Elementary School Programs

Programs can be adapted to fit older or younger children. Many programs can be taken to your school- call 722-2996 ext. 236 for more information.

A Step into the Past | The Dill Sanctuary
Museum Explorations |Guided Tours|Special Programming

Oceans in Motion
Grades: Preschool - 3rd

Do you realize that the shells you pick up on the beach were once living creatures? Through hands-on investigations of our preserved marine life collection students learn about univalves, bivalves, echinoderms and more. This Museum experience also includes a marine life rubbings activity.

Bug Bonanza
Grades: Preschool - 3rd

Have you heard the buzz on this hands-on program? Children learn the basics of insects by examining a large variety of these fascinating creatures. Students will look at bug parts through a microscope, use bug stamps and make bug rubbings. (Check under Dill Sanctuary for a variation on this class.)

Animals A-Z
Grades: Preschool - 3rd

Fins, feathers and fur--what kinds of coats do animals wear? Explore the animal kingdom using mounted animals and jarred specimens. Students compare and contrast animals to understand the different classifications of vertebrates- mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

Prehistoric Animals
Grades: 1st - 5th

Visit the world of the giant ground sloth, saber tooth cat, and the dinosaur. By handling fossils, replicas, and images students gain an understanding of what life was like before, during, and after the reign of the dinosaur. By adding on a Self-Guided Museum tour to this program students can see up close our dinosaur skeleton, dinosaur tracks, and other prehistoric specimens.

The Museum Attic: Victorian Charleston
Grades: 1st - 6th

Discover what it was like to be a child in late 19th century Charleston. Compare and contrast your lifestyle with that of a child in the late 1800s through discussion and handling artifacts. This Museum experience includes a chance for the students to grind coffee, dress in period clothing and look though the stereopticon.

Tribal Life and Customs
Grades: 1st - 5th

Explore the lives of South Carolina's earliest inhabitants by examining the daily activities of Native American men, women, and children. Learn their methods of survival by handling animal skins, pottery, arrowheads, and primitive tools. The class concludes with an interactive story using animal mounts and sign language.

Tomb Travelers
Grades: 3rd – 8th

Travel back to Ancient Egypt and visit with the tomb builders from Deir-El-Medina. Students will journey beyond the "9 to 5" of Egypt's most valuable workers to see what their lives were really like. Learn the steps of the mummification process, handle replicas of ancient artifacts, and dress like an Egyptian. By adding on a Self-guided Museum Tour students get a chance to see a real Egyptian mummy, mummy case, and other Egyptian artifacts.

Amazing Architecture
Grades: 3rd - 8th

This special program highlights five different styles of architecture visible in Historic Charleston- Georgian, Federal, Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, and International. The topics of preservation, adaptive reuse, and the Charleston single house will be addressed. This program includes a walking tour through the Mazyck-Wraggborough district that is designed so that you never have to cross the street. Amazing Architecture is a great addition to any Charleston History program.

Yesterday's Trash (Archaeology)
Grades: 3rd - 8th

Students will become archaeologists when they examine potsherds, glassware, bone, and metal to unlock the secrets of Charleston's past . This program will cover different types of archaeology as well as the methods involved.

Revolutionary Charleston
Grades: 3rd - 8th

Understand the role of Charleston and South Carolina during the American Revolution. Hear tales of the Battle of Fort Sullivan, the Siege of Charleston, and the legendary Swamp Fox. Learn about the reality of the war for soldiers and civilians through a hands-on tent activity, dressing in period clothing, replica artifacts, and much more.

Colonial Quest: Exploring Colonial and Revolutionary Charleston

Grades: 3rd-12th

Your visit begins at The Powder Magazine where students will have a first hand experience with the Carolinas' oldest public building. With the help of a colonial costumed interpreter, students will learn of "Charles Towne's" earliest geography and inhabitants and why this colonial town's powder magazine was an essential part of its survival.

Next, your group will engage in a colonial/American Revolution themed scavenger hunt through Charleston's historic district discovering locations and objects relevant to the early history of this city, state, and nation. Along the hunt students will experience a tour of the Heyward-Washington House, located within the original walled city. Students will learn of former owner Thomas Heyward Jr.'s role during the Revolution, as well as the stories of other patriots such as Christopher Gadsden, Francis Marion, and George Washington.

Approximate Time: 2 hours, $8 per student

Minimum 10 students, maximum of 80 students

Life in the Civil War
Grades: 3rd - 8th

Experience the day-to-day life of the civilians and soldiers from the Civil War. Students will pack a soldier's haversack, dress up in period clothing, write with a quill pen, and card cotton.

Click Here for curriculum guide.

Gullah Traditions
Grades: 3rd - 12th

Contributions by African-Americans have made a significant impact on the Lowcountry. Students will use artifacts, documents, and replicas to understand the African-American experience from their lives in Western Africa to the plantations of South Carolina to life after the Civil War.

Add this class to a guided tour of our latest exhibit From Slave to Sharecropper: African Americans in the Lowcountry after the Civil War.

The Bountiful Coast
Grades: 3rd - 12th

This program focuses on food ways and dining customs of the 18th and 19th century Lowcountry. Learn how food has been acquired, prepared, stored, and served by the different groups of people that call the Lowcountry their home. The program will discuss food ways of Native American, African-Americas, and early English settlers. Students will examine pictures from our archives of street vendors and the Old Market, as well as handle artifacts from archaeological digs.

World War II
(Offered January-March)

Learn about World War II through the eyes of men, women, and children on the home front. Through letters, photographs, artifacts, and replicas learn about the events of the war and how everyone did their part during this difficult time in American history. The program concludes with a trip to the exhibit with your Museum teacher.

Guided Tours

South Carolina Notables
Grades: 3rd - 12th

Travel through the Museum learning about the events, people, and animals that have made the Palmetto State so fascinating. This guided tour is perfect for South Carolina Studies classes and includes information on Native Americans, life on Lowcountry plantations, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, special exhibit galleries, and even state symbols. Students will get a chance to handle artifacts, replicas, and animal mounts as they journey through The Charleston Museum. $7 per student.

*Maximum group size is 30 students. Students will be divided into groups of 15. Special arrangements can be made for larger groups.

Lowcountry Safari
Grades 1st-3rd

Decorate a safari hat and then set out on a journey through our Natural History Hall. Peek through binoculars as you learn fascinating facts about local creatures, prehistoric specimens, and even exotic animals. This program last one hour and includes craft time and a guided tour. Each child will get to take home their own safari hat and set of paper binoculars. $7 per student

A Step into the Past
Grades: 3rd - 12th

Step back into the lifestyles of early Charlestonians. Students will go into the Museum's historic houses to compare and contrast old Charleston with today. The general tour for each house includes site history, architecture, decorative arts, and family and slave life. Focus tours of the houses are also available, see below.

*Maximum group size is 40 students. Students will be dividing into groups of 20. Special arrangements can be made for larger groups.

Joseph Manigault House, 1803
A National Historic Landmark
350 Meeting Street

Located just across the street from the Museum this Federal style home was once a USO post, tenement housing, a dry cleaner, and even a gas station. Explore the varied history of this beautiful three-story brick house built for the Manigault family. The Manigault family came to Charleston from France escaping religious persecution to eventually become a very wealthy rice-planting family. Learn about their daily lives and the lives of their African American slaves.

Choose between general tour, architectural focus, World War II, or African American history tour.

Heyward-Washington House, 1772
A National Historic Landmark
87 Church Street
Step back in time to Charleston's golden age in the only Pre-Revolutionary War House open to the public. Located within the original walled city, this 1772 Charleston double house was owned by Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of the four signers of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina. The house is famous for housing President George Washington during his Southern Tour in May 1791. The Georgian Style architecture and furniture crafted by local Charleston cabinetmakers make this house truly unique. Students will also get the chance to explore an English Formal and Kitchen Garden and also the only Colonial Kitchen open to the public.

Choose between the general tour, an architectural focus, Revolutionary War, or African American history tour.

The Dill Sanctuary

Acquired by the Museum in 1985, the Dill Sanctuary contains numerous cultural features including three earthen Confederate batteries and prehistoric, colonial, antebellum, and postbellum archaeological sites. The Dill Sanctuary has been protected for purposes of preservation, wildlife enhancement, research, and education, and is used only for Museum-sponsored programs. The Dill Sanctuary provides assorted habitats for wildlife and nesting sites for both migratory and resident birds. Located on James Island this 580 acre site offers an excellent opportunity for education programming.

The Dill Sanctuary Bug Bonanza
Grades: Preschool - 3rd

Experience our popular bug class at the Dill Sanctuary. Instead of doing bug rubbings enjoy a chance to catch bugs and observe them up close. The Museum will provide bug collectors and bug grabbers for the program, but all containers and bugs must remain at the Dill Sanctuary.

The Dill Sanctuary Marsh Walk
Grades: 1st - 8th

Enjoy the great outdoors with a walk into the maritime forest and marsh of the Dill Sanctuary. Students will learn about the many plants and animals that flourish in the salt marsh, such as fiddler crabs, periwinkles, spartina grass, needle rush, herons, and osprey. Students also get a chance to obtain and observe fiddler crabs up close through use of the Museum's bug boxes.

Charleston's Hidden History

Grades: 3rd-12th

The visitor will find no great plantation house or gun-embellished fort at the Dill Sanctuary today. The history is literally hidden. Students will use maps, artifacts, census records, and oral history to uncover this hidden history. As you walk through the property learn of the Native Americans, Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers, Plantation owners and their slaves, and tenant farmers that have made the Dill Sanctuary their home. Approx. time- 1 hour

Yesterday's Trash
Grades: 3rd- 8th

This variation of our Museum class includes a mock dig. Students will get a chance to lay out their unit, dig and screen for artifacts, and wash and identify their artifacts. Maximum group size is 15 students, this program can be combined with others to accommodate larger groups. $7 per student.

Museum Explorations

A Museum tour is not automatically included with a Museum program. If you would like a Museum tour please check SELF-GUIDED MUSEUM TOUR on your reservation form. If you prefer a more focused tour, Explorations are perfect for your group!

Students should be divided into groups determined by the number of chaperones/teachers that are available. One chaperone per every ten students is suggested.
A Museum teacher will provide instructions and supplies upon arrival. Each group will receive a clipboard, a pencil, one scavenger hunt, and one answer sheet. Extra scavenger hunts can be available on request.
Please allow at least an hour and a half for your group to complete the scavenger hunt.

Scavenger Sampler - Grades: 2nd - 12th
This exploration includes questions for each area of our permanent collection.

Museum Matchmakers - Grades: Preschool- 3rd
Matchmakers features 10 images for children to look for throughout the Museum. If you find all ten items you get a special souvenir.

Other Exploration topics:
Celebrating African Americans, People in Passage (Immigration), Difference in Dirt (Pottery), Native Americans, City Under Siege (Civil War), Archaeology, Egyptian, and Special Exhibit galleries.

Special Programming

Colonial Quest: Exploring Colonial and Revolutionary Charleston
Grades: 3rd- 12th
The Powder Magazine and Heyward-Washington House

Your visit begins at The Powder Magazine where students will have a first hand experience with the Carolinas' oldest public building. With the help of a colonial costumed interpreter, students will learn of "Charles Towne's" earliest geography and inhabitants and why this colonial town’s powder magazine was an essential part of its survival.

Approximate Time: 2 hours, $8 per student
Minimum 10 students, maximum of 80 students