Eldridge Street Explorers (Ages 5+)
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sun, 07/30/2023
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Calling all explorers! This July, travel back in time with the Museum at Eldridge Street. Have fun imagining what life was like for immigrants on the Jewish Lower East Side a century ago. Each session will include a visit to our historic synagogue and an arts and craft project.
Sessions can be purchased a la carte or receive a discounted rate if you buy all 4. Classes are for children ages 5 and up, plus a caregiver. No drop-offs.
Due to limited availability, advance registration is strongly recommended.
Schedule:
Session 1: Work: Sunday, July 9th 10:30 – 12
Session 2: Main Sanctuary: Sunday, July 16th 10:30 – 12
Session 3: Tenements: Sunday, July 23rd 10:30 – 12
Session 4: School: Sunday,July 30th 10:30 – 12
Class #1 Work:
For immigrants a hundred years ago, work was a family affair. Even young children were expected to pull their own weight and be breadwinners for their families. One way children could help out was by making items like tissue paper flowers which could be sold in the streets. Join us as we imagine what work was like for these youngsters and create tissue paper flowers like they did.
Class #2: Main Sanctuary
It has been said that the Lower East Side was the most crowded place on earth at the turn of the century. How lovely it must have been to enter the Main Sanctuary of the Eldridge Street Synagogue. The cavernous space has a fifty foot ceiling and sixty-seven stained glass windows. Let’s explore the Main Sanctuary and create our own version of a stained glass window inspired by the synagogue.
Class #3: Tenements
The immigrants of the Lower East Side lived in tenement apartments. The first one, built in 1833, had four floors with four apartments on each floor. It did not have fresh running water or indoor plumbing. Let’s imagine what life was like inside these buildings and make our own tenements with a paper bag and other arts and crafts supplies.
Class #4: Schools
Schools wanted Eastern European and Italian immigrants to be Americanized and not to cling to the customs, education, and foods from the old country. Some of the subjects these children learned in school were reading, writing, arithmetic, civics, woodshop, and home economics. Let’s go back in time to a woodshop class and make a wooden birdhouse.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.