Virginia History at Home: Educational Resources from Museums and Historic Sites

While children are returning to school this fall, Virginia museums and historical sites are providing online educational opportunities to keep everyone learning. From interactive classes and online courses to puzzles and games, here are some fun ways to virtually educate and entertain kids while social distancing.

History lovers can access 400 years of Virginia history through the Virginia History Trails mobile app(link is external). Curated by the Library of Virginia and Virginia Humanities, the app contains more than 400 stories and more than 200 historic places. Users can immerse themselves in a themed trail that winds across the Commonwealth or employ the app’s GPS feature to find nearby historical sites and immediately transform their surroundings into a live history experience.

Colonial Williamsburg offers learners and other enthusiasts a new way to experience America’s shared story at home with the introduction of the Colonial Williamsburg streaming channel. The debut of the new channel, free on enabled devices through Amazon Fire TV or Roku TV accounts, can be found in the “Educational” category on Amazon Fire TV and Roku TV, offering a growing library of curated video content from the past and present in one easy-to-view location. Colonial Williamsburg’s Explore From Home(link is external) series includes downloadable activity sheets, DIY Colonial crafts, online Historic Foodways Colonial recipes, a new interactive timeline and more.

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture(link is external) is offering Virginia History at Home, including webinars, lectures, student learning resources and podcasts.

James Madison’s Montpelier (link is external)has publicly accessible blog posts, websites, podcasts, online courses on subjects including “The Mere Distinction of Colour,” exhibit, the enslaved community, the Constitution, archaeology, or James Madison himself.

The Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum(link is external) is offering online, farm-related activities including facts about farm life, games, puzzles and other children’s activities.

The American Civil War Museum’s new HomefrontEd website(link is external) is full of virtual Civil War education including book readings, daily activities and educator resources for students at home.

The National Museum of the Marine Corps(link is external)’ online distance learning includes a plethora of virtual learning experiences and subject matter for people to learn important and interesting topics related to the Marine Corps.

The Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is enhancing revolutionary history with interactive digital learning experiences like the Legacy Wall(link is external) and the “How Revolutionary Are You?(link is external)” quiz. The museums offer a variety of online resources at History is Fun at Home(link is external) to visit the museums virtually through mobile apps, blogs, interactives, videos, colonial recipes, coloring pages as well as curriculum-based lesson plans and live educational webcasts(link is external) for teachers and students learning from home.

The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace(link is external) is doing weekly online chats with their curator or educator about different history topics. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library(link is external) is offering free online tours where users can ask the guide questions via a chat room, which will be answered in real-time, making for an interactive and unique experience.

Media Contact
Andrew Cothern, Communications Manager, [email protected](link sends e-mail)
View and download assets, visit Virginia’s Media Hub 

If you publish anything as the result of any Virginia Tourism’s story ideas, please let us know so we can share your work across our social media platforms and say thank you!