School Programs
Our hands-on programs and outreach initiatives, interactive tours and exhibits offer you and your students a broad range of opportunities designed to:
- Enhance classroom learning goals and core knowledge
- Meet statewide performance goals
- Present multiple interactive learning experiences
- Inspire future leaders of tomorrow in Math, Technology and the Social Sciences
Visit the Baltimore Museum of Industry, where we promise an exciting selection of educational activities that are grade specific and content oriented toward selected learning outcomes.
To schedule a program, please call 410.727.4808. ext. 117 or email tours@thebmi.org.
You can also schedule your trip online!
To download our current Educational Brochure click HERE.
History Alive Tour
Step back in time and learn about Baltimore's industrial heritage as you visit an early 1900's corner grocery store, Bunting's pharmacy and an old-fashioned print shop. Students learn about garment making, oyster canning and other industries that were important to Baltimore in days gone by. Through discussion, demonstrations and hands-on activities, students also learn about immigration, technology and labor organization. Studying something else? Let us know and we can tailor the tour to fit your curriculum!
Ages: 2nd grade-College
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $3.00 per student
Standards met for Social Studies, Math & Science
In The Neighborhood
Visit an early 20th century Baltimore neighborhood where students become tailors, grocers, pharmacists, bakers and bankers and learn about working and living in a community. Students discover the connection between work and earning money as they visit each neighborhood site, where they earn, spend and maybe even save some of their token earnings!
Ages: K - 2nd grade
Capacity: 15 per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $5.00 per student
Standards met for Social Studies, Math & Science
City Builders
What did Baltimore look like in 1896? Using a giant map of the museum's neighborhood, students help build old Baltimore. They learn where workers lived and shopped and how they got to work each day. Students then construct a neighborhood by creating and coloring paper models of houses, trains, and shops that they can take home. This program works well as a companion to In The Neighborhood. It is also a good alternative for groups that may have difficulty moving through the museum.
Ages: K - 2nd grade
Capacity: 15 per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $5.00 per student
Standards met for Social Studies, Math & Science
This program is also available as a classroom outreach activity. (Cost: $7.00/student)
Note: If you book In The Neighborhood and City Builders together the cost is just $8.00 per students!
Kids' Motorworks
Learn how Henry Ford revolutionized car-making by introducing the assembly line into the automotive industry. Each student takes a seat along the line and performs a single job, as the group works together to build replicas of a 1914 moving van. Students learn how an assembly line works and that each job is equally important in creating a finished product. Each worker takes home his or her very own van!
Ages: 2nd - 8th grades
Capacity: 50 per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $6.00 per student
Standards met for Social Studies, Math & Science
This program is also available as a classroom outreach activity. (Cost: $8.00/student)
Kids' Cannery
As workers in an 1883 oyster cannery, students become loaders, labelers, shuckers and fillers and learn about the requirements and pay rates of both skilled and unskilled workers. As pay, students earn brass tokens to redeem in the company store, where they quickly learn the value of a day's work. Each child takes home a self-made can of oysters!
This program won the Dibner Award in Excellence as Outstanding Museum Exhibit on History of Technology and Culture.
Ages: 3rd- 8th grades
Capacity: 40 per session
Duration: 90 minutes
Rate: $7.00 per student
Standards met for Social Studies, Math & Science
Design-It
Long before Legos™ or Erector sets®, children used wooden boards, tree limbs, cardboard boxes, blocks and even sand to construct buildings, vehicles and other gadgets. In this guided program, students are given a working design with appropriate materials and are asked to engineer a successful project. Working in small groups, students work through challenges and learn about experimenting, testing, making observations, asking questions and explaining what they have done and why. Choose from these projects:
- Balls & Tracks - Kids get to create their own roller coaster tracks using simple materials such as pipe insulation and marbles to test out basic physics ideas such as gravity and friction. In each activity the students will get to create at least two, but often more different designs and then get to test them to see how well they work. Problem solving is key as the students will be responsible for figuring out what is and isn't working on their designs.
- Balloon Powered Cars - Students first create a solid chassis of a car using cardboard, straws and skewers. They have to make a car that will roll straight down a hill. Next, they will get to use a new alternative energy source, a balloon, to power the car all the way across the room. Some will go far, some will go short, some will spin in circles. Students will be challenged to make their car go the farthest in a dynamic build off.
- Paper Bridges - Children will use a paper and tape to learn about some basic building fundamentals as they attempt to create bridges that will hold the most amount of weight before collapsing. Ideas such as the use of beams for support and accordion like designs will be discussed and tested to see who can create the best bridge.
- Wiring a House - Students use batteries and some Christmas lights to see if they can light up a 2-D house. Students will make the lights bright, dim and in between using series and parallel circuits to complete their tasks. (5th grade and up)
Ages: 2nd - 8th grades
Capacity: 30-40 per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $6.00 per student
Standards met for Math, Science & Language Arts
This program is also available as a classroom outreach activity. (Cost: $8.00/student)
Garment Loft Programs
The following two programs take place in the BMI's Garment Loft exhibit. We recommend complementing these programs with a visit to the Jewish Museum of Maryland's exhibit Voices of Lombard Street: A Century of Change in East Baltimore, which focuses on the cultural life of Jewish immigrants in Baltimore. Visits to the JMM are free for Maryland public school students. To schedule a visit to the JMM, please call 410-732-6400 ext. 229 or e-mail info@jewishmuseummd.org.
Needles & Threads
What was it like to work in Baltimore's garment industry during its heyday from 1865 to 1930? Students investigate this question by imagining themselves as garment workers for the Baltimore Clothing Company in 1929. Students are divided into skilled, unskilled and management personnel. The program concludes with a grade-specific activity using primary sources.
Ages: 3rd-8th grades
Capacity: 30 students per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Rate: $7.00/student
Standards met for Social Studies, Science & Language Arts
The Leo V. Berger Immigrant's Trunk
The BMI is pleased to offer performances of this Jewish Museum of Maryland (JMM) program set in the Garment Loft gallery. Step back in time to 1927 and experience Baltimore’s once booming garment industry. In this living history program, students meet a costumed interpreter playing the role of Ida Rehr, a character based on a real-life Jewish immigrant garment worker. Through Ida’s eyes, students explore the interconnected themes of immigration, labor, and industry. Ida relates her tale of coming to America, adjusting to a new culture and, finally, becoming a U.S. citizen. This is a joint program with the Jewish Museum of Maryland (JMM). Limited availability, please call for dates and pricing.
Ages: 4th-8th grades
Capacity: 40 students per session
Duration: 60 minutes
Standards met for Social Studies & Language Arts
Not able to visit us? Let us come to you! Click HERE to learn more about our outreach programs for students.
More to do....Supplement your school visit with one of the following 30-minute activities, FREE when you book any school program!
Oral History Film: Learn about Baltimore industries straight from the source - the workers. Students will view excerpts from the BMI's oral history video project, Baltimore Stories, and engage in lively discussion about workers' lives.
Scavenger Hunt (Limited Availability): Explore selected galleries in the museum searching for artifacts and answers about Baltimore's exciting industrial heritage.
Gift Shop Time: Please also consider scheduling time in the gift shop, so you don't have to rush at the end of the day!