February 14, 2004

Everyone needs a place to live! But what kind of house will you make? What materials will you use? How will you decorate it? And what will you put inside? Students in the Museum's Make Yourself at Home program explored these and other questions about the many kinds of homes people live in around the world.

Thinking about our own homes, students discuss building materials.

In the Asia gallery, students hunted for artifacts made from some of the materials used for houses in various climates and locations, from wood, stone, and metal to cotton, plastic, and rubber. In the Europe gallery we discussed the different tasks people do inside their homes and the items and spaces they need to do them. We then went to the Americas gallery to see the tipi—a real-life shelter designed to meet the specific needs of its builder and to uphold traditions of the culture in which it was used.