Experience Baltimore’s industrial past with a guided tour. Stops may include visits to a belt-driven machine shop, blacksmith’s shop, oyster cannery, print shop, and garment loft. Students learn about jobs that were important to Baltimore’s history as an industrial city and engage in discussions and demonstrations of the museum’s working machines.
Cost: $5.50 per student
Grade: 2nd—12th
Length: 1 hour
Students become managers, can-makers, printers, shuckers, can-fillers, and labelers in Mr. Platt’s 1883 cannery. They learn about differences in training and wages and the inequality of segregated work. Students grasp the value of a day’s work by being paid in tokens and spending them at the company store. Everyone takes home a can of “oysters” that they helped to create.
Cost: $8.50 per student
Grade: 2nd—8th
Length: 1.5 hours
Learn how assembly lines revolutionized American factories and jump-started the era of mass consumption. Students take a job on the line and work together to build paper model cars to take home.
Cost: $7.00 per student
Classroom visit: $8.50 per student
Grade: 2nd–8th
Length: 1 hour
Young engineers learn the basics of experimentation, observation, and design. Choose one of the projects below, or book more than one session!
Balls and Tracks: Build and test model roller coasters
Wiring: Use custom circuit boards to learn the basics of electricity
Bridges: Experiment with different paper bridge designs
Cost: $6.50 per student
Classroom visit: $8.50 per student
Grade: 2nd–8th
Length: 1 hour
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 become cutters, sewers, and management personnel.
Cost: $7.00 per student
Grade: 3rd—8th
Length: 1 hour
The BMI is transformed into an early 20th century neighborhood in this program where students become workers of the past as they take an interactive tour through our galleries. They are given different jobs, including ship’s captain, pharmacist, grocer, baker, and banker, and are paid with tokens. The program ends with everyone depositing their earnings and receiving a deposit book to take home.
Cost: $5.50 per student
Grade: K–2nd
Length: 1 hour
Students explore the use of light as a communication method in this hands-on STEM program. They make real-world connections with artifacts throughout the museum to see how light and sound have been used historically to communicate. Students then test their knowledge by building their own light communication device.
Cost: $6.50 per student
Classroom visit: $10.00 per student
Grade: K–2nd
Length: 1 hour
What did Baltimore look like in 1896? Students help build a map of historic South Baltimore out of paper models and learn about its houses, workplaces, trains, and more. They learn where residents lived, worked, and shopped, and take home their creations.
Cost: $5.50 per student
Classroom visit: $7.50 per student
Grade: K–2nd
Length: 1 hour
In this hands-on activity, students will learn about an industry important to Baltimore and participate in a craft, story, and visit to a gallery related to that industry. Choose one of the three options below, or book more than one hour-long session!
Hats Off to You: Explore our garment loft and learn how hats were made
Extra! Extra!: Use an antique printing press and stamp your own newspaper
Put a Lid on It: Decorate and fill a can while learning about grocery stores
Cost: $5.00 per student
Classroom visit: $7.00 per student
Grade: PreK-K
Length: 1 hour
Young Audiences Arts for Learning Maryland
Baltimore Museum of Industry
1415 Key Highway
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Click for a Google map.
FREE on-site parking for our guests.
Phone: 410.727.4808
Email: info@thebmi.org
Rates
Adult – $15
Senior [62+] – $10
Student [w ID] – $8
Youth [6-17] – $8
Child [5 & under] – Free
BMI Members – Always Free!
Museums for All Visitors – Always Free!
BMI proudly offers free admission to active duty and retired military personnel, with military ID.
Group rates available by reservation. Contact tours@thebmi.org or 410.727.4808 x117.
Hours
The BMI is open to the public:
Wednesday – Saturday 9am – 4pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm
Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas (December 24-25)
There are many ways you can show your support for the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Learn more about membership, donating, partnerships or volunteering.
In addition to cash donations, which can be pledged by check or credit card, the BMI gladly accepts gifts of stock, planned or deferred contributions, and in-kind services. To discuss giving options, please contact the Development Office at giving@thebmi.org or 410.727.4808 x129.
To learn more about donating artifacts to the collection, please visit our Artifact Donation page.