ON-CAMPUS PROGRAMS
Schedule a Program Today!
Bring your class to Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park for a day of discovery with one of our school programs. We offer hands-on, inquiry-based education programs that foster positive outdoor experiences and encourage critical thinking. Programs are designed to align with Maryland Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and support Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). These programs can be customized and tailored to any group or can be combined for a full day experience.
To schedule a program, fill out the form below. For more information, contact us via email or call us at 410-295-0104 ext. 27.
Pricing Details
- Cost :
- Program Minimums:
- 1-hour program – $100
- 2-hour program – $175
- 3+-hour program – $250
Park Campus
- AMM requires a signed contract to hold your program date.
- Education Center staff will send a contract via email once your program date has been confirmed.
- If you are requesting more than one field trip date please include this information in the ‘additional comments’ section.
- Requested dates are not guaranteed and are not confirmed until Education Center staff send back a signed contract
Fish and Friends
- Capacity: 15-25 Students (best for 2 – 3 year-olds)
- Cost: $8.00 per child
- Location: Park Campus or off-site
- Time: 45 minutes
From fins to legs, discover the various body parts that animals need to survive. Engage with fishy friends and see how they are different from each other and us as well as what makes them the same. Students will meet two animals.
Fins, Feet, & Feelers
- Capacity: 15-25 Students (best for 4 – 6 year-olds)
- Cost: $8.00 per child
- Location: Park Campus or off-site
- Time: 1 hour
Explore the variety of animals that call an oyster reef home through story time, sensory exploration, hands-on interaction with critters, and a sing-along. Students will meet up to 5 animals.
Our experienced educators will adapt materials and information to be age-appropriate for different grades. See the recommended grade range next to each station in the Description of Station Choices. Use the chart below to determine how many stations your group can do during your visit.
| Time for Trip | # of Students | Price at Park | # of Stations | ||
| 1 Hour | Up to 40* | $8 / student | 2 | ||
| 2 Hour | Up to 80* | $16 / student | 4 | ||
| 3 Hour | Up to 100* | $20 / student | 3 + 1 Chesapeake Challenge |
*Interested in bringing more students? Consider our Chesapeake Challenges (see tab on left) or a Critter Cruise.
Descriptions of Station Choices
Oysters 101
You may have known that oysters are filter feeders, but did you also know that they are ecosystem engineers? Investigate how the natural history of the Eastern Oyster makes it an irreplaceable resource for the animals of the Chesapeake Bay along with the humans who harvest them.
Station Choices:
Description of Station Choices
- Oyster Reef Animals
- Oyster Dissection (+$1/student materials fee)
- Harvest Game
- Hand Tonging
- Erosion Experiment
- Suggested Chesapeake Challenge for 3-hour programs: Build a Filter
Animal Investigators
As the largest estuary in the country, the Chesapeake Bay supports over 3,600 species of plants and animals. Join us as we explore some of the different fish and invertebrates that call the Bay home and discover their unique adaptations and how they rely on different habitats throughout their life cycles.
Station Choices:
Description of Station Choices
- Blue Crab 101
- Horseshoe Crab
- Oyster Reef Animals
- Oyster Dissection (+$1/student materials fee)
- Seining (counts for 2 stations)
- Suggested Chesapeake Challenge for 3-hour programs: Build a Plankton
Eco-Explorers
Science doesn’t only happen in labs! Use scientific tools and techniques to collect data and conduct experiments investigating the biotic and abiotic factors that make up the Back Creek ecosystem.
Station Choices:
Description of Station Choices
- Watershed Model
- Erosion Experiment
- Oyster Dissection (+$1/student materials fee)
- Water Quality
- Seining (counts for 2 stations)
- Suggested Chesapeake Challenge for 3-hour programs: Build a Buoy
Working the Water
How fast can you harvest a bushel of oysters? Can you catch more than your competition? Find out if you have what it takes to make it in this grueling industry!
Station Choices:
Description of Station Choices
- Hand Tonging
- Harvest Game
- Seining (counts for 2 stations)
- Crabbing
- Suggested Chesapeake Challenge for 3-hour programs: Build a Boat
From Bay to Table
From the muddy bottom of the Bay to your favorite restaurant, it takes a lot of work to make an oyster ready to eat. Follow the journey of these shellfish from harvesting to processing to designing your very own oyster can.
- Capacity: Maximum 45 students
- Cost: $20 / student (includes materials fees)
- Location: Park Campus
- Time: 2.5 hours
Includes these stations:
- Hand Tonging
- Oyster Dissection- student materials fee incorporated into total cost of program
- Harvest Game
- Oyster Canning- student materials fee incorporated into total cost of program
A Changing Chesapeake: Climate Change Education
The effects of climate change are already being felt here in the Chesapeake region, often more intensely than in other areas of the country. Discover how the people and animals that call the Chesapeake Bay region home are being affected by and adapting to impacts such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, and changing weather patterns, as well as solutions that are being used to tackle this issue.
- Capacity: Maximum 60 Students
- Cost: $16/ Student
- Location: Park Campus
- Time: 2 hours
- Age: 7th – 12th grade
Includes these stations:
- Surviving Sea Level Rise
- Climate Survival Game
- Shell Shock
Chesapeake Challenges
Students use teamwork and engineering skills to take on Bay-themed STEM challenges in small groups.
- 1 Hour Program:
- $8 / student
- Maximum 50 students
- Includes 1 Challenge
- 2 Hour Program:
- $16 / student
- Maximum 100 students
- Includes 2 Challenges
- Location: Park Campus
Build a Boat
Students plan, build, and test model boats to learn about factors influencing performance such as balance and buoyancy. They discover how the design features of traditional Chesapeake Bay boats such as skipjacks and deadrises impact their function.
Build a Buoy
Students plan, build, and test buoys made of PVC pipes. They discover the many purposes that buoys serve in the Bay and experiment with the factors that make a good buoy such as balance, weight, and cost.
Build a Filter
Students plan, create, and test filters made of 2-liter bottles, coffee filters, sand, gravel, etc. They discuss the difference between physical, chemical, and biological filters and how filtering improves water quality. This program is best for 4th grade and up.
Build a Plankton
Students discover the variety of life forms that are planktonic for part or all of their life cycle. They then create their own plankton out of recycled materials with the goal of having it stay in the middle of the water column.
Sail Aboard the Skipjack, Wilma Lee
Set sail aboard AMM’s floating classroom, the historic skipjack, Wilma Lee, to dredge for oysters and experience what life was like living on the water in the 1800s. Test water quality above an oyster reef and see what biodiversity lives below in this immersive, STEM-based program!
Come explore the waterways and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, become familiar with skipjack terminology and watermen tools, and discover your maritime history! Students will be actively engaged in water quality testing, map investigations, and Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) concepts, all while enjoying the beautiful Chesapeake Bay. Dredge for oysters, raise the sails, and feel the Bay breezes aboard the one and only, Wilma Lee!
Our Wilma Lee Education Program is available for school groups, scout troops, Homeschool Co-ops, and other youth groups (5th grade and older). Cost is $18/participant, $500 minimum, for up to 2 hours (35 person max). Wilma Lee programs are available April-October.
To book a Wilma Lee Education Program, please complete the inquiry form here.
Sail & STEM
For larger groups, combine a sail onboard Wilma Lee with one of our Chesapeake Challenges.
- Cost: $1000 for up to 70 participants (students and adults)
- Location: Park Campus
- Time: 3.5 Hours (includes time for lunch on land)
Kayaking
- Capacity: Best with 8-12 students, max 18 participants (4th grade and up)
- Cost: Starting at $18 / Participant
- Location: Park Campus
- Time: 2 hours minimum
Learn basic kayaking skills and tour Back Creek while discussing the ecology, history, and health of the Chesapeake Bay.
Critter Cruise (in partnership with Watermark Cruises)
- Capacity: Minimum 40 students
- Cost: $14/Student & $18/Adult (* 1 free adult per 20 students)
- Location: Annapolis City Dock
- Time: 1 hour
Climb aboard the Harbor Queen and spend an hour on the water getting up close and personal with fascinating Chesapeake Bay critters including crabs, fish, and eels! Programs are booked through Watermark at STEM – Watermark (watermarkjourney.com)
Chesapeake 101 (in partnership with Watermark Cruises)
- Capacity: 15-100 Students
- Cost: $18/Student & $23/Adult (1 free adult per 20 students)
- Location: Park Campus
- Time: 2 hours + 40 minute cruise
Chesapeake 101 includes a 2 hour program at either our Museum or Park campus and a 40 minute narrated cruise on the Harbor Queen. Students may have lunch either at the Park or onboard the Harbor Queen. Programs are booked through Watermark.
- Groups of up to 80 students will choose 2 stations and 1 Chesapeake Challenge
- Groups of 81 – 100 students will choose 2 Chesapeake Challenges
HARBOR QUEEN CRUISE Students board the Harbor Queen to cruise the waters around the historic Annapolis harbor. History, navigation, and architecture are included in this 40-minute narrated program. Programs are booked through Watermark at STEM – Watermark (watermarkjourney.com)
Signature Programs- 1 day versions of our grant-funded programs
Little Skipjacks
Best for pre-k 4 through 1st grade
Explore the variety of animals that call an oyster reef home through story time, sensory exploration, hands-on interaction with critters, and a sing-along. Students will meet up to five Bay animals.
- $200- up to 30 kids, at Park Campus
- $250 for up to 30 kids, in-class visit (we come to you)
Chesapeake Champions
Best for 2nd – 5th grade
Discover the impact that our actions on land have on the animals living in the Bay and the actions you can take to be a Chesapeake Champion!
- Capacity: Maximum 60 students
- Cost: $16 / student
- Time: 2 hours
- Location: Park Campus
- Included Stations:
- Seining
- Erosion
- Watershed Model
Oyster Education Program
For 5th grade and up
- Location: Park Campus
- Up to 35 participants (students and adults)- 2.5 hours, $650
- Up to 70 participants (students and adults)- 3.5 hours, $1000
- Included Stations:
- Sail on skipjack, Wilma Lee– Raise the sail, visit an oyster reef, conduct water quality at the reef to assess suitability for oysters
- Oyster Reef Animals
- Harvest Game
We welcome homeschool groups of mixed ages/grades. Programs run from 2 – 3 hours at a cost of $8 / student / hour. We are happy to customize any of the listed school programs to meet the needs and ages of your group. Parents/guardians are encouraged to participate in the program and must stay on-site for the duration of the program. Non-participating siblings must be supervised at all times. Programs take place at the Park Campus.
Recommended activities for mixed-age groups include, but are not limited to:
- Seining- Students catch and identify near shore animals using a seine net.
- Blue Crab Station- Students learn about crab anatomy and life cycle.
- Oyster Harvesting Game- Students use model tools to simulate human harvesting of oysters over time and learn about the importance of sustainability.
- Horseshoe Crab Station- Students learn about horseshoe crab anatomy and natural history and meet a live horseshoe crab (dependent on animal availability).
- Oyster Dissection- Students dissect an oyster to learn about oyster anatomy and function. (+$1 / student materials fee)
- Oyster Reef Animals- Students learn to identify animals that live on an oyster reef through hands-on investigation.
- Hand Tonging- Students learn about the oyster industry by using a pair of hand tongs to harvest oyster shells.
- Build a Buoy- Students plan, build, and test buoys made of PVC pipes.
In-School Programs
From fins to legs, discover the various body parts that animals need to survive. Engage with fishy friends and see how they are different from each other and us as well as what makes them the same. Students will meet and touch two live animals.
On-The-Water Programs
Set sail aboard AMM’s floating classroom to dredge for oysters and experience what life was like living on the water in the 1800s. Test water quality above an oyster reef and see what biodiversity lives below in this immersive, STEM-based program!
Box of Rain
The AMM/BOR Summer Maritime Program introduces children living in Annapolis public and subsidized housing to a variety of maritime experiences, including sailing, kayaking, fishing and environmental lessons.
