The Nantucket Historical Association’s Education Department provides young visitors with meaningful educational experiences that are both fun and developmentally appropriate. History is a collection of stories and experiences that the NHA uses to engage its audiences, young and old. The Education staff utilizes the numerous NHA properties and artifacts to bring history alive through traditional museum and historic site tours, classroom visits, arts & crafts activities, and innovative programming around the island.
Annually, the NHA welcomes schools from across the nation and down the road to experience firsthand the Whaling Museum and other historic sites.
Museum in my School
The Nantucket Historical Association partners with the Nantucket Public School system to offer free educational experiences to all students throughout the school year. Interactions include historic site field trips as well as classroom visits. Topics include:
- Wampanoag artifacts
- Colonial Living at the Oldest House
- Simple machines at the Old Mill
- Sailors Valentines
- Map making
There and Back: A Nantucket Whaling Voyage
A signature Museum in My School Field Trip invites every NIS third grader to sign onto a whale ship and sail away to exotic places for the day at the Whaling Museum. This transformative experience provides the opportunity to learn through stories and hands-on activities just what it meant to be a whaler in old Nantucket. Students are assigned roles on the ship and travel with a “captain” through the museum, learning about topics like sailors diet, trading for provisions, designing scrimshaw, whale ecology, and more
A Walk through Time
In 2014, the NHA developed a new overnight experience for the Nantucket New School. Fourth grade students travel back in time and tour downtown Nantucket, meeting historic figures along the way, before returning to the Whaling Museum for hands on experiences focused on whaling history. The night includes sea shanties, hands-on crafts, a scavenger hunt, and culminates in falling asleep underneath the 46-foot whale skeleton.
To inquire about the opportunity to schedule a unique school or youth program, contact the Education Department via email at [email protected]