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Hands-On
Activities
 Demonstrations and
curriculum based programs continue to make the Tennessee Agricultural
Museum a popular destination for teachers. Programs last
approximately one hour and concentrate on one particular subject area
in the museum. Teachers can select seasonal activity programs or
choose to do a walking tour of the museum.
The program fee of
$1.00 per person allows one free admission with each class of 15 or
more students. Maximum group size of 60. A minimum of 15
students is required for an activity program. If your scheduled
number drops below 15, you should call to re-schedule. Reservations are required. Call (615) 837-5197 for scheduling.
Covered
Wagons & Log Cabins On The Cumberland
September - October - March
 This program
features a covered wagon and typical items needed for a family's
journey and settlement in Tennessee. Your group will have the chance
to see and touch a variety of items as they make decisions about
loading the wagon with food, furniture and cooking utensils. Selected
students will be asked to help demonstrate tools needed for building
new homes and farming the land. Note: Weather will dictate the use of
the log cabin area adjacent to the museum.
Tennessee's First Farmers--An
Indian Legacy
November
 Tennessee's first
farmers were growing corn, beans, squash and pumpkins over a thousand
years ago. The life of these Indian people who cared for the land
will be better understood as students see and touch stone hoes, axes,
and flint points. Selected students will also have an opportunity to
make a clay pendant and grind corn with hand stones. A display of
seeds, plants and roots will highlight Native American life-ways which
included both cultivation and conservation.
Home for
the Holidays
December
 Gather round the
cedar tree for stories and demonstrations featuring handmade ornaments
and old-fashioned toys from a kaleidoscope of cultures. Sleigh bells
and songs will make this a happy holiday celebration as we recall
simple pleasures of long ago. Students will also enjoy sugar cookies
and apple cider before choosing a colorful holiday pencil as a
reminder of the traditional cedar that was part of Christmas on the
farm.
George
Washington: First President & Farmer
January
- February
 Join the
celebration honoring George Washington--progressive farmer, famous
soldier and America's first President. With a display of cakes,
cookies and cherry tarts, kitchen activities will include saucering
tea, using sugar nips, turning an iron cherry pitter and stirring up
the corn cakes that Washington loved to eat. A birthday promenade
mixing music, manners and clothing styles will add to the fun. Some
students will use a quill pin and sander to address an invitation
while others make notes from the farm records that Washington kept.
The group will see a hand flail and try threshing wheat, building a
fence, shelling corn and using a cross-cut saw. Older students will
also have a chance to work with the surveying equipment that
influenced the future of America's first president.
School Days
in the Country
April -
May - September - October
 The teacher's hand
bell will ring out as students enter the chapel school that features
an 1865 wood burning stove, benches, water bucket and gourd dipper.
Before lessons, students will stack firewood, sweep with the flat
broom and sew copybooks. Your group will also use hornbooks, nib pens
and slates as they focus on a time when farm children carried lunch
pails and walked miles to study the "3 R's." Note: Limited to 30
students.
Country
Kitchen, Spring Greens and Other Things
April -
May
 Come to our
country kitchen to identify wild foods and compare them to early
garden vegetables. Your group will have an opportunity to see
important herbs and plants as well as the ginseng and sassafras used
in spring tonics by the early settlers. There will be a time to visit
the log cabins where youth can sweep with the cornshuck broom and use
the butter churn. Students may also stop by the garden to see
heirloom vegetables and use the walking plow.
Farm Chores and Summer Fun
June -
July - August
 Helping with
chores at the log cabins will provide an opportunity to compare modern
farm life to an earlier time before electricity. Wash tubs,
clotheslines, butter churns and a rotary push mower will be used as
groups participate in a variety of activities. After stopping by the
garden to see Red Velvet Okra, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans and other
heirloom vegetables, youth will discover ways of preserving summer's
bounty for the winter months.
Traveling Trunk -
Bringing History to the Classroom!
Year-round
"Pioneer Journey" - the traveling
trunk will build a sense of adventure as students see and touch items
familiar to Tennessee pioneers. From betty lamps to buckskin and
butter molds, there will be interesting objects to capture the
imagination. Using a resource packet of activities and stories,
students will journey to a time when pioneer farm families helped
shape the course of our state. Click Here
For More Details.
Grades K - 4. Check-out Monday AM.
$25 for 5 days.
Museum presentation at your school - $65
Available to teachers within a 20 mile radius of the museum. |
