Educators’ Resources

Ahoy Educators!
We have converted our education programs into a series of fun videos and activities. We designed them as supplemental material for your students who are learning at home through Google Classroom and other Learning Management Systems (LMS). We infused our maritime theme into art, music, dance, and baking projects, and included history lessons and books about New York Harbor. We are excited for you to you use this resource while working remotely with your students, and we hope you enjoy having it as a teaching aid.
These programs are appropriate for general and special education students in Pre-K through 8th grade. We will add new content regularly, including mask making, a navigation project, storytelling, our Maritime Careers book, and lessons in Spanish. Please let us know how your students enjoy it, and tell us if you have an idea for a future video. Contact the museum's Program Director Dawn Daniels.

The Tugboat Song

Watching a tugboat float by is part of growing up around New York Harbor. But what do these powerful boats actually do? They help large ships with their maneuvering operations in crowded harbors, and pull vessels, like barges, that have no power of their own. In this video, students will learn a poem about a tugboat. Next they will convert the poem into a rhythmic sea shanty, followed by a lullabye, to sing a very tired tugboat off to sleep.

Sailors' Hornpipe

This video is a maritime history lesson and fun way to exercise all in one! Learn about explorer Captain Cook's activities at sea, and master a lively sailors' hornpipe. The museum's program director and Irish step dancer performs and demonstrates the dance accompanied by musician and historian Bob Wright on banjo.

Printmaking with Cardboard

The museum continues John Noble's tradition of printmaking by teaching thousands of visiting schoolchildren how to use a printing press every year. Printmaking is a way of making multiple copies of art, which appealed to Noble because he believed art should be accessible to all. No press at home? No problem! This video shows you how to make reusable printmaking plates out of cardboard, a method that will work with any paint and glue you have on hand!

Shape Harbor

Would you like to make a harbor scene with simple construction paper and crayons? This video teaches budding artists how to look for shapes in the world around us, and sketch those shapes to create art. We demonstrate how to make boats out of rectangles and triangles, and then make up a story about the scene we designed. For this project you will need a small amount of materials and a large amount of imagination!

Hardtack, Sailors’ Snack

Voyages throughout the centuries lasted for weeks, and sometimes months, at times with no land in sight. Have you ever wondered what sailors snacked on while on the high seas, after their fresh food supply was gone? This video will teach you about hardtack, the biscuit that every resourceful sailor learned to bake and bring onboard.

Kate's Home in the Harbor book reading

Join us in the gardens of Snug Harbor Cultural Center for the reading of an excerpt from the book Kate's Home in the Harbor: A Robbins Reef Lighthouse Workbook. Learn why it was difficult for Kate to adjust to living at Robbins Reef, and think about how you would feel if you were faced with the same challenges. 

How to Make Pop-Up Cards

Making pop-up cards is a fun skill to have because you can make personalized greetings for any occasion. This video will teach you how to make a pop-up scene of New York Harbor using construction paper, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue, and cut outs or photos.

The Noble Maritime Collection's education programs meet New York State Standards, and adhere to the principles of Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, and the Universal Design for Learning.

The Noble Maritime Collection’s FY2021 education programs are generously supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Councilwoman Debi Rose, Councilman Joseph Borelli, and the City Council; the New York Community Trust; the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the members of the museum.