs.

• Enjoy snacks and mulled cider by the fire at Museum Education
• Explore OSV’s program options for schools and youth groups with education staff
• Haven’t been to Old Sturbridge Village since your own 3rd-grade field trip? Take this opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the museum and all it has to offer.
• Take home self-guided materials, craft instructions, and lesson plans to use with your students

This teacher open house day is free for educators and one guest, but pre-registration is required (see below). All workshops will take place at the Museum Education building. Please park and start your visit at Museum Education. The Village is open from 9:30 to 4:00. Standard daytime admission is included.

Snow date: Saturday, February 4

Questions? Please email Liz O’Grady, Assistant Director of School and Youth Programs, at eogrady@osv.org, or call (508) 347-0287.

Click here to sign up!

Hands-On Workshops

Hands-on workshops at Museum Education are one of the most memorable and engaging experiences a student can have at OSV. Try out one of these workshops yourself along with a guest—they are suitable for ages 6 and up.

Hearth Cooking | 50 Minutes

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

During this workshop, students work together to make a sweet treat over an open hearth. Led by a museum educator, students make a snack using 19th-century recipes (or receipts, as they were known in the 1830s). Participants read and interpret the recipe, measure ingredients, and get hands-on cooking experience. While the snack is cooking, educators orient students to 19th-century foodways and compare and contrast with their lives today.

Depending on the season, topics may include:

• Food preservation and the seasonality of food in the 1830s
• Children’s chores; gender roles in farming families
• Herbal remedies
• Exploration and examination of historic kitchen tools

Print | 50 Minutes

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

In the 1830s, printers held a very important role in their communities. Printing books, newspapers, invitations, and broadsides, printers played a vital role in the communication of information during the 19th century. In this workshop, participants will explore the printing through few hands-on activities related to the printed word. Museum educators guide students through paper marbling, quill pen writing, and using a printing press. Younger students may use slates for writing and block prints for printing.

Other topics may include:

• Education and literacy
• Apprenticeships and choosing a trade
• The role of women and People of Color in the print shop
• Technological changes and communication

Textiles | 50 Minutes

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

Participants in the textile workshop walk through the steps of wool processing, from the shearing of sheep to weaving fabric. The 1830s were a time of great technological and industrial change in America. Even in Sturbridge, where sheep outnumbered people, several textile factories popped up along the rivers to speed up the textile-making process. Museum educators instruct students in several hands-on tasks–carding wool, trying out a spinning wheel, and weaving on a loom–while discussing the transition of homespun goods to textile factories during the Industrial Revolution.

Other topics may include:

• 19th-century clothing and how it was made, where it came from,
  and what fibers were used to make it in comparison to today’s clothing
• The cleaning and dyeing of textiles
• Children’s chores
• Slavery and its connection to the Northern states
• Farming and agriculture; economics

Guided Village Tour (90 Minutes)

10:00 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

Enjoy a guided tour of the Museum with one of our knowledgeable museum educators. The guided tour is a popular option for teachers who would like their students to have a more in-depth or themed experience in the Village. Common guided tour themes include children’s life in the 1800s, crafts and trades, civics, and foodways. During your tour, hear more about the ways that a tour of OSV can be integrated into your study not just of history, but of science, technology, and literature as well.

Sign Up for the Teacher Open House