The Wende Museum welcomes students of all levels to visit and engage with the art and history of the Cold War in an interactive environment.
The museum’s education programs are provided free of charge and can be tailored to your curriculum requirements. Our interdisciplinary mission and exhibits make Wende field trips suitable for a wide range of courses, from Social Studies to English to Visual Arts.
The Wende field trip experience includes guided interactive tours of our rotating exhibits and permanent collection, reflective art activities, and facilitated discussions. In addition, the Wende also can provide preparatory materials to review with students before your visit, as well as follow up activities to bring the trip back into the classroom.
The Wende’s focus on the cultural and social aspects of the Cold War invites visiting students to examine critically their own lives and place in the world.
For further education inquiries, please contact education@wendemuseum.org
School Tours
The Wende Museum offers school tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please fill out the below form to request a visit. Tours include the current exhibitions and usually last around sixty minutes. Admission is free.
Resources
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Middle School Post-Visit Guide:
A creative and accessible resource featuring age-appropriate prompts that invite middle school students to reflect on surveillance, privacy, and personal agency after visiting Counter/Surveillance.
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High School Post-Visit Guide:
A thought-provoking guide designed for high school students, offering deeper writing prompts to explore the political, social, and emotional dimensions of surveillance and resistance highlighted in Counter/Surveillance.
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Word for Word: A Cold War Transliteration Activity
Learn about Russification and the relevance of the Russian language throughout the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War and practice becoming familiar with Cyrillic script as you transliterate text sourced from authentic Soviet posters and paintings from the Wende Collection.
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Time Capsule
As the Wende Museum is dedicated to preserving the past in order to inform the future, it is important that we teach others how to document and share their own personal stories and experiences, especially in times of societal change. Choose from three different methods of creative reflection and learn more about historical examples showing the importance of recording and preserving life experiences.
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What’s On Your Plate?: A Socialist Feast Activity
Food culture in the GDR was equally shaped by the German culinary traditions of the past and the reality of state-run grocery stores often not being able to meet consumer demand for imported “luxury” foods. Selecting from a variety of East German culinary staples, assemble your plate for a feast, then construct an imaginary menu of your own, drawing from your favorite childhood foods.
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HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM
The Berlin Wall & Beyond is an online high school curriculum for teaching World History, which focuses on the critical post-World War II period. Published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, the Berlin Wall and Beyond was developed by UCLA’s National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) and the Wende Museum of the Cold War.
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AT-HOME ARTS ACTIVITIES
Relics All Around Us: Photography in Series
Inspired by Martin Roemers’s Relics of the Cold War photography installation, this activity will teach the basics of thematic series photography and invite participants to create their very own photographic series using only a camera phone.
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Play X Games X Art
The Wende Museum and ESMoA collaboratively present Play X Games X Art. We invite you to explore the intersection of free play and creative thought by crafting your very own board game - combining elements from familiar board games, small household objects, and printable templates based on historical games to design a new gaming adventure all your own!
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VIEW BOARD GAME EXAMPLES
Symbolic Art: A Color-by-Number Activity
In October 1986, renowned New York artist and activist Keith Haring, often credited for bridging the gap between the street and the gallery, was invited to paint a mural along a 300-foot section of the western side of the Berlin Wall. Using the colors of the East and West German flags and a continuous interlocking chain of human figures, the work was meant to stand as a symbol of unity in a divided world.
However, the completed mural did not last long. West German graffiti artists soon began to cover Haring's work, and, within a few months, there was little left of the original mural to see. Just three years later, people on both sides of the wall would pick up sledgehammers and begin to dismantle the Berlin Wall for good.
The message of art can transcend the physical realm, living on even after the work’s destruction. You are invited to bring this lost work of art back to life through coloring and creativity.
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The Artists’ Process in The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain
A series of artmaking prompts and activities inspired by the artists' processes from The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain.
TEEN COUNCIL
The Teen Council provides space for young people to share their voices and creative passions through the mission of the Wende Museum. Dedicated students from high schools across the Los Angeles metro area meet weekly to immerse themselves in exhibitions, plan exclusive events for teens, cultivate Culver City's creative community, and realize the Wende's mission of connecting the past with the present through innovative digital programs.
