Our latest educational program is a time travel trunk that brings the Museum right into your classroom or educational program. Each trunk focuses on a different theme of timekeeping and is intended for use with groups of all age ranges from preschool to high school. Your group or class will embark on an exploration of time and timekeeping using the activities and artifacts in the trunk. Each trunk includes user guidelines, theme-related activities and lessons that relate to Pennsylvania State Standards of Education (if in PA), props, artifacts, and other related materials.
Discover the Treasures of Time
This trunk is an introductory kit to learning about the concepts of time, its role in our world, and how methods of timekeeping have changed. Choose from activities including making a recyclable water clock, learning the science behind the pendulum, to discovering how fruit can keep time.
Cultural Calendars: Chinese New Year Celebration
This trunk uses the Chinese New Year celebration to help students understand the unique timekeeping aspect of cultural calendar systems by comparing the Chinese New Year with Western celebrations of the New Year holiday. Teachers can help students create a mini-Chinese New Year celebration in their classroom.
Cultural Calendars: Native American Timekeeping Travel Trunk
Children will learn how Native Americans kept track of time. Crafts that recreate timekeeping pieces include calendar sticks, winter counts, and an Aztec calendar. Directions, samples of completed crafts, and explanations of the craft with the historical background are included.
Availability and Cost: Time Travel Trunks can be checked out for 2 weeks at a time, with reservations needed at least 1 week in advance. Trunks can either be picked up at the Museum during regular hours or shipped to you (your organization will be charged the shipping charges). For an additional fee a National Watch and Clock Museum educator will visit for one full day to facilitate activities.
Fee Rental period
Time Travel Trunk $50* 2 weeks
Time Travel Trunk + Museum Educator $150*+ 2 weeks (trunk) +1 school day (educator)
* Shipping costs not included
+ If requesting museum educator outside of 30-mile radius from museum, additional travel fees will apply and reservations are needed at least two weeks in advance.