Education Programs

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Betts House Educational Programs
Family Fun Saturdays - Bond at the Betts - Group Tours

Educator Open House
Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 4 - 5:30 pm
Complimentary drinks & appetizers will be provided.
A brief presentation of teacher resources will be held at 4:30pm.
All attendees will receive a free teacher resource packet.

Teacher resources include:
• Free science and social studies lessons including primary source materials, maps and readings. Aligned to state standards.
• Student activities to use during your free class visit to The Big Shake.
• Free class visits by museum educators featuring hands-on science and social studies lessons and activities.

If you teach in or around downtown Cincinnati, the Betts House may be a walkable destination for your students. If you teach in another neighborhood, consider combining The Betts House with another fieldtrip. The Betts House is near Cincinnati Museum Center, Fire Museum of Greater Cincinnati, Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, and Music Hall. We are also within two miles of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, Contemporary Art Center, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and Taft Museum of Art.

This event is free to educators, but advance registration is encouraged. To RSVP, please call 513-651-0734 or email BettsHouseRC@fuse.net.

Building Holidays Walking Tour
Saturday, December 10, 2011, 1 pm
The Betts House and ARCHITREKS present “Building Holidays,” a walking tour illustrating the history of holiday traditions in America using the architectural sites and history of the Betts Longworth Historic District and Over-the-Rhine as a backdrop. The tour, held Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 1:00 pm, will integrate uniquely Cincinnati holiday events along the way and discuss the role of Cincinnati institutions, past and present, in the special season.

In addition to the many sites seen and discussed along the route, the tour will share Cincinnati holiday memories such as the Ruth Lyons Children’s Christmas Fund and the Duke Energy Holiday Train Display, on view this year at Union Terminal in the West End.

The tour will highlight both Jewish and Christian holiday customs, as well as the contributions of the immigrant communities that built America. For example, German immigrants brought many of their traditions to the New World, including the Christmas tree and Christmas card. The tour will also explore the influence of African-Americans on American holiday celebrations.

The tour is included in admission to The Betts House ($2). The Betts House will be open 12:30 – 5 pm and tour participants are invited to see the current exhibit The Big Shake: How the 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes Rocked the Ohio River Valley before or after the approximately two-hour tour.

ARCHITREKS (www.cincinnati-walks.org), Cincinnati's premier architectural walking tour, is a program of the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

Family Fun Saturdays
The Betts House, Ohio’s oldest brick house, starts its second year of Family Fun Saturdays. This year, the theme of Family Fun Saturdays is American Architecture.

Each Family Fun Saturday, there will be a hands-on craft activity about a specific architectural style from American history. Activities are suitable for children ages 5 – 10; coloring activities related to theme will be available for younger children.

Our 2011 schedule is as follows:

January 22 – Rolled Paper Log Cabins (Log Cabins)

February 26 – “Brick” Birdfeeders (Colonial & Federal styles)
March 26 * – Greek Column Picture Frames (Greek Revival)
April 23 – Rowhouse Collages (Italianate)
May 28 – No Program; Holiday Weekend
June 25 – Architectural Details Prints (Revivals in Architecture – including Gothic, Tudor, Moorish)
July 23 – TBD (Queen Anne & Beaux Arts)
August 27 * – Skyscrapers (Chicago Style/Skyscrapers)
September 24 – Patterned Mosaics (Art Deco)
October 22 – Tissue Paper Windows (Frank Lloyd Wright)
November 26 – Mid-Century Paper House (Modernism)
December 24 – No Program; Holiday Weekend

*On these dates, there will be an additional program with The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County at 2 pm.

Family Fun Saturdays are made possible, in part, by a grant from Summerfair Cincinnati. The Betts House is open 12:30 – 5 pm on Family Fun Saturdays. Families can participate throughout the day, and no advanced registration is required. All crafts are included in the regular $2 admission.

Bond at the Betts

Each summer, Bond at the Betts, offers youth, ages 8 to 16, from urban recreation center summer programs, a hands-on introduction to the building trades. Past activities have included mixing mortar and laying brick, an introduction to archaeology, housepainting, roofing, blacksmithing, and an introduction to architecture. Our youth are instructed and guided in these activities by qualified professionals with long and distinguished careers in these fields.

Bond at the Betts is a group program and is unable to accept individual childrem at this time. There are other summer building trades programs that focus on individual children including Rosie's Girls and the School of Architecture and Interior Design at UC.

The 2011 Bond at the Betts program has been generously funded by The Spirit of Construction Foundation and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Summertime Kids program.

Bond at the Betts received an Award of Merit from the American Architectural Foundation's Grants Program in 2008.

Do you have a group that you would like to attend Bond at the Betts in 2011?
Or are you a construction/building trades professional intersted in volunteering for the 2011 program?
Please contact us at 513-651-0734 or BettsHouseRC at fuse.net

Group Tours
Groups can arrange for private tours of the Betts House. Contact us for more information.

Family Fun Saturdays - Bond at the Betts - Group Tours

Visit the Betts House Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 am - 2 pm and
the second and fourth Saturday each month, 12:30 - 5 pm.
Other days and times are available by appointment.
The Betts House is closed New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving & Christmas Day
Please call (513) 651-0734 or email BettsHouseRC at fuse.net

The Betts House is owned by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Ohio