VOLUNTEER
Thank you for your interest in volunteering at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire. Volunteers play an important role in helping us meet our mission of engaging families in hands-on discovery.
Everyone interested in becoming a CMNH volunteer should first fill out the Application Form. Our staff will reach out with the next steps and training opportunities. Please view the different volunteer opportunities available listed below.
Important Things to Note:
- All volunteers over 18 will be given a background check.
- Volunteers must be at least 15 years of age, and we require that anyone younger than 18 receives parental permission to volunteer.
- All volunteers are asked to fill out a Waiver and Emergency Contact Info Form, which must be signed while in the presence of CMNH staff.
- Most volunteer shifts are between 1 and 3 hours.
Special Activity Volunteer
This role helps support our “drop-in” STEAM programs including art, cultural, and science activities. Special activity volunteers help staff organize, set up, implement, and clean up activities. This role involves assisting visitors–experience working with children is helpful.
Ideally, volunteers would be able to commit to a consistent weekly play session (e.g. Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons), but there is flexibility, and those interested are welcome to come for more than one session per week.
Classroom Volunteer
This role helps our education staff teach weekly small group classes. Volunteers help with light setup and cleanup during the class. Museum staff organize, teach, and lead activities. Classroom volunteers help children use art materials and do science experiments, and they are welcome (but not required) to do more, such as read a story or introduce a lesson once comfortable doing so.
Volunteers in this role would be asked to commit to one hour-long volunteer session per week, coinciding with a class schedule.
Art Studio Volunteer
This role works with families in our Muse Art Studio. Volunteers help reset art materials, engage with children and families as they complete projects, clean up, and prep materials for upcoming projects. There are opportunities to bring out special art activities and supplies that need some supervision to use, for example clay, paints, etc.
Ideally, volunteers would be able to commit to a consistent weekly play session (e.g. Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons), but there is flexibility, and those interested are welcome to come for more than one session per week.
Event Volunteers
This role helps with events the museum hosts throughout the year. We offer theme days, performances, and special guests that help make a museum visit extra special. Volunteers help museum staff with set up, clean up, and monitoring activities. Our current annual events can be found here.
This role helps our education staff with light setup and cleanup, and helps campers with projects. Museum staff organize, teach, and lead activities. Camp volunteers interact positively with campers and help supervise them in the museum and classroom. Our three-day-long camps take place Tuesday–Thursday mornings from 8:30 to 11:30 am on select weeks through the summer. Ideally, volunteers would be available to assist for the full three mornings of a camp, and those interested are welcome to apply to help with more than one week of camps.
Student volunteers seeking credit for classes for observation, field work, or internships, please contact our education team directly—email Colie McClain at [email protected].
The museum can fulfill required hours for students on a case by case basis, so please reach out before applying. We encourage student volunteers to look over the job descriptions to be sure volunteering at the museum will be a good fit.