Group Visits Bring a world of hands-on learning and discovery to your students at The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire. We’ve expanded in size, scope and the age range of students served. Curriculum connections abound through dynamic explorations in science, math, world cultures, the arts and New Hampshire history and ecology.
Group Visit Options
The museum offers two group visit options, a self-guided two hour Basic Group Visit, or a Focused Group Visit including a curriculum-based activity related to one of the museum’s many exhibits, led by an experienced museum educator. Group visits are appropriate for students in preschool – 5th grade.
Group Size
Basic Group Visits can be scheduled for groups between 10 and 60 children and their adult chaperones. Maximum group size, including chaperones, is 80.
Program Times
Tuesday – Friday, with two hour time slots beginning at 9:30 am, 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3 pm.
If these times pose a hardship to your group, please give us a call at (603) 742-2002 and we will do our best to work with your schedule.
Cost
All rates below are available to schools, non-profit organizations and homeschooling groups. All other groups, please add an additional fee of $1 per person.
The fee for a Basic Group Visit is $5 per child with a pre-paid deposit, or $5.50 per child at the door. One chaperone per five children is admitted free; additional chaperones pay the group visit rate.
Chaperones
To ensure an enjoyable experience for all visitors, the museum requires a minimum ratio of one chaperone for every five children. Chaperones must be at least 18 years of age and must supervise their assigned group of children at all times.
Preview Visit & Curriculum Materials
We invite educators to preview our exhibits free of charge. Thanks to a grant from the Verizon Foundation, we will have curriculum materials related to Patterns, The Science of Sound, and Dinosaur Detectives on our website shortly.
Eating Arrangements
Food and beverages are not permitted within the museum’s exhibits. Groups can schedule time to have a snack or bag lunch in our classroom space. These arrangements must be made in advance and are subject to availability.
During the warmer weather months, groups are also welcome to bring brown bag lunches to eat at the outdoor picnic tables or amphitheater in Henry Law Park before or after their scheduled time in the museum.
Accessibility
The museum is equipped with both an elevator and ramp access between the two floors of exhibits. The museum also has accessible bathrooms, parking and a designated drop-off zone for visitors with disabilities. If you have any questions about accessibility, please give us a call at (603) 742-2002.
Registration & Cancellation
To schedule a group visit, please download our Group Visit Request PDF and submit it via email, fax or regular mail. Once we receive your request, we will verify availability and officially book your visit. We will send confirmation of your group reservation via email, regular mail or fax, as specified, within five business days. If we are unable to accommodate your request, we will contact you via telephone or email to discuss alternatives for your group.
You may also call the museum at (603) 742-2002 if you are unable to access either of these reservation forms. We are happy to mail or fax a copy, or email you the information and request form. If you need to cancel your visit, please do so at least two weeks in advance. We will make every effort to reschedule group visits that are cancelled due to poor weather conditions. The museum does not provide refunds, but will issue a credit toward a future group visit for any overages paid.
Focused Group Visit Offerings
The Focused Group Visit program combines two hours of interactive exhibit exploration at the Children’s Museum of NH with a 30 minute in-depth lesson led by an experienced museum educator. Each lesson relates to specific exhibit areas and connects with the State Curriculum Frameworks.
The following topics will be available in January of 2009 and we are now accepting bookings:
World Cultures
Corresponding Exhibits: One World – Masks: The Art of Disguise, Global Soles and the Kids Cafe
Celebrations of the World, Grades: 2nd – 6th
Description: Using artifacts from three different cultures explore what makes our culture and other cultures unique. Discover the similarities and differences between everyday items, food, and customs from around the world as you explore actual artifacts from the museum’s collection.
Related Standards:
- Explore ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically (songs, dance, clothing).
- Recognize samples of styles & techniques of the arts from different cultural or ethnic groups.
- Describe ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically through forms (architecture, folk tales). - Recognize common subjects and central ideas in works from different cultures.
- Describe different ways that societies around the world express their values and beliefs through practices (festivals & dress).
- Explain how cultural values are shown through the arts.
Mask Making, Grades: Pre K - 5th
Description: Learn how masks are used during ceremonies and festivals by cultures around the world. Explore the techniques and materials used to make these works of art while creating your own unique mask to take home.
Related Standards:
- Explore ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically (songs, dance, clothing).
- Recognize samples of styles & techniques of the arts from different cultural or ethnic groups.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the differences in the materials and techniques used to produce selected art works.
- Experiment with art forms.
- Describe ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically through forms (architecture, folk tales).
- Recognize common subjects and central ideas in works from different cultures.
- Describe different ways that societies around the world express their values and beliefs through practices (festivals & dress).
- Explain how cultural values are shown through the arts.
Fish Printing, Grades: Pre K – 5th
Additional Related Exhibits: Cochecosystem: Nature
Description: Learn about the ancient Japanese art of fish printing “Gyotaku”. Explore this ancient Japanese art form by creating your own fabric fish print to take home.
Related Standards:
- Experiment with art forms.
- Describe ways that societies around the world express themselves artistically through forms.
- Explain how cultural values are shown through the arts.
- Classify a variety of organisms based on their characteristics, and use this schema as a tool to organize information about the diversity of life forms.
Cocheco Systems: It’s all Connected
Corresponding Exhibit: Cochecosystems: Nature
River Builders, Grades: 3rd - 6th
Description: Discover the many creatures that build along and within the river. From beavers to caddis flies to osprey, and even humans, students will learn about the variety of materials used to build their creations and how the river ecosystem supports these unique builders.
Related Standards:
- Recognize plants and animals as living things and describe how they are alike and different.
- Identify the basic needs of plants and animals in order to stay alive (ie: water, air, food, space).
- Recognize that animals, including humans, interact with their surroundings using their senses; and that different senses provide different kinds of information.
- Identify and describe the factors that influence the number and kinds of organisms an ecosystem can support, including the resources that are available, the differences in temperature, the composition of the soil, any disease, the threat of predators, and competition from other organisms.
- Identify the resources plants and animals need for growth and energy, and describe how their habitat provides these basic needs.
- Describe ways plants and animals depend on each other (e.g. Shelter, nesting, food).
- Define a population as all individuals of a species living together at a given time; and explain that all populations living together in a community, along with the physical factors with which they interact, compose an ecosystem.
- Make observations & explore materials using all of the senses and simple tools.
River Ecosystems: The Animal Food Chain & The Water Shed, Grades: 3rd - 6th
Description: Learn about the food chain by exploring the animals that live along the river and how they are interrelated. Explore the local watershed and it’s effect on the plant and animal life of the river.
Related Standards:
- Recognize plants and animals as living things and describe how they are alike and different.
- Identify the basic needs of plants and animals in order to stay alive (ie: water, air, food, space).
- Recognize that living things have a life cycle during which they are born, grow & die.
- Identify the resources plants and animals need for growth and energy, and describe how their habitat provides these basic needs.
- Recognize that plants and animals interact with one another in various ways besides providing food, such as seed dispersal or pollination.
- Describe ways plants and animals depend on each other (e.g. Shelter, nesting, food).
- Define a population as all individuals of a species living together at a given time; and explain that all populations living together in a community, along with the physical factors with which they interact, compose an ecosystem.
- Using food webs, identify and describe the ways in which organisms interact and depend on one another in an ecosystem.
- Make observations & explore materials using all of the senses and simple tools.
Physics of Flight, Grades: 2nd – 6th
Corresponding Exhibit: Build It. Fly It.
Description: Explore flying objects and discover what makes them work. Learn about items from nature that fly and relate them to flying machines. Each student will engineer and create their own flying object to test and re-test in the Build It. Fly It. exhibit.
Related Standards:
- Describe & demonstrate that things close to the Earth drop to the ground unless something supports them.
- Recognize that the Earth’s gravitational force pulls any object toward it.
- Explain that when a force is applied to an object, it reacts in one of three ways: the object either speeds up, slows down, or goes in a different direction.
- Describe the relationship between the strength of a force on an object and the resulting effect, such as the greater the force, the greater the change in motion.
- Describe and demonstrate how the position and motion of an object can be changed by applying force, such as pushing and pulling, and explain that the greater the force, the greater the change.
- Use data to predict how a change in force (greater/less) might affect the position, direction of motion, or speed of an object.
More Focused Group Visits Being Developed For Fall, 2009
Cocheco: History of the River - What role did rivers play in the history of the region & state? How did the rivers shape the people, the industry and the world of today? Answer these questions and more as we bring history to life!
Dino Detective – Visit the Dino Detective exhibit and explore the scientific method by comparing and contrasting two very different dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous period.
Patterns – Complementing our Pattern Palace and Kaleidoscopic exhibits, learn about symmetry, shapes & tesselations while you explore basic foundations of math and create a pattern project to take home with you.
Science of Sound – What is sound? How are sounds produced? What does sound look like? We will answer these questions and more with a visit to the Music Matrix and Sound Watch exhibits and by experiencing hands-on activities.
Booking a Focused Group Visit: A printable Focused Group Visit Request Form will be available online shortly. In the meantime, please call the museum's education department to book a visit or get more information: (603) 742-2002.
Exhibits As Curriculum Connections
Build It, Fly It: Participate in design & engineering challenges as you build & test your own flying machines in an aerodynamic exhibit.
Cochecosystems, Lives Built On The River: Explore New Hampshire history as you explore life along the Cocheco River, both natural and industrial, from the human and animal perspective.
Yellow Submarine: Explore the science of the deep blue sea with a dive simulator, sonar station and periscope.
Pattern Palace: Discover, ponder and manipulate visual and textural patterns, explore shape and color, in this colorful palace “under construction.”
Step Into A Story: Step into the pages of a giant picture book as literacy comes to life.
Play It Cool: Experience Mindball, a fascinating biofeedback game challenging visitors to relax their minds and learn about brainwaves.
Dino Detective: Become a paleontologist and study fossil replicas as you explore the scientific method.
First Impressions: Investigate an entertaining and active way to learn about sculpture and dimension.
Project Area: Enjoy drop-in, hands-on arts and science activities every day.
Art Gallery: View the work of local artists, changes bi-monthly.
Post Office: Experience hands-on literacy as you clock in and go to work sorting, collecting and delivering mail throughout the museum.
Kaleidoscopic: Explore the fascinating subject of reflection and symmetry, shape and geometry.
One World: Discover other cultures and their customs through celebratory footwear, costumes, masks and cuisine.
Music Matrix and Sound Watch: Interact with sound and experience sound waves, vibration and pitch in a whole new way through this giant electronic sculpture.
Primary Place, An Early Learning Landscape: An immersive multi-sensory environment designed for infants – children age four.
For more information on Group Visits, please, contact the museum's education department at (603) 742-2002.