History meets hands-on fun—all season long!
From gardens and grains to bees and barn cats, every Saturday at Philipsburg Manor from July 5 to August 30 is a new chance to explore history through fun activities for all ages. All included with your ticket!
Members get in free—join today and unlock a season full of adventure.
July 5: Barnyard Bash
Kick off summer with a Barnyard Bash! Help our staff harvest our rye field, load in our grain shipment at the mill, and cast your vote on names for our new barn cats from RG Cares Animal Shelter. Plus, listen to a special story time from Sleepy Hollow Bookshop and visit the SPCA Westchester‘s mobile adoption truck to meet cats and kittens looking for their forever homes.
July 12: Hive & Honey
Buzz into the world of bees! Learn how bees shape our world with Nyack Pollinator Pathways, decorate your own bee thumbprint flowerpot, create paper beehives, dip a candle the colonial way, and sample delicious local honey. As an added treat, Warner Library will be hosting a special bilingual read-aloud of bee-related books. It’s a sweet day from start to finish!
July 19: Paws & Claws
Philipsburg Manor has always been home to a variety of wildlife! Join us for this animal-themed day, co-sponsored by Westchester County Parks. Meet live animals from the Greenburgh Nature Center, touch animal specimens from Cranberry Lake Preservation, and make your own textured animal collages.
July 26: Petals & Greens
Explore the beauty and utility of the kitchen garden. Enjoy guided garden tours, learn about native plants, paint a mixed media garden collage, and pot your own marigold to take home with local non-profit For the People and the Kids.
August 2: Clay & Creation
From pots to plates, learn more about how ceramics were made by the different people who inhabited this area around Philipsburg Manor. Play with clay with the Clay Art Center, create your own coil or pinch pots, and design a bead necklace that will be fired in our beehive oven. And for this day only, see ceramics by Thomas Commeraw, a free Black potter from colonial New York, on display in the Manor House.
August 9: Weave & Wonder
Textiles tell powerful stories. Discover how fabric was made in colonial times, from spinning to dyeing. Hear about how “runaway ads” provided historians with some of the only descriptions of what enslaved people of the time period wore during special presentations. Kids can create their own quilts and Malian bogolan cloth to take home.
August 16: The Big Play Date
Step back into a simpler time and play like it’s 1750! Try your hand at old-fashioned games like “Lil’ Graces” and stilts, or make your own whirligigs and ragdolls. There will also be a special drumming workshop with KoSankofa.
August 23: Pickles & Preserves
Harvest season is coming! Discover different food preservation techniques and learn how different groups of the past used drying, canning, and smoking to preserve their food. Create mini compost jars, pickle radishes, and see worms in action with local non-profit For the People and the Kids.
August 30: Global Grains
Wrap up the summer with a feast of cultures and flavors! Watch cooking demos of colonial pancakes, Peruvian humitas from Leon’s Latin Café, sample eba bread from Voila Afrique and grab a drink from Montclair Brewery (they offer Baobab beer). Kids can create their own grain collage and paint with flour paste or cozy up for stories about bread from around the world.