Children ages 6-17 can have fun with history at Strawbery Banke Museum’s Summer Camps!
Strawbery Banke Museum offers programs for school-aged children with a wide array of interests and abilities. Learn about all aspects of life in the past and how it connects to the world today. 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 Strawbery Banke Museum’s nearly 10-acre site.
- Roleplaying 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 Jr. Roleplayers have the chance to be volunteer roleplayers at the museum for special events.
- 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.
- Bosuns & Boatbuilders and Sailors & Shipwrights with the Gundalow Company Campers spend each morning in the Boatshop crafting their own model boat and have one-the-water fun each afternoon learning seamanship with the Gundalow Company. Each of these experiential and skills-focused camps offer the unique opportunity to explore the joys and fundamentals of boat building while also experiencing first hand the joys of getting out on the water.
See below for a full list of 2024 Summer Camps at Strawbery Banke. Space is limited and programs always fill fast. For more information and to register, visit the website today!
Important Dates & Discounts!
Member Registration Begins: Monday, January 8, 2024, at 10 AM. Join Now!
Nonmember Registration Begins: Monday, January 15, 2024, at 10 AM.
Member Discounts & Early Registration:
Strawbery Banke Members at the family level and higher are eligible for camp discounts and early registration access. Click here to learn more about membership levels and benefits. Questions? Contact the Membership Office via membership@sbmuseum.org or 603.770.0257.
Sibling/Multiple Camp Discount:
Register one child for multiple camps or multiple children for the same camp and receive 10% off each registration. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
2024 Strawbery Banke Summer Camps
Roleplaying 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
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
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
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
Pastimes in Times Past (ages 6-8)
July 22-26, 2024, 9 AM-3 PM FULL
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
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
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
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 4 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 3 Spots Left
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.
The Boatshop at Strawbery Banke Camps: a partnership with the Gundalow Company
Each of these experiential and skills-focused camps offer the unique opportunity to explore the joys and fundamentals of boat building while also experiencing first hand the joys of getting out on the water. Camps run 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday. Space is limited to 12 in each camp.
New for 2024: non-members may pay a $100 fee on January 8 to enjoy early access on January 8th at noontime. Accessible upon logging in to the Gundalow’s registration page, on Campbrain.
Bosuns and Boatbuilders (ages 7-9)
Two sessions available: July 8-12 OR August 5-9 FULL
Cast off on a new adventure with the professional boatbuilders at The Boatshop at Strawbery Banke and the crew at the Gundalow Company for a fun-filled week of making new boats while making new friends. Budding boatbuilders ages 7-9 will join the crew at the Boatshop to discover the wonders of transforming raw materials into a simple cat rigged model sailboat. In this hands-on camp, participants will work to produce their very own boat that we’ll launch and sail on the final day. Along the way, we’ll introduce some basic tool usage, measuring, knots, and examine concepts such as buoyancy and displacement. When we’re not in the shop, we’ll keep the energy high and the learning flowing through cooperative team building games.
After a morning of boat building, campers will head out for some time on the water. We’ll sail the Gundalow, row our Piscataqua Wherries, paddle small kayaks and explore the rivers and waterfront of the Portsmouth region. Campers will help the crew set the sail, steer the boat, tie knots, and learn to navigate from the deck of the only Gundalow in the world.
Cost: $500. 10% discount for Strawbery Banke and Gundalow Company members.
Sailors and Shipwrights (ages 10-12)
July 22-26 2 FULL
Campers will join the professional boatbuilders at The Boatshop at Strawbery Banke for an exciting week of building their own wooden model sailboats from scratch. Each camper will discover the fundamentals of boatbuilding and learn how to use basic woodworking skills to experience the magic of transforming a drawing and raw materials into a 3-dimensional model sailing boat. The week will culminate with campers launching and sailing their finished boats before taking them home for future adventures.
Campers will join the crew aboard the Gundalow and learn to navigate and sail this traditional vessel. In addition, campers will have the chance to venture out in wooden wherries and learn to row and explore the hidden spots on our rivers.
Cost: $500. 10% discount for Strawbery Banke and Gundalow Company members
Strawbery Banke Museum
14 Hancock Street, Portsmouth
(603) 433.1100
info@sbmuseum.org
