There are loads of fun opportunities to extend the experience of watching Hamilton. Even though it’s still summertime, there’s no reason to stop learning, exploring, and discovering, and watching the release of Hamilton on Disney+ is a fantastic occasion to do so.
My daughter has been a Hamilton fanatic since she first heard the music, long before she saw the live performance when it finally came to our area, and long before it was released on Disney+. She was so excited, she pulled her friends and family along with her in her wake. Grandma would send her home with news and magazine articles about Lin-Manuel Miranda, her younger brother started memorizing songs and putting on shows with her, and one of her friends even dressed up as Alexander Hamilton for Halloween!
An excellent way to get started in extending the Hamilton experience through play and learning is to encourage discussion and follow leads based on what your kids seem to be most excited about. We paused the movie several times while watching it to point out and discuss things we found interesting, and then continued our discussions even further afterward. If you are someone who prefers not to be interrupted during a show, you can encourage your kids to write down thoughts and questions while they’re watching, and be sure to make time to discuss them afterward.
Here are some more great ways to extend the Hamilton experience…
HISTORY
Besides just depicting the life of Alexander, Hamilton packs tons of historical references into the show. Paying attention to the parts your kids are curious about can provide you with a great jumping off point into reading and researching more about American and European history with your kids. Books, documentaries, websites, magazines, and field trips are all great ways to learn more about history. Books can include historical fiction, non-fiction, biographies and autobiographies.
My daughter was extremely interested in the characters depicted in the show and went on to read a huge tome about Alexander Hamilton, as well as books about Eliza Hamilton and Lafayette. My youngest son read books about George Washington, the Boston Tea Party, and the American Revolution. I want to stress here that these were not books or topics we specifically assigned to our children, but ones they willingly and actively sought out on their own because they wanted to learn more about them, their interest having been piqued by listening to the music and watching the show.
Additional historical topics and people presented in Hamilton that might be of interest to your children include: King George, the American colonies, various battles of the American Revolutionary War, the founding of the United States, Continental Congress, Presidents of the US, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, the French Revolution, the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Schuyler family, James Madison, and clothing and fashion during the Revolutionary or Colonial period.
There are tons of books available about our founding fathers, the American Revolution, and related history at all different reading levels. Here are just a few of the books my children have enjoyed and recommended:
The Who/What book series by Penguin publishers has several related titles, including: What is the Constitution?, Who Was Alexander Hamilton?, What is the Declaration of Independence?, What Was the Boston Tea Party?, Who Was George Washington?, and Who Was Thomas Jefferson?
Let’s Play Soldiers, George Washington by Connie and Peter Roop
Dear America series, My America series, and similar series, which tell stories from children’s points of view in various time periods in the form of journal entries
Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Friedman
Your Obedient Servant: The Letters of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr by Douglas Ambrose, Ph.D. (available through Fenimore Art Museum)
Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J. Mazzeo
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the book that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the musical Hamilton
One interesting approach to research is to compare actual historical events with the story depicted in the show. For example, Lin-Manuel Miranda chose to portray the three Schuyler sisters who were closest to Alexander: Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy. However, there were actually eight children in the Schuyler family, including sons.
Watching the show also provides ample opportunities to expand knowledge and awareness of historical terms and phrases. For example, during a family discussion about the scene where Alexander is arguing with the British supporter who was standing on a box to deliver his speech, my partner and I kept referring to the “soapbox” he was standing on, which led to further discussion about what a soapbox is, and what the phrases to “get up on your soapbox” and to “get down off your soapbox” mean, and how they originated. I also like to watch for and sometimes point out to my kids the various props and items used in the shows we watch that help to tell the story. In this case, I enjoyed seeing the portable writing desk Hamilton used when he was working with Washington and watching the dresses of the Schuyler sisters change from scene to scene.
Field trips are a great way to bring history to life in the minds of children. Some ideas for field trips include:
Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site, Albany, NY
Hamilton’s Final Act: Enemies and Allies exhibit at Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY (available through December 2020)
Boston Harbor, Boston, MA
Revolutionary War battle sites, monuments, and cemeteries
Various Revolutionary or Colonial era museums and living history presentations
When we travel, our kids like to watch for familiar names of people on signs. You could try a scavenger hunt for streets, parks, schools, and more that are named after various figures in history that are depicted in the show, such as Schuyler Avenue, Hamilton Street, or George Washington Elementary School.
Timelines are a fun way to explore and make connections between points in history. We have binders set up with timelines, with each page designated for a span of years ranging from 10 years (most recent history) to 100 years (earlier history). You can also use a long piece of paper divided up into groups of years, set up along a wall or spread out on the floor. Kids can draw pictures and write captions, or you can print out small images with captions to cut and paste. I also like to print small images of the books they read for them to add to the timeline according to when the story took place. Taking an active role in building the timeline helps kids visualize and get a better sense of when things happened through history.
GEOGRAPHY
A lot of places are referenced in the show, and this provides an excellent chance to learn more about geography, how it relates to history, and how maps and land ownership have changed over time. We keep a large world map on the wall in our living room that we reference frequently, and also keep handy an old globe and a box of maps for each US state. We print out a lot of smaller maps from sites online (see resources below), including a map of the US colonies, that allow us to color and scribble and make notes on them as we want.
Here are some geography-related activities you can try with your kids to extend your Hamilton experience:
Locate the various places brought up in Hamilton on world and US maps.
Determine the distances between the various places, discuss how they traveled during colonial times and how long it would take to get from one place to another, and compare that with the methods and speed of travel today.
Compare today’s maps with historical maps, and discuss how land ownership has changed over time, and what the causes and methods were for those changes.
Here are some places mentioned in or related to the Hamilton story to check out on your maps:
The island of Nevis in the British West Indies - birthplace of Alexander Hamilton
The thirteen American colonies
France - the home of Lafayette and the location of the French Revolution
Albany, New York - the home of the Schuyler family
Mount Vernon, Virginia - George Washington’s home
Monticello, Virginia - Thomas Jefferson’s home
Locations of battles fought in the Revolutionary War (main battles, or all battles) - and here’s a reference for a list of battles
Boston Harbor, Massachusetts - site of the Boston Tea Party
And here are some sources for printable maps:
https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/maps.html (some free & the rest for a fee)
https://mapofthemonth.com/ (for a fee)
THEATER AND DRAMA
Watching Hamilton is a magnificent excuse to explore theater and dramatic play. Setting up a scene, dressing up in costume, using props, singing, and re-enacting favorite scenes are wonderful ways to get started, and often require little or no parental prodding in that direction. Making costumes or adapting clothing, designing sets, finding or making props, and creating or mimicking choreography are all creative learning experiences in themselves.
If setting up a kid-sized scene is too big a scale, dolls and action figures can find new roles as Hamilton stars with tiny kid-made costumes and a re-purposed dollhouse or a cardboard box stage. Paper dolls, Lego bricks, and dioramas are similar options. For our family, this type of play has also led to making stop-motion animated videos, and subsequent video editing to add music, voice, and sounds to our recorded footage.
When setting up your scenes or stage, you may want to watch Hamilton again with an eye toward stage design and effects. For example, did you notice the spinning section in the floor, allowing the characters to appear to be walking by one another without leaving center stage? Or the balconies that provide another dimension and layer of height to an otherwise flat stage? Did you notice how the stage changes from one scene to the next, and how the various furniture pieces and props are added and removed in the background? How is lighting used? What visual effects and illusions are used, such as when Phillip falls slowly backward to be caught and supported by another actor? Watching behind the scenes footage, videos on setting the stage, and interviews with the creator and actors of Hamilton are also ways to dig a bit deeper into theater design and culture.
You can also use the Hamilton experience as a jumping-off point to explore theater further, by looking into other productions written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, or by watching other musicals or theatrical productions. Taking a trip to the theater is always an eye-opening and long-remembered experience, and although many theaters are currently closed due to the pandemic, heading to the theater is top on our outings list once outings become safe again. The history of theater is another interesting topic to explore, and a related book for this in the Who/What/Where series is Where is Broadway?
If your kids get inspired by Hamilton, or they get tired of the same storyline, they can try their hand at writing their own original skit, play, or song, and then performing it for you or another audience. It’s a wonderful experience for kids to be allowed creative freedom and to use their imaginations to create worlds and characters of their own.
MUSIC AND DANCE
Hamilton has a lot of modern music – rap, hip hop, r&b; not what you would expect in a production about the forefathers of the US. It has a lot of great rhythm to it, and kids seem to be drawn to the fast-paced music that makes up much of the show, which provides opportunities for dancing and a fun challenge for memorizing the words. (My kids have been memorizing and singing along with Hamilton songs for YEARS. It’s only fair that other parents get to share the joy of Hamilton tunes belted out at ear-splitting decibels on long car rides!)
To expand on the musical challenge, your family can try:
Learning the harmonies to some of the songs, and then practicing singing in a group, or recording multiple parts and combining them through editing.
Learning to play one or more songs on your favorite instrument. (My daughter likes to sing Dear Theodosia while playing ukulele.)
Looking for musical patterns and motifs in the show. For example, a leitmotif is a recurring melody or piece of music that is used to represent a character, theme, or action.
Copying or creating new choreography for the music of Hamilton.
LANGUAGE AND ART
Watching Hamilton provides an excellent opportunity to explore language and art. Often, just providing some materials like paper and basic art supplies, along with the freedom to create, can be enough to motivate kids to use their imaginations. Encourage them to write a story, essay, or article, or to make a slideshow, painting, or craft project, to show & tell about their favorite parts of Hamilton.
For children who like to dabble with art, it might be fun to draw a picture, a comic strip or comic book, or a political cartoon representing their favorite scene or character in Hamilton or an interesting event in Revolutionary history.
Scripts and plays make for a great alternative reading material, and writing them can be fun, too. A few years ago, our family and some friends had a lot of fun taking one of our favorite stories and turning it into a play, complete with props, costumes, and scenery, and then performing it in front of a small audience at our local library.
Preserving letters, journals, and other historical documents is an important part of preserving history, and some of the research done for Hamilton included reading through some of his letters. Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY, has an exhibit that displays some of these documents relating to Alexander Hamilton. If you’ve ever tried to read one of these letters for yourself, you may immediately see the importance of learning how to read and write in cursive, so that our future generations are able to understand and interpret our history!
Of the various historic items used in the show, most notable is probably Alexander’s quill and ink. Our kids are fascinated with the concept of using feathers and ink to write with, and we long ago bought quills and ink for them, and more recently seals and sealing wax, at museum gift shops. When the interest arises, we pull out some parchment-looking paper for them to scrawl and scribble on with their quills, which can keep them entertained for an hour or two at a time (not to mention having a fun and interesting way to practice their penmanship).
There are a lot of instances in Hamilton that are suitable for expanding one’s vocabulary. Our family spends a good deal of time analyzing and taking apart the lines in the show to determine their meanings or to find various plays on words. For example, a couple of our favorites are “Mr. Burr, sir,” to “You punched the bursar?” and “Don’t modulate the key, then not debate with me.”
TRIVIA
There are doubtless many Hamilton related trivia games online by now. However, I encourage you and your kids to create your own trivia game with some index cards or maybe a slideshow program. Encourage your kids to try to stump you with the questions they come up with. You can include trivia on all aspects of the show, including theater and drama, stage setup, history, music, geography, and more.
Any opportunity you take to learn more about what’s happening in the show makes your next watching of it that much richer and more enjoyable an experience. So what did I miss? I’d love to hear your experiences or ideas for enriching the Hamilton experience. Sign in to leave a comment below. And if you like what you read here, be sure to subscribe, and I’ll send you a notice when my next post is released. Thanks for visiting!