Grades 2 – 6, 2 hours
November - December

Discover what Christmas was like for children of the past. Before big-box stores and on-line shopping, home-made toys and simple gifts expressed the spirit of the season. Crafts, stories and candy canes melting on the tongue will transport students two hundred years back in time.

During the program, students accompany a Museum interpreter on a tour of the pre-industrial exhibits, and use interactive displays to learn about the use of hand tools, simple machines, and water power in manufacturing products. Students also print their own Christmas card on a printing press, and make a simple toy, familiar to children of the past. The program ends with a story about Christmas in the mid 19th century.

Students are divided into small groups to take part in the tour and craft activities, and each group participates in all components of the program.

Through the Christmas Pioneers program, students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding that people have changed technology over time to meet their needs, wants, and interests.
• Discover how lifestyles of the past are different from today due to technological changes.
• Develop an understanding of the changing nature of work over time.
• Learn how work, including children’s work, has changed from past to present.
• Understand the development of societies over time.
•  Develop an understanding of the change, development and transmission of culture over time.

This program supports curriculum outcomes for the following units:

• Grade 2: Technology
• Grade 5: What Are Societies?
• Grade 6: Introduction to Culture, Elements of Culture, Expressions of Culture