February Vacation Week Activity Box

$25 Nonmembers / $22.50 Members
Free In-Museum Pick-Up
Free Delivery to Hamilton & Wenham
$5 Delivery to Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Ipswich, Manchester, & Topsfield
Delivery Date TBD

Spend your February Vacation Week with some fun and engaging at-home activities! Each kit includes all the supplies needed to make the following:

• LEGOs for Legopalooza At Home: While public health measures make our in-building Legopalooza days impractical this year, engage in Legopalooza at home! We’ll provide a 1-gallon bag of assorted LEGO bricks, pieces, and minifigs as well as a 10″ x 10″ baseplate. Share some photos of your LEGO creations with us on Instagram using the hashtag #WMlego! (Note: LEGOs are not suitable for children under 3 years of age.)
• Build a Bird Feeder: Using pinecones, suet, and birdseed, make a birdfeeder that you can hang outside to help our feathered friends find food during this cold winter.
• Make a Necklace: Create a beautiful necklace with an assortment of hand-made clay beads (provided to you) and silky string. This is a great way to practice those fine motor skills while making a special necklace for you or someone you care about. (Note: beads are not suitable for children under 3 years of age.)
• Create a Snow Globe: Using a mason jar, water, a secret ingredient (glycerin), snowflakes, and little items to create a wintry scene, we’ll make our own snow globes to treasure always!
• Build a Train:  With cardboard tubes, paper, glue, and paint, we’ll create your very own locomotive and train cars.

Private Museum Rentals

$275 Nonmembers / $175 Members

Feel like visiting the museum, but prefer to do so only with your household, “quaran-team” or homeschool group?  Book a private rental and have the museum to yourself!

On Sundays, the museum is available for private rentals only from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 – 3 p.m. On select weekday afternoons, the museum is available for private rentals from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Private rentals are limited to 10 people and include access to all exhibitions and the first floor of the historic house.

Private rentals are $250 for non-members and $175 for Members. Members, please use discount code MEMBER at check-out for the member rate!

The museum closes to the general public at 1 p.m. on weekdays. Prior to your arrival, the restrooms, galleries, and high-touch areas will be cleaned and disinfected. The museum will be cleaned and disinfected again after your departure. In between Sunday rentals, the museum will also be disinfected.

February is Black History Month!

It’s never to soon to talk to children about our nation’s history and our ongoing struggle to create an equal and just society for all.  Browse recent award-winning books in the Museum Shop to help teach these lessons to children, in addition to our usual selection of books, games, puzzles, toys, LEGO, and more!

• Kamala Harris:  Rooted in Justice
• We are All Equal
• The Undefeated

New Exhibit

Shake, Rattle & Roll!

Family Discovery Gallery
Included in Admission
Free for Members

The museum has literally hundreds of working mechanical toys – the oldest one dates from the 1780s! These toys work using gears, levers, gravity, and other basic principles of physics and simple mechanics. This hands-on exhibit will safely introduce preschoolers and their caregivers to simple machines and help them practice hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

The hands-on elements will be available in individual bins sanitized after each use, and disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer will be available for other hands-on elements not in the bins. Working hands-on gears, pulleys, gravity-driven cars, and more will delight the whole family in this safe and manageable space.

Special Thanks to Ken & Jean Jones, formerly of Wenham, Mass. and now of Peabody, Mass., for their generous support of exhibitions in the Family Discovery Gallery.