Current Programs

April School Vacation, April 15th - 19th

For more details visit our Calendar of Events Page > >
Or click here to download our April School Vacation flyer > >

Build a Bevins Skiff

A Youth Boat Building Program designed to teach hands-on math skills.
8-week course:
March 2nd — April 24th, Wednesdays 6 - 8 pm, Saturdays 10 am - 12 pm.
For students grades 6th — 8th grades.
Instructor: Bob Lister
Tuition: $150/student
As a team, students will build one 12’ traditional wooden rowing skiff from a kit, then learn how to build one full kit from scratch.
Click here for our PDF flyer > >
To register for this class please contact CCMM at 508-775-1723 or e-mail info@capecodmaritimemuseum.org.
Become a member and save 20%!

Seasonal Offerings

Safe Boating and Sailing Mini-Camp

Learn to sail as well as get a taste of history on our museum built catboat Sarah. This unique boating safety course will give kids 12 to 15 years of age hands on experience on the water. Upon successful completion a Massachusetts Safe Boating License will be issued by the state.
Visit our Catboat Sarah Page > >

Class Name: Safe Boating and Sailing Mini-Camp
Class size: Limited to 6 students; ages 12 - 15yrs
Sarah Sailing Dates - Three (1) week camps are: July 8th - 12th, July 15th - 19th, and July 22nd - 26th
Time: 9am to 12pm
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions
Cost: $150

Dead ahead with dead reckoning!

Chart your own course, and sail it!
Students will work in a team to plot a vessel’s course using the oldest method of navigation—dead reckoning. Educators at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum will present basic skills for marine navigation, including reading a compass, estimating vessel position and movement using mathematical equations and geometry, reading a chart’s latitude and longitude, and plotting a course. Students will evaluate and incorporate weather and oceanographic patterns into their course and pilot a course out of Hyannis Harbor aboard the Museum’s catboat Sarah.

Class Name: Dead ahead with dead reckoning!
Class size and Ages: Limited to 6 students; Grades 6-8
Tuesdays from 10 - 2pm: July 2nd, July 30th, August 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th.
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions
Cost: $60.00 (4 hours)

Education Program Offerings

Kids & Teens education classes can be scheduled for families and classrooms or students in learning organizations, day & after school programs, summer camps, and community skill building programs. A sampling of activities described below are offered during school vacation weeks in Feb. & Apr. at the museum. All programs can be adapted to suit a range of ages and abilities. Please call 508-775-1723 or email the Program Coodinator, Joanne Harrington (jharrington@capecodmaritimemuseum.org) to discuss your specific requirements. If you would like us to design a program based on your specific educational needs, or have an idea for a new topic or activity, please let us know. We’re adaptable, and we’re here to help.

Racing Yacht Extravaganza!

What makes a racing sailboat go super fast? Build your own model racing yacht, complete with rigging & sail, and experiment with wind and speed across a make-shift waterway right in the museum!

Class Name: Racing Yacht Extravaganza!
Class size and Ages: 10+yrs and 4 student minimum
Time: course length - 1 hour
Cost: $12 per student
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions

Knot’-ical Crafts

Monkey’s Fist, Double Half Hitch, Ocean Plait, Turk’s Head, & Granny are all names of practical knots used for decorative crafts. Practice creating these common knots, then make sailor’s bracelets, trivets, or dog toys from what you’ve learned!

Class Name: Knot'-ical Crafts
Class size and Ages: 10+yrs and 4 student minimum
Time: course length - 1 hour
Cost: $5 per student
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions

Is that my Name? Signal Flag Fun

Have you ever seen colorful flags flying on sailboats? These are International Signal Flags, which represent letters, numbers & symbols and are flown on ships as a way of communicating with other boats. Learn how to rig up signal flags on a mast. Then figure out the letters of your name with signal flag symbols and create your own flags.

Class Name: Is that my Name? SIgnal Flag Fun
Classs size and Ages: 8+yrs and 4 student minimum
Time: course length - 30 minutes
Cost: $4 per student
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions

Fish I.D. & Rubbings

Learn about all the different fish species caught in weirs on Cape Cod. Can you identify them? Make artistic fish rubbings with synthetic squid, black sea bass, butterfish, horseshoe crabs & more!

Class Name: Fish I.D. & Nautical Rubbings
Class size and Ages: 6+yrs and 4 student minimum
Time: course length - 30 minutes
Cost: $8 per student
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions

Working Waterfront Mural Project

The Hyannis working waterfront is full of artistic inspiration. Artists from all over the world flock here and to other ports around the Cape to find scenic harbor front subjects to paint or photograph. Gateway & Hyannis Marinas, directly behind Cape Cod Maritime Museum, harbor these scenes and are also full of mathematical inspiration, believe it or not! Aspiring and undiscovered artists can experience artistic expression, while honing their geometry & measurement skills by collaboratively creating a working waterfront mural.

Class Name: Working Waterfront Mural Project
Class size and Ages: 8+yrs and 4 student minimum
Time: course length varies on group’s needs, size, and time frame. This course is generally offered over four 2-hr sessions, but can be modified to fit the needs of the group
First Session: Students will spend the first session strolling along the harbor, and taking photographs of all the different vessels working along the water—passenger ferries, sail boats, fishing boats, and pleasure craft.
Second Session: The second session will be spent choosing a photo, and plotting it on the space of a large mural board. Students will learn how to scale a small photograph to a larger space. They will also learn how to accurately render shapes and angles.
Sessions Three and Four: Will be devoted to painting in the lines of their renderings, and making the mural a cohesive piece of art. Students will work side-by-side, in close proximity, and need to share space and materials. The final product will be a complete mobile mural that can be displayed at the school, museum, or in any show that would take it!
Cost: $45 per student (includes admission cost)
Location: Cape Cod Maritime Museum - Directions

What Floats Your Boat?

Class Name: What Floats Your Boat?
Course Length: 1 hour
Class size and Ages: 8 - 14 yrs and 4 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $4/student + admission

All materials are provided by CCMM, however students are encouraged to bring recyclables from home. Students will learn about the different materials & designs that keep boats afloat. In teams, they will design and build their own mini vessel from different recycled materials. They will then find out if their boat stays afloat on water, and will critically assess their own design, and adjust it to keep it upright. Teams will experiment with various methods of power with their designs, and discover what best moves their vessel along. They will also compete in miniature boat races.

WSI: Wreck Scene Investigation

Class Name: WSI: Wreck Scene Investigation
Course Length: 1 1/2 hours
Class size and Ages: 8 - 12 yrs and 8 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $4/student + admission

Examine and excavate the "remains" of a shipwreck. Map, record and identify the objects found, then use this information to find out more about the ship and her crew. Learn about some of the unique challenges faced by under-water researchers, not least of which is remembering to breathe! Also, discover the story and remains of the oldest recovered shipwreck in America "Sparrow Hawk."

Harbor Plein Air Painting

Class Name: Harbor Plein Air Painting
Course Length: 1 1/2 hours
Class size and Ages: all ages and abilities and NO student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $6/student + admission - all materials provided

CCMM is located directly on Hyannis Harbor, one of the busiest inner waterways on the Cape, with fishing vessels, passenger ferries, and pleasure craft of all different shapes & sizes. Students can observe many aspects of working waterfront vessels through Plein Air painting. In this artistic activity, students will choose a vantage point behind the museum that gives them the perspective they desire to create a painting of boats in action or docked, passengers coming & going, houses along the coast or active shorebirds in the sky & skimming the harbor.

Instructed—Harbor Plein Air Painting

Class Name: Instructed - Harbor Plein Air Painting
Course Length: 3 hours
Class size and Ages: 10+ and all abilities and 4 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $20/student + admission

See “Harbor Plein Air Painting” description. Additionally, your group will be instructed on perspective, watercolor techniques, color interpretation, and the art of creative freedom.

Nautical Navigation

Class Name: Nautical Navigation
Course Length: 2 hours
Class size and Ages: 12+ yrs and 10 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $6/student + admission

Using Cape Cod nautical charts & traditional instruments, educators will present basic skills for marine navigation, including reading a compass, depth finding, estimating vessel position and movement using mathematical equations and geometry, reading a chart’s latitude and longitude and minutes & degrees, and plotting a course. Students will learn how to plot a vessel’s course using the oldest method of navigation—dead reckoning. Each team will create a chart of an area (classroom, outdoor space, hallway), and navigate through it, finding their own ‘vessel’s’ position.

Dead Ahead! Nautical Navigation Underway

Class Name: Dead Ahead! Nautical Navigation Underway
Course Length: 3 hours
Class size and Ages: 12+ yrs and 3 student minimum to 6 student maximum
Cost: This program is provided at $45/student and includes admission cost

This program is provided at $45/student (includes admission costs) Chart your own course & sail it! Students will plot a course using the oldest method of navigation—dead reckoning. Learn the basic skills of marine navigation, including reading a compaamp;ss & chart, estimating vessel position and movement, and then piloting a course into Lewis Bay aboard CCMM’s historic Crosby Catboat replica Sarah. By incorporating weather & oceanographic patterns, vessel speed, and wind direction, students will sail & navigate as a team with each participant playing the role of a crewmember. CCMM’s Coast Guard licensed Captain will provide basic boating safety information to the team, as they all sail dead ahead!

Model Fish Weir

Class Name: Model Fish Weir
Course Length: Course length varies on group’s needs, size, and time frame. This course is generally offered over three 2-hour sessions, but can be modified to fit the needs of the group.
Class size and Ages: 11+ and abilities and 4 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $45/student and includes admission costs

Fishermen on Cape Cod have been using fish weirs for hundreds of years. It is a sustainable and ecologically-friendly way to fish the ocean. In this course, students will learn the inner workings of a fish weir, and build their very own model weir in scale. Instructors will teach the students how to scale the dimensions of a weir, as well as basic geometry and ancient technology.

Cape Captain’s Log

Class Name: Cape Captain's Log
Course Length: 1 1/2 hrs
Class size and Ages: 8+ yrs and 4 student minimum
Cost: This program is provided at $45/student and + admission

Cape Cod was home to many sea captains who sailed around the globe trading and whaling in the 19th century. Captains often brought their families on board who would participate in the Captain’s Log book, which detailed weather conditions, cultural exchanges, and accounting for trading activities. Students will view replicated pages from log books and try to decipher what was written. They will also track a voyage as a Cape Cod captain or family member around the world, and use certain tools to make their own log books, including creating their own whale stamps, choosing a trade that a 19th century Cape Cod sea captain was invested in and making mock trades with them.

Hand-Line Fishing Reel

Class Name: Hand-Line Fishing Reel
Course Length: 45 minutes
Class size and Ages: 5+ and NO student minimum/max
Cost: This program is provided at $4/student + admission

This program shows how to build your own hand-line fishing reel, using recycled materials in honor of Earth Day Week. Create a shiny lure, and fasten it to your reel. Then try your hand reel at fishing on the pier at Gateway Marina on Hyannis Harbor, located a few walking steps directly behind the museum!

Scrimshaw & Shell Sailors’ Valentines

Class Name: Scrimshaw and Shell Sailor's Valentines
Course Length: 45 minutes
Date: April TBA
Class size and Ages: 5+ and abilities and NO student minimum/max
Cost: This program is provided at $4/student and + admission costs

Long ago, sailors from Cape Cod traveled around the world on trading voyages. Learn how Scrimshaw & Sailors' Valentines came to Cape Cod in the 1800s. Make your own Scrimshaw ornament as the centerpiece of your design, then create a Sailors’ Valentine around it with colorful and organic shells on an octagon-shaped base.