New Hampshire Farm Museum School Programs

Farms & Families at Work/ The Ox-cart Man

This 3 hour program is recommended for grades k-3. Offered May –October.

Cost $6 per child. 10 student minimum-50 maximum.

Children explore the way families lived and worked in the past throughout rural New England in this hands-on program based on Donald Hall’s story, The Ox-cart Man.  As the students tour our 18^th-century farmhouse cape, they learn about the roles of each member of the household and how they all must help to make their living.  As they make butter and gather the farm products to bring to market they learn about the artifacts and objects of daily life in Colonial times.  On their hunt through the barn they search for many of the farm objects depicted in the story and learn about barter and trade.  Students will meet our sheep, chickens, and oxen-in-training, wash and card wool and help pack the ox-cart for the trip to Portsmouth.

Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn

This 3 hour program is recommended for students grades3-8. Offered May-October.

Cost $6 per child.10 student minimum-50 maximum

The Jones Farmstead consists of a set of connected farm buildings referred to in an old children’s rhyme as, “Big House, little house, back house, barn.”  Each piece of this connected farm structure tells a different story about New Hampshire history from Colonial times to the Twentieth century. In this hands-on program students learn about rural life and technological and agricultural change in New England as they tour the historic farmhouse, hunt for artifacts in the barn, and participate in farm chores.  Students will view “Hands to Work,” a short film which uses oral histories and historic photographs of New Hampshire farming.  They will try farm chores like grinding  corn,  carrying water with a yoke, and doing the wash. They will visit the farm animals and follow the map to the old family cemetery.

Keeping Warm in Winter 

This 3 hour program can be adapted for grades 1-8. Offered November-March.

Cost $7.50 per child. 10 student minimum-25 maximum

Students experience life in the past and winter on the farm in this program based at our historic Plummer Homestead.  Children will enjoy grinding corn and spices to make cornbread, making butter, visiting the farm animals, and making their own candle.  We will also tour the historic Jones Farmhouse to learn about changes in domestic life and technology over the past two hundred years and how people kept warm in winter. 

To Schedule Your Visit -Call 603-652-7840.

School programs can be scheduled Tuesday through Friday from 9 am to 3:30 pm.

Students can pack a lunch to eat in our picnic area, visit our museum store which carries many inexpensive items for children, and play historic games like hoop rolling.