Elephant Parade

In the 19th Century, Connecticut was a major manufacturer of ivory buttons, beads, combs and piano keys. As it became clear how much harm was being done to Africa's elephant herds, our Connecticut workshops substituted new raw materials. But elephants are still in trouble.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 6, 7, 8 and 9
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Wind Garden

In Eli Whitney's time, there were already windmills in Connecticut. Now we are building more, perhaps a lot more. Construct working, artful model windmills to understand the design challenges that arrive with the wind. Learn to manage high winds, low winds, winds that shift direction. Help install a wind sculpture at the Museum. Install your own wind sculpture at home.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Whales in CT

Connecticut's whaling industry was at its peak in 1840. 350 whaling ships sailed from our shores and brought back oil to light lamps, spermaceti for candles, baleen to shape the corset business that would prosper in New Haven. The gold rush, the Civil War, the use of petroleum, and greed ended Connecticut whaling. Construct a classic Whaler based on Mystic Seaport's Charles W. Morgan. Construct whales to scale... to discover just how large and remarkable they are.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 6, 7, 8 and 9
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Green Cotton

Cotton is an epic story. It built America's economy. It clothed America. It came close to destroying America. It exploited slaves and sharecroppers and the environment. It remains a valuable export crop today. Was Eli Whitney a hero or a villain? He invented a labor saving device that produced only usable products: cotton seeds and lint for thread. The knitware company Anvil has chosen to look for that sustainability in every process that goes into making their tee-shirts. Construct a model cotton mill. Discover just how many thoughtful choices must go in to making something right.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Felting, Fiber, Friends

Felting is an ancient art. It's so magical and important that its origins are the story of legends, saints, and heroes. Felting is ingenious in its simplicity. Fibers are soaked in water, thumped and thumped, and pressed into a fabric without weaving. Cultures all over the world have constructed clothing, shelter, and art from the wool of goats, camels, yaks, or llamas. Learn to transform wool into felt. (Come prepared to thump!) Then construct a small llama and his ranchero dressed with a felted blanket. Discover nature's ingenuity.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 6, 7, 8 and 9
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

SketchUp: Using Freeware

Computers give us many tools for communicating. You already know how to collect and send messages, images, and videos. Now get to know a tool for communicating your designs. Google's Sketch Up is a powerful drawing tool that you can begin to learn in a day. It's freeware. We will get you started creating two- and three-dimensional designs. We'll suggest projects you can work on at home, and even teach you how to download Sketch Up on the computer you use at home.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

The Plastic Island

Where does plastic go? Some gets recycled. Some gets loose. If it gets into water-ways, it can travel to the oceans which collect it in massive islands that break down very slowly. We'll look at Plastic Island on Google Earth. Then we'll learn some ways to re-use plastic bottles: bottle rockets, balancing acrobats, and banks, for example. Gather up and recycle the extra parts, and take your art home. Take a look at better, environmentally-friendly bottles that are on the way.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 6, 7, 8 and 9
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Gourd Garden

Gourds are a fruit, cousin to the pumpkin, that seem to have traveled to the Americas with migrants 10,000 years ago. They are useful natural vessels, musical instruments, totems, and sometimes food. It's no wonder early travelers favored them. Create a sculptural bank and a bird house with gourds we have collected. Weather permitting, help construct and plant a gourd garden for next year's crop. Take some seeds to plant at home. Join a very long tradition of building with natural materials.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Our Penguins

Mr. Popper's Penguins is a heart-warming story your great-grandparents might have read to your grandparents. It's still popular. Mr. Popper is a house painter who dreams of adventure. Penguins come into his life and almost take it over. He puts them on the stage (everybody loves penguins), but then realizes they belong in the wild (sort of). Make lots of wooden penguins... the only ones it is fair to play with. (They'll dance, too. Try that with a real bird.) We'll look at the classic story and how much we have learned about penguins since 1938. Save the penguins.

Mr. Popper's Penguins, Richard and Florence Atwater (Illustrations by Robert Lawson) ©1938.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 6, 7, 8 and 9
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...

Cigar Box* Ukelele and More

The ukulele is a small, guitar-like instrument developed in Hawaii in the 19th Century. Hawaiian Kings and Queens enjoyed its simple melodies. The instrument traveled to the United States in the early 20th Century. Almost as soon as it arrived, designs began to appear for ukuleles that recycled cigar boxes. Construct one of your own. We'll use boxes donated to use by the Graves Family, New Haven's last cigar makers. Sophia Szymkowiak, our versatile string-playing apprentice, will teach you to tune and play your instrument.

All in a day.

*The Eli Whitney Museum condones cigar boxes, not cigars.

• 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Designed for ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• $59.00 for nonmembers
• $55.00 for members

Learn more...