After a tour of John A. Noble’s Houseboat Studio, the class will write a story, sketch ship models, and design a maritime scene using paint on an acrylic printmaking plate. Students complete the project on our etcher’s press, where they create monoprints to bring home.

This program introduces students to rewarding careers they can pursue right here in their own backyard. Many students growing up in the New York area aren’t aware of the amazing opportunities available to them along the waterfront. This program opens students' eyes by providing copies of the Maritime Careers of New York Harbor lesson book and a trip to the museum or a visit to school from one of our educators.

Students will explore the creation of watercolor art as they experiment with the techniques of wet on wet, wet on dry, and color washing. Students will be guided through our gallery space as they absorb the inspiration to create a work of art of their own.

Students work with the tools that ancient mariners used to find their way across the sea, and they compare those techniques and instruments with the ones used today. After looking at the night sky and the constellations in the museum’s classroom planetarium, they will make a mariner’s quadrant and chart their course on a “voyage” across the Atlantic.

Students will step back in time and focus on the perspective of Kate Walker, keeper of Robbins Reef Lighthouse from 1890-1919. Through the use of art, maps, and artifacts the students will learn about the history and function of lighthouses, and be guided through a tour of the museum’s newest exhibition, Robbins Reef Lighthouse: A Home in the Harbor.

This program is designed for ELL students in elementary school. It is a bilingual version of Seas, Stars, and Spy Glasses, and includes pre-and -post-visit materials and videos in Spanish and in English. Students will learn about navigation through interactive games, videos, and art projects that compare modern GPS systems used on ships with instruments, such as a mariner's quadrant, that sailors used in the past to navigate across the sea.