Field Trips

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Pioneering Animation

Ages
Grades 3–6
Date
Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon & 1–3pm
Cost
$10 student, $12 adult
Location
Learning Center

Thanks to our partnership with The Society of California Pioneers, located just steps away from the museum, students begin this program at The Society’s research library engaging with primary source materials, creating a narrative, and collecting images. The second half of their hands-on experience takes place in museum’s Learning Center. In small groups, they combine animation and history, as Walt Disney did in his own films, to create animated shorts.

Golden Gate Park in The Gilded Age
on view October 24, 2019 to April 28, 2020

In 1867, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors drafted Order 800, an outline for the purchase and development of the westernmost expanse of land dismissed as “the outside lands” on early maps. Their plan included a grand public park similar to those in New York, London, and Paris. Landscape architect and engineer William Hammond Hall was hired to create Golden Gate Park from 1,017 of these acres of unpromising sandy soil and windswept dunes.

Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach subsequently played a significant role in the lives of San Franciscans during the Gilded Age and beyond. This exhibition of rarely-seen examples, gleaned from family albums and nineteenth-century studio catalogues, is our contribution to the celebration of Golden Gate Park’s sesquicentennial. 

Registration for the 2019–2020 academic year is now open. Please email schoolexperience@wdfmuseum.org if you have any questions.

Other Programs

  • Field Trips

    Imagination Foundation: Pixilation

    In the galleries, students step into Walt’s shoes, using their imaginations as they discover exciting moments in Walt’s life and the history of animation. In the Learning Center, students star in their own short animated movie using an engaging stop-motion technique called “pixilation” to gain a hands-on understanding of the animation process.
    Mon, Wed, Thu & Fri | 10am–noon
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    The Magic of Storytelling: Zoetrope

    In the galleries, students discover the importance of storytelling in animation by engaging in interactive activities focused on the concepts of character, setting, and plot. In the Learning Center, they will illustrate and animate a story using a zoetrope, a device that produces the illusion of motion in a sequence of drawings.
    Mon, Wed, Thu & Fri | 10am–noon
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    NEW! Musical Milestones

    Students take a tour through the galleries highlighting the importance of music throughout Walt's life. With a focus on masterpieces like the Silly Symphonies (1929–39) and Fantasia (1940), the guided tour then transitions students into an interactive workshop where they make music collaboratively using a unique, pitched percussion instrument called Boomwhackers®.
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon & 1–3pm
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    The Magic of Storytelling: Storyboarding

    In the galleries, students discover the importance of storytelling structure in animation by taking part in interactive activities focused on the concepts of character, setting, and plot, as they apply to film. In the Learning Center, they work collaboratively to write a story within eight frames and pitch their completed storyboards to the class.
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    Technological Innovation: Animation

    In the galleries, students discover how Walt encouraged his staff to experiment with special effects technology to make animation more compelling and realistic, and how the resulting advancements inspired the industry as a whole. In the Learning Center, students experiment with a mini Multiplane Camera, explore how depth is created in animation, and create their own silent stop-motion shorts.
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    NEW! Synchronized Sound & Animation

    During this two-hour workshop, students learn about the innovation of synchronized sound and are challenged to match their animations with an exciting soundtrack of their own design. Students also experiment with a mini Multiplane Camera, explore how depth is created in animation, and create their own stop-motion shorts.
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon & 1–3pm
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    Imagineering: Audio-Animatronics® and Robotics

    In the galleries, students learn the history of Audio-Animatronics® technology, first invented by WED Enterprises during the early 1960s. During this hands-on team workshop, students become Imagineers and are challenged to navigate Sphero SPRK robots using block computer programming.
    Mon, Wed, Thu & Fri | 10am–noon & 1–3pm
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    NEW! Mickey Mouse and Moving Pictures

    Students take a tour of our newest special exhibition, Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World, with gallery activities and group discussions centered around one-of-a-kind Mickey artworks and objects. In the Learning Center, students bring to life their own animated characters using a Crankie box —illustrated stories literally cranked around two scrolls with a viewing screen. Students are welcome to self-guide through the main museum galleries before or after the workshop finishes.
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon and 1–3pm
    Limited time only: September 4, 2019 to January 6, 2020
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    It's a Shared World

    In partnership with HI USA , It's a Shared World explores Walt Disney's lifelong commitment to environmental education, international travel and...
    Mon, Wed, Thu & Fri | 10am–1pm
    Book Experience
  • Field Trips

    Imagineering: Creative Problem Solving

    In the galleries, students reflect on the work of Imagineers, who worked under Walt at WED Enterprises during the 1950s and 60s to imagine, research,...
    Mon, Wed, Thu, & Fri | 10am–noon and 1–3pm
    Book Experience