Smithsonian Learning Lab: Spring at the Smithsonian: An Incipient Case of Puppetmania

Dissect the parts of an advertisement with your class. Middle schoolers discuss advertisements and locate the hook in them. Then, they create an advertisement for a business, in which they include the name of the business, an...

Make a study of producers and consumers with an updated version of the classic story The Little Red Hen (this one is called The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza). After reading and discussing the story and terms, learners practice being...

Perfect for music specialists, classroom teachers, and substitutes, a packet of 18 games includes complete lessons as well as short activities for when you have some extra time at the end of class.

Did you know that Vivaldi wrote "Winter," the final concerto of his The Four Seasons, in the key of F minor to echo the sleigh ride pieces popular at the time? A teacher resource kit, designed to support a study of the work, is packed...

From creating simple flip books to watching Saturday morning cartoons, we have all experienced the magic of animation. But how is it that a series of still images can be brought to life? It all has to do with the speed at which our brain...

Some words are best left unspoken.  Words matter, according to Benjamin Zander, conductor, teacher, and lecturer. To illustrate his point, Zander recounts a story told to him by a survivor of Auschwitz. As a result of her experience...

Incorporate sculpture into your art curriculum. To start, pupils discuss the artistic process and topics of marginalization. With the discussion in mind, individuals select images to inspire sculptures of people that they will present to...

While reading Arthur Miller's The Crucible, start or end each day with a journal activity. The project includes a list of prompts for each act of the play. Pupils choose a prompt every time they write and connect their own experiences to...

Did you know that playing music is the brain's equivalent to a full body workout? Learn about how the advancements in the studies of neuroscientists have brought us to a greater understanding of how playing an instrument dramatically...

Have your learners use their surroundings as inspiration for an art project. Class members first examine and discuss art. They then choose an area and spend five days taking down observations in written and sketch form. These...