Student Programs

Using hats, dance and stories, students examine roles in our community from long ago and today! Students work on matching, colors and discuss how hats are symbols that help us identify community helpers. Song, dance and craft included in this program.

Program Objectives: Students will explore primary sources, compare and contrast and draw conclusions while learning about community and different types of jobs, clothing and neighborhoods in Richmond.

Play with patterns and colors while exploring shapes and textures found in the houses we live in, the clothes we wear and the art we make. Available onsite May through January, this program guides students through the Wickham Cellars and our Costume and Textiles exhibition, Our (He)Arts on our Sleeves, while discovering designs from long ago and today. Program can be booked as an outreach, year round.

Discover mysteries hidden in the Valentine collection and learn about the spies who called Richmond home. Elizabeth Van Lew, Mary Elizabeth Bowser and others are discussed.

Beginning with Capitol Square, learn about the people that impacted freedoms in Virginia and the nation. Includes a tour of the First Freedom Center along with a stop at the Henry Box Brown monument, among others.

Enjoy a guided scavenger hunt through the museum galleries and a tour of the 1812 Wickham House (includes Hands on History experience in the McClurg bedroom and Wickham Cellar).

Discover a variety of shapes, colors, patterns and designs and learn about life in the past as students explore the museum and buildings on the Valentine’s block of Clay Street.

Objectives: Students will be introduced to past and present, discuss maps and practice directions (near, far, between), identify shapes in historic settings and explore how life in the past was different from life in the present.

Students visit the 1812 John Wickham House and Valentine galleries and examine trades and recreation activities of early and contemporary Richmond residents through artifact investigations, games and a craft. Students engage with hands on artifacts, play games and learn about how life in the past is different than today.

Program Objectives: Students will identify primary sources, compare and contrast historical evidence, discover and identify jobs, learn about past and present and talk about what it means to be a member of the Richmond Community

Students utilize map skills while learning about Richmonders who shaped our local and national history. The Powhatan, Christopher Newport, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Maggie Walker, Arthur Ashe and others are discussed.

Explore the use of flags and symbols in our region and why they are important. Learn to fold a flag, sing songs and design your own flag.

Students use Indian artifacts to learn about the lives of the Eastern Woodland Indians of Virginia and their reliance on natural resources. Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas, language groups and geography are discussed per grade level and artifacts and crafts are included.

Students identify Greek and Roman neoclassical elements in the 1812 Wickham House and throughout Richmond architecture, reinforcing concepts and culture through hands-on activities and fables.
Combine with Ancients in the Neighborhood for a walking tour of Richmond’s neoclassical architecture!

Learn about spies who lived and worked in the Richmond region during the Revolutionary and Civil wars. Students use primary sources, stories and artifacts to uncover the mystery of these intriguing figures in history.

Students explore the identities of enslaved and free African Americans in Richmond from pre-Revolution to post Civil War by examining artifacts and primary sources. Some of the notable figures discussed in this program are Henry Box Brown, Maggie Walker and Athur Ashe.

History & Social Science SOLs: VS.1a-g, VS.5b, VS.7c, VS.8b, VS9d

What made Richmond a city and a capital? Students identify the City’s resources, transportation, manufacturing and history, from settlement to modern city, adding pieces to the puzzle that becomes a Fall Line City.

Examine the Civil War in Richmond through the lives of the free and enslaved, Union and Confederate, and through the lens of prolific photographers. In this program, students analyze artifacts, photographs and other primary sources produced during this period of American conflict.