Learn about all aspects of life in the past and how it connects to the world today.

Strawbery Banke Museum offers programs for school-aged children with a wide array of interests and abilities. Enjoy hands-on, one-of-a-kind interactive experiences, where investigating and exploring history, science, sports, art, theater, and cooking leads to fun-packed days at the Museum’s nearly 10-acre site. 

Limited space remains in Strawbery Banke Olympics Camp (ages 9-12) on July 22-26, 2024.

Waiting lists are available for full camps.

Have you always wondered what it is like to live in the past? Now is your chance to find out! Dress in costumes, try out period crafts and games and develop acting and improvisation skills. Roleplaying camps are for ages 6–17. The content becomes progressively more detailed and authentic the older you get. Most Junior Roleplayers have the chance to be volunteer roleplayers at the museum for special events.

Roleplayer Camps

  • History Alive (ages 6-8)

    Session 1: June 24-28, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Session 2: August 12-16, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list

    Perfect for youngsters who enjoy using their imaginations and participating in dress-up and pretend play, History Alive encourages kids to compare and contrast life in different eras. Kids will have a chance to dress in costumes every day. After a brief, interactive lesson about the historical era, they engage in games and activities particular to each century in period gardens and buildings.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • History In Play (ages 9-11)

    Growing Up Colonial: June 24-28, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Growing Up Between the Wars: August 5-9, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list

    Develop improvisation and acting techniques while you roleplay in the Museum’s buildings and interact with visitors. Dress in costumes and use reproduction toys and tools in a historical setting to experience daily life for Colonial children or for a child of immigrants on the World War II Homefront. Crafts, cooking, games, and entertainment bring to life the era of the American Revolution or the period between the Great Wars.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Junior Roleplayers (ages 12-17)

    Modern Age (1908–1955): July 8-19, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    The New Republic (1775-1813): August 5-16, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list

    Adolescents have always played a part in history. Today, teens can make the past come to life by becoming a historic roleplayer and using the houses and grounds as their stage. Participants learn theatrical techniques, dress in full costume, use old-fashioned tools and materials, and engage in historical research methods to learn how to portray a person from another time. After completion, many Jr. Roleplayers participate in the Museum’s special event programs throughout the year. Jr. Roleplayers Camps are two-week camps occurring Mondays through Fridays.

    Members: $585.00; Nonmembers: $650.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

Hands-On History Camps

Calling all artists, cooks, inventors and detectives! Hands-On History Camps help kids connect with the past through creative activities of all kinds. Each camp looks at history through a different lens filling each day with indoor & outdoor, behind the scenes and interactive projects that immerse campers in the past.

  • Pastimes in Times Past (ages 6-8)

    July 22-26, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list

    Many different cultures have contributed to American cuisines and customs throughout time. In Pastimes in Times Past, explore how cultural contributions from enslaved Africans to Native Americans and a variety of immigrant groups have influenced today’s entertainment. Campers make toys, learn new games, and engage in storytelling, dancing, art, and music to connect the past to the present. At the end of the week, they will have a variety of new playthings to take home.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Colonial D.I.Y. (ages 6-8)

    July 29-August 2, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list.

    Indigenous people and early colonists did not have Pinterest, but they knew how to get the things they needed with their own two hands. Now is your chance to learn how people made incredible things hundreds of years ago without factories and modern technology. Use the tools and materials from long ago to create projects. From fabric to pottery and birch bark toys to pound cake, you will be amazed at all you can do.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Dig the Past (ages 7-9)

    July 15-19, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list.

    Archaeologists get messy. Learn how they do their jobs with hands-on fun. Dig around in the dirt to discover what secrets lie beneath your feet, solve mysteries with the objects you find, create your imagined excavation site, and so much more! By the end of the week, you may be messy, but you will have tons of fun discovering what archaeology is all about.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Traditional Trades (ages 9-11)

    July 29-August 2, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list.

    Step into the shoes of an 18th-century apprentice and learn colonial trades. Campers learn about the colonial era through hands-on activities and authentic experiences. At the end of the week, campers take home a bounty of their projects, entertaining family and friends with newfound skills and one-of-a-kind playthings. Crafts include woodworking, yarn and basket weaving, bookbinding, and more!

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Strawbery Banke Olympics (ages 9-12)

    July 22-26, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - 2 Spots Left!

    Celebrate the start of the Paris Olympics at Strawbery Banke Museum! From cards and board games to sports and games of skill, campers will discover how people have entertained themselves from ancient to modern times. In addition to learning dozens of new games, participants will have time each day to make some of their own to take home and share with family and friends. The week will culminate with “Camp Olympics,” where campers learn the history of this international competition and compete in the activities they have practiced throughout the week.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.

  • Archaeology Adventure (ages 10-12)

    July 8-12, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM - FULL
    Email Bekki Coppola, Director of Education, via bcoppola@sbmuseum.org to join the waiting list.

    Uncover the secrets of the past left behind by people from long ago. Campers learn the basics of archaeological investigation as they partake in a realistic simulated excavation. Discover how to use the tools and equipment in the field. Examine and help to clean objects uncovered at some of the Museum’s archaeological sites.

    Members: $292.50; Nonmembers: $325.00. Receive a 10% discount when registering for multiple children or camps.