Students become carpenters and use power screwdrivers to raise the roof and wall frames as they assemble an 8’ x 11’ house. While building, they learn about the hidden features that support buildings: foundations, frames, and trusses. Students are also introduced to sustainable “green” building materials and choices. Prepare your student for this program with pre-visit lessons.

Students become city planners for the day as they design and build their own model city. Students consider the problems a city can have and offer solutions by planning their own community. They use their imaginations to design and construct model buildings for the city using colorful supplies and recycled materials. Prepare your student for this program with pre-visit lessons. Students will take home their model buildings.

On this tour, students gather clues about the National Building Museum’s historic building and its connection to the Civil War by looking closely at the building. Through guided sketching activities that reveal the hidden history of the building, students investigate its structure, function, and past and begin to see the built environment in new ways. Students will take home their drawings.

Students explore the Museum's House & Home exhibition to learn about different kinds of American homes, both past and present. Through the exhibition's photographs and models and a participatory book reading, students learn about the process of building a house and the features common to all homes. Students then create their own houses out of colorful craft materials to take home.

Students become architects in this program! They learn how to do four types of architectural drawings: elevation, floor plan, section, and one-point perspective. After practicing these drawing techniques with green peppers, students then brainstorm ideas for their dream houses. Students then draw an elevation and floor plan of their dream houses.  Students will take home their drawings.

Students learn about the process engineers use to bring new ideas to life. Students are then given an engineering problem to solve: how can they get a dropped raw egg safely from the Museum’s second floor balcony to the first floor carpet without breaking? Students then get two attempts to design a structure to keep their egg safe during its drop -- using only one sheet of paper and a rubber band!

Students learn about the elements of a story, including characters, setting, and plot.  Students then learn the story of the National Building Museum and of the Civil War by looking at the frieze around the Museum’s exterior. Students then tell the story of their families by creating friezes for their houses out of clay. Students will take home their friezes. 

Buckminster Fuller is best known for developing the structurally-innovative geodesic dome, which has been called, “the strongest, most cost-effective structure ever devised.” Students learn about engineering principles and geometry as they investigate geodesic domes. Students then work together to construct a 6.5 x 13’ geodesic dome in the Museum’s Great Hall and apply what they have learned by assembling their own “geo” balls to take home. Prepare your student for this program with pre-visit lessons.

As the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., is both a city of residents and a national symbol. During this program students explore how some of Washington D.C.’s monuments and memorials are symbolic. Through this exploration of symbolic architecture, students learn about the history of D.C. then design their own symbolic building for the National Mall. Prepare your student for this program with pre-visit lessons.