Kids can build ships and boats, learn creative construction and build their own roller coaster with take-home kits from the Frohman Summer Series: Hands-on History at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums.

The series, which promotes learning about science, technology, engineering and math through local history, was originally scheduled for three in-person sessions throughout the summer, but has been changed to take-home educational materials and activities.

Free kits for the three sessions will be offered in August, September and October. Each kit will include the majority of supplies and instructions needed to conduct or create that session’s projects. Twenty kits are available each month.

To receive a kit, participants must register with Julie Mayle, curator of manuscripts, at 419-332-2081, Ext. 239, or jmayle@rbhayes.org. Participants can pick up their kit at Hayes Presidential during the last week of each month. Kits also can be mailed to participants for a fee. This title sponsor for the Frohman Summer Series is ABC INOAC.

Kits for each month are:

August – Cedar Point Roller Coasters – Students can learn about speed, strength, gravity and other principles of physics and engineering by building a roller coaster using a variety of materials. From 1892 to the present day, coasters have been a top attraction of Cedar Point amusement park generation after generation. Using the Charles E. Frohman Collection photographs from Hayes Presidential’s collections, drawings and documents, students will analyze and build models of 19th and 20th-century coasters, comparing them to today’s coasters. Session sponsor is Sierra Lobo.

September – All Hands on Deck!: Ships and Boats of the Great Lakes – Students will learn about buoyancy, floatation, displacement and other principles of physics and engineering by building different types of boats with a variety of materials. Using the Frohman Collection photographs, drawings, and documents, students will learn about the Great Lakes commercial shipping industry, as well as the passenger vessels that occupied the area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

October – Thinking Outside the Box: Engineering and Creative Construction – Using the Frohman historic photographs and documents, students will learn about the innovative cardboard box manufacturer, Hinde & Dauch Paper Company.  The business successfully operated from 1880 to 1981 in Sandusky. Students will gain an understanding of basic engineering principles and use that knowledge to construct functional bridges, containers and towers.

Hayes Presidential is America’s first presidential library and the forerunner for the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. The Hayes Presidential Library & Museums is located at Spiegel Grove at the corner of Hayes and Buckland avenues.

For information, call 419-332-2081, or visit rbhayes.org.