The Montclair Historical Society has created a 6-week educational series for homeschool children, ages 6-10, using a combination of presentation, and discussion of artifacts and the history of Montclair. Discussion is followed by a craft associated with our rich history. The goal of our 6-week session is to expose children to history in a fun way by using crafting as a conversation starter. Children will spend one week on each topic and craft activity, class time is one hour. Cost for the entire program series is $60 per child, individual class registration not available. 108 Orange Road, Montclair, NJ. To register contact [email protected] or 973-744-1796.
Program Details:
When: Wednesdays and Fridays
Dates: May 18, 20, 25, & 27; June 1 & 3
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 am
Where: All sessions are located in the program room of the Crane House/Historic YWCA at 110 Orange Road, Montclair, NJ.
Register by phone or email: 973-744-1796; [email protected]
Week 1: From Farms to Suburbs
Discussion: Using historic maps, compare a map of the 1800s to the suburbs of Montclair in the early 1900s. Talk about the changes we see.
Activity: Create our own maps of our house and yard. Invite students to make a scavenger hunt with this map to use at their home.
Week 2: Trains, planes, and automobiles
Discussion: Development of the railroads in Montclair and then on to cars. How do we get around today? How did we get to where we needed to before the 1900s?
Activity: Find different forms of transportation in our historic postcard collection. Create our own train using pasta and glue! Everyone gets to take home their part of the train they make.
Week 3: Name that invention!
Discussion: Thomas Edison lived right in West Orange, next to Montclair, a great inventor who helped develop a longer lasting light bulb, similar to ones we know today.
Activity: In the 1900s, there were a lot of inventions, new food products, and transportation available. Let’s play a game to guess when the item was invented. Design your own inventions. Using graph paper and different supplies see what invention you can come up with. Suggestions will be made to help in the design process. Then we’ll share with the group.
Week 4: What’s your family story?
Discussion: What nationality is everyone? Where do your families come from? Who was moving to Montclair in the 1900s?
Activity: Using cut out paper trees, we’ll create our own family tree. Students are welcome to bring their own photographs of their family, and pets!, Or draw on the day of. Take this home and share it with your family.
Week 5: Foods of our past
Discussion: One of the wonderful things about Montclair is all the great food from the different cultures in our community. Today let’s talk about food from different cultures.
Activity: We’ll invite students to talk about their favorite meal. We’ll create our own healthy snack inspired by food from our town’s history with a historic recipe. Fresh fruits and veggies only.
Week 6: Historic Flowers and Herbs
Discussion: What flowers can we find growing in Montclair? Think of Presby Iris gardens or your own flower garden at home. What is your favorite flower? Let’s take a walk around our herb gardens for inspiration!
Activity: Create your own watercolor drawing with a still life of flowers.
For more information click here.
