Children’s Classes on Colonial Life
Welcome to our web site.
We hope this site will help you plan your visit to our museum. Students from
the public and independent schools have been visiting us for over twenty years.
Our program is primarily geared towards the fourth grade as that is when Colonial
Life is studied in the public schools. But we have had visitors from 2nd grade
through college, as well as adult English as a Second Language classes.
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Our
costumed docent starts your tour by talking about how and why the Settlement
of New Amsterdam differed from the other colonies. Beavers played a
very important role in Early New Amsterdam . |
| Getting to New Amsterdam was not easy. Families sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the new world in boats like these. The trip was quite long and arduous. |  |
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Once here, everyone in the
family - even the children - had to pitch in to insure that the family
prospered.
But the families worked hard, and prospered. The children went from being workers to “genteel” young ladies and gentlemen who learned (among many other things) all the dances of the day, especially the minuet. |
| Also, as the family became
more prosperous, they wore very elegant clothing. Our visitors do the
same thing at the end of their tour. We have a wonderful collection of
18th century style costumes for the students (and teachers!) to try on.
Be sure to bring your cameras.
Over
the years we have found that the instant the children put on the costumes
and dance the minuet, everything that has been discussed during their
visit “comes together.” They too become “genteel”
young ladies and gentlemen! |
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Then, when the students return to their 21st century classrooms, they sometimes send us the most fantastic drawings! |