Featured Activities: Holiday Fun at Home

Visit the museum's annual Sweet Creations display to get inspired, then make your own gingerbread houses using paper bags and craft materials at home! This is a no-mess fun way to create gingerbread houses for the holidays. 

PDF: Paper Bag Gingerbread Houses

Want more gingerbread inspiration? Check out these books featuring a range of folktales from around the world, featuring variations on the story of the gingerbread man. 

PDF: Book Recommendations: Gingerbread Folktales from Around the World

Snowflake Photo Fun

Join the Eastman Museum and the Rochester Museum and Science Center for some snowflake fun!

Video: Snowflake Fun
Explore snowflake photographs in our collection

360 Holiday Tour

View the historic mansion decorated for the season—online with our holiday virtual tour.

Virtual Tour: Historic Holiday Mansion

Gingerbread Recipes

Make your own gingerbread houses using our recipes, including making your own dough from scratch and ideas for more simple edible and festive creations.

PDF: Gingerbread Recipe

Coloring Pages

Grab some pencils, crayons, and markers, and enjoy coloring objects from our collection!

• Gathering Clouds
• Mansion & gardens
• Story of George Eastman & Kodak
• Dutch Connection flowers
• Film stills from the Moving Image Collection

Photography Activities

These activities are a fun, hands-on way to explore the basics of photography using objects you can find around your home.

• How to turn a room into a camera obscure (PDF Instructions)
• How to make a pinhole camera
• How to make a miniature photoshoot
• How to make cyanotypes using natural specimens

Pre-Cinema Activities

These activities are designed to demystify the illusion of motion.

• How to make a flipbook (PDF Instructions)
• How to make a thaumatrope (PDF Instructions)
• How to make a phenakistoscope (Instructions Only)

Historic Recipes

Ready to put your cooking skills to the test? Try making one of George Eastman's recipes from 1919!

• PDF: George Eastman's Camp Cookbook
• Video: How to make Eliza's Bread Pudding from George Eastman's Cookbook
• Article: Cooking by the Book: Making Eastman's Camp Recipes (Eliza's Bread Pudding & Rice Pudding)
• Article: Trying More Recipes from George Eastman's Camp Cookbook (Cheese Pudding & Onions Au Gratin)

Virtual Tours

Explore the museum from home with our virtual tours. Through the links below, you can access the historic mansion, see select behind-the-scenes areas, and tour the gardens in full bloom. 

• Historic Mansion
• Gathering Clouds exhibition
• History of Photography exhibition
• Choreograph exhibition
• Kay R. Whitmore Conservation Center
• Technology Vault

Storytime & Activities

Join us for activities and stories from George Eastman's historic library

• Snowflake Photography Fun: Book Recommendations and Snowflake Activity Video, and explore snowflake photographs in our collection
• Celebrating the Right to Vote: Book Recommendations, Suffrage Postcard Coloring Pages, and Virtual Tour of the History of Photography
• The Bluest of Blues: Anna Aktins and the First Books of Photography Activity
• A is for Applebiting Alligators Storytime and Activity
• George Eastman crossword puzzle, word search, and secret decorder
• Dutch Connection Activities:
  • Video: How to Plant a Bulb
  • PDF: How to Plant a Bulb
  • Blog Post: Advice on Growing Indoor Plants
  • Virtual 360 Tour: Dutch Connection 2021
  • Crossword puzzle and word search