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Souvenir Shopping
Souvenirs help us remember the places we have visited and fun times we’ve had. People who went to the 1893 world’s fair bought lots of souvenirs! Have fun solving riddles to match them to the right souvenir. Draw a picture of your favorite or make it out of clay or playdough. Share your souvenirs on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies.
Design It!
What would a modern world’s fair include? Be a designer and make a prototype of an invention you would display or create a map showing what your modern fair would offer. Share your inventions or maps on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies.
Hood by Hood: Discovering Chicago’s Neighborhoods
Explore the rich cultures of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods through our weekly challenge! Every Monday, delve into the history of a Chicago neighborhood and the tests that migrants, immigrants, and refugees faced as they arrived. Learn about the choices these communities made and discover how they changed the city. Each weekly challenge comes with a short article on the neighborhood’s history, a visual activity, a read-along audio, a short video, and a Chicago neighborhood star activity.
Barrio por Barrio: Descubriendo los Vecindarios de Chicago
Explora la riqueza cultural de los 77 vecindarios de Chicago a través de Hood by Hood: ¡Descubre los barrios de Chicago en esta reta semanal! Cada semana, explora la historia de los barrios de Chicago y los desafíos que enfrentan los migrantes, inmigrantes y refugiados en la ciudad de Chicago. Explora las decisiones que estas comunidades tomaron y los cambios que hicieron en la ciudad. Cada desafío viene con un breve artículo sobre la historia del vecindario, una actividad visual, un audio de lectura, un video corto y una actividad de estrellas del vecindario de Chicago. Cada semana, se publicará una nueva reta. Los recursos para este desafío provienen de nuestro programa Literaturas de Chicago con las escuelas CPS.
Storytelling is at the core of who we are as humans. It is how we learn, identify ourselves, and connect to others in the past, the present and the future. Oral history is both one of the oldest historical methods and one of the most modern, using and taking advantage of the latest digital technologies. In today’s activity, teens will learn how to conduct an oral history interview as they talk to a household member about their experience of the global pandemic. Share your findings with us with the hashtag #HistoryatHomeTeens.
Chicago is famous for foods such as hot dogs, deep-dish pizza, and the fabulous neighborhood restaurants that feature food from around the world. The Chicago History Museum has many food-related items in our collection—menus, invitations to fancy dinners, cookbooks, and photographs of restaurants that all tell us the city’s food history. Families share history through their food too! Sometimes there’s a special recipe handed down from one person to another or families start their own traditions such as celebrating a birthday with a family member’s favorite dish. Today’s activity is all about your family’s favorite foods!
What do your favorite foods say about your family? Explore recipes and traditions around food and celebrate your family! Share your family’s favorite foods on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies
Sometimes we learn our family history through the stories we tell. These stories are called oral histories and are a very important and fun way to learn about the past. Make sure your family stories are saved by having younger family members interview older family members. You might be surprised what you learn when you ask a family member to share their memories of growing up, moving, or work!
Important family history is preserved through the stories we tell. Explore your family history and pass your stories from one generation to the next through this easy interview activity. Share your story on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies
Even the most ordinary day is important and helps historians understand how people lived in different time periods. We can learn about people’s daily lives thanks to letters, diaries, journals, and scrapbooks. More recently, blogs and vlogs also record everyday life. In today’s challenge, you get to document one day in your life, then choose how to share the story of your day with your family and friends.
Historians learn about the past from ordinary people who took the time to record details of their everyday lives. Now it’s your turn to share the story of your day! Share your stories on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies.
Photographs are one important way historians learn about the past. They tell stories about the time and place they were taken and the people and landscape that were captured. Looking at photographs can show us the things people did for fun, how a place used to look, how people dressed during a particular time period, and even the pets they loved. In today’s challenge, you’ll explore your own photographs of family and friends.
What stories do your photographs tell? Take a close look at one photograph and talk about its details. Have fun pretending to be statues and restaging the image. Then take a new picture to share with family and friends. Share your old and new photographs on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies.
While we often think of famous people when we think of historymakers, you and your family also have important stories to share! Historians study the history of ordinary people to understand how our city and nation have changed over time. The traditions you practice, the places you live, the work your family members do, and the languages you speak all contribute to the rich diversity of life today and are part of the history each of us make every day. This week, our activities take a personal look at you and your family.
Your home is full of family history! In this scavenger hunt challenge, find objects around the house that spell out your first or last name. Arrange the selected items into a display and share your exhibition on social media using the hashtag #CHMatHomeFamilies.
Chicago is a city of immigrants. In 1850, 50% of Chicago’s population was born outside of the US, with Irish and Germans making up a bulk of those residents. Many more European immigrants came to Chicago throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s, including Polish, Italians, Jewish, Lithuanians, among others. African Americans also migrated from the South to Chicago, and other northern and west coast cities, starting in the 1910s in well into the 1970s. This became known as the Great Migration. Although Mexican immigrants were making Chicago their home since the early 1900s, a large number of Mexican and other Latin American immigrants made their way to Chicago in the mid-1900s, and continue to arrive and thrive in the city.
All of these immigrants and migrants had to make the tough decision to pack up their trunks, leave their homes, and set out for a new life. With them, they most likely brought personal, cultural, and other important items to remember and honor their previous homes, anchor their new lives with familiar items, and helped to tell their story.
What items do you have, that you would put in your trunk that would help tell your story?