(Summer) 1st Grade Field Trip #1

Although the school year hasn't officially started, we can never pass up a good field trip, so our first one of the year happened a little early, but I'm saying its the first field trip of the first grade for us!

Last week we decided to go up to Delaware where last month we stumbled upon a bunch of great field trip ideas. On Thursday we visited the Hagley Museum and Gardens. Thursday was a "dollar day" meaning that we were able to spend the whole day there for only one dollar per person.


The museum part of the grounds was three levels of exhibits about the DuPont family, the development of industry, and scientific advances made by the DuPont Company. The kids thought the most interesting part of this for the kids was the third floor where there were activities that taught them about Polymers, and comparing man made versus natural materials. They also got to sit in what appeared to be the drivers seat of an actual Dupont Stock car, and an astronaut suit.

After we explored the museum for a while, we took a bus to the Hagley House, which was the first home to the DuPont family in the area, and where the first DuPont Gunpowder mills were started. We couldn't take pictures in the buildings, but got quite an extensive tour of the house and offices ( with probably a dozen tour guides along the way!). The kids especially enjoyed counting the eagles that were throughout the house, seeing the children's rooms, and old toys, and the kitchen with dumbwaiter. There were also gorgeous gardens and grounds where we stopped for a little picnic lunch.



After this we got caught in a little bit of a rainstorm, but took the bus to Workers Hill, which is a little village, where the workers from the mills would live. The kids got to go to the school house, where they got to practice writing with a quill pen, and learn about how children learned in the 1800's. We also saw a demonstration of a steam powered generator, which powered parts of the mill.
On the way out we stopped back through one part of the museum we missed before, where the kids got to play with working models of old fashioned clothes washers, and other inventions which made life easier for people.After we left, the kids decided that we need to go back soon, because they thought they missed some things to see, so we will probably go back in a few weeks, and might find other sights to see in the area as well. We also bought some feathers and ink, and made our own quill pens to practice writing with at home. So much fun!