Schools & Educational Programs.
Hands-on heritage craft for middle school, high school, and youth groups.
Real fire. Real tools. Real instruction. Aligned with curriculum on physics, history, and craft. Insured, licensed, experienced with student groups.
Most students will never touch heritage craft in their lives. The shop classes that taught a generation of Americans to work with their hands have been cut from most schools, replaced by digital alternatives. The result is a generation that's never made anything that didn't come pre-assembled.
Hammer & Fable brings the forge to your school. Students learn the physics of heat and metal, the history of a craft that built civilizations, and what it actually feels like to shape steel with their hands. They leave with something they made — and the knowledge that they can make things.
I've taught middle school and high school students in classroom settings, after-school programs, and STEM nights. The work is engaging, the safety record is clean, and the results stick with students long after the class is over.
What this looks like.
Three formats, depending on your school's needs:
In-class enrichment.
I bring the forge to your campus for a full or two-day program. Students rotate through the anvil in small groups; the rest watch demonstrations, ask questions, and learn the science and history behind the craft. Best for groups of 20-30 students with one teacher.
STEM nights and family events.
Live demonstration with audience interaction. Students and families gather to watch the work, ask questions, and (for a small group) get hands-on time at a smaller demonstration anvil. Best for school-wide events drawing 100-300 attendees.
Hands-on workshops.
Multi-session blacksmithing programs for elective classes, after-school programs, or summer enrichment. Students forge their own pieces over a series of meetings. Best for groups of 8-12 students committed to the full series.
What students learn.
- Physics.
- Heat transfer, phase changes in steel, why metal moves the way it does at different temperatures, how the hammer applies force.
- Chemistry.
- Carbon content in steel, oxidation and scale formation, why quenching changes hardness, how heat treatment works at the molecular level.
- History.
- How smithing built early civilizations, the role of the village blacksmith, how the craft survived industrialization, what's been lost and what's worth preserving.
- Craft.
- Hand-eye coordination, planning a project from start to finish, working safely around heat and tools, the satisfaction of finishing something real.
Investment.
Educational programming is priced below standard event rates because the audience matters. Schools, scout troops, and youth programs receive the same quality of instruction and equipment at rates structured for institutional budgets.
District pricing available for schools booking multiple programs in a school year. Travel beyond 60 miles billed separately. 50% deposit reserves the date. Final payment due 14 days before the program.