Hands-on the Past

Grades 4 through 6

Length 4 hours
$6 per student or adult (minimum fee $60 or 10 participants)

This program, for kids age 9 through 11, gives students an opportunity to touch history at Fort Roberdeau in a very real way. Students engage in three or more activities during their visit. They work in small groups of 8 to 10 students. Trained volunteers and staff help students to use tools and reproduction objects to learn first-hand how things were done in 1778.

Students learn by doing; they will examine 18th century objects, hear the crack of the musket, smell the soup cooking in the kettle over the smoky wood fire, and learn the effects of weather and environment on the lives of the settlers. This program is most effective when it is accompanied by pre-visit activities to prepare students and post-visit activities to reinforce, extend, and enrich the experience. A wide range of activities are currently offered; availability of a particular activity on a particular day may be subject to the availability of the volunteer "expert." The activities include:

• Beginning at a White Oak Tree...
• A Clothes Call
• Getting the Lead Out
• In a Spin
• Kick Up Your Heels and Sing Along!
• Major Cluggage's New Recruits
• Ranging the Kittanning Trail
• Fraktur and Folk Art
• Pot Luck
• Games People Played
• A Stitch in Time
• The Three Sisters - Corn, Beans & Squash
• The Story of Fort Roberdeau