Living history museums breathe excitement into textbook studies. Blacksmiths forging horseshoes fascinate young kids as do the pigs, goats and sheep in the barns. The apothecary, the wigmaker and the teacher in the one-room schoolhouse show children the necessities of pioneer life as well as its difficulties and dilemmas.

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and Conner Prairie, Indiana, offer special programs that intensify your time travel. At Colonial Williamsburg, rally with rebels and at Conner Prairie, take on the role of a runaway slave. Learn what it means to risk everything for freedom, whether fighting a revolution or fleeing for your life.

For families with older grade-schoolers and teens, these immersion experiences create powerful opportunities to ponder larger issues such as: "Is it okay to break the law if policies prove morally wrong?" and "Would you endanger the ones you love to help others?" The best living history museums are about a lot more than merely old buildings.

Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, VA

You never know who you'll meet in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia's re-created 1770s capital, especially since mid-March when the top-rated living history museum rolled out "Revolutionary City," a two-hour program that puts you in the middle of the town's central controversy. You may be pulled into a rally for independence by a bewigged gentleman or asked whether you're a traitor by a bonneted woman with hoop skirts as broad as a barn.

Historic Williamsburg, with its scores of re-created 18th century buildings, lets you see life as the colonists did. The town bred independent politics and drew revolutionaries such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. The Governor's Palace with its bayonets, muskets, swords, and rifles reinforces the sense of the Crown's power. At the shoemaker's, watch the craftsman fashion footwear from leather and at the Benjamin Powell House you may come upon the teenage daughters weeding the garden or meet Benjamin and Sarah, the children of Mrs. Powell's personal slave, Rose.

The best way to see beyond the area's commercialism is to take part in the special programs, many of which require an upgraded admission ticket. Check the Visitors Companion for a schedule. Participate in a court trial where the punishment might be public dunking; find out about the latest fashion in children's clothing from the milliner or chat with a soldier about life at a military encampment.

With "Enslaving Virginia," follow several African-American characters through their day. The "Other Half Tour," a two-hour walk through the historic area, highlights sites important to African-American history (800-HISTORY; www.colonialwilliamsburg.org).

Conner Prairie Museum
Fishers, IN

Make your way downhill in the darkness guided only by lantern light. Despite directions from a reluctant farmer and a map from a free black family, slave traders jump out of the woods and grab you, shouting, "Get down on your knees and stay quiet if you know what's good for you."

You and your children can be part of this harrowing re-creation of the plight of runaway slaves at Conner Prairie, a living history museum depicting 19th century Midwest life. Called "Follow the North Star"-the advice given to slaves fleeing the South-the realistic educational program drops visitors into situations that runaways experienced as they traveled the Underground Railroad in the 1830s. Some do escape. Because of the intensity of the two-hour activity, "Follow the North Star" is recommended for parents, and children ages 12 and older.

Less intense, "Weekend on the Farm" is still work; there's time for fun-after chores, of course. Up to 12 guests ages six and older board for two days and one night at the Zimmerman's Victorian-era farmhouse. Bedrooms have washbasins, the outhouse is in the backyard, and kerosene lamps brighten the rooms. Depending on your character, you chop wood, muck stalls, milk cows, plow with horses or bake graham biscuits and kiss pie, a custard concoction with a meringue topping. Come evening, the children play string games and the adults puzzle out riddles.

Even if you can't stay overnight, meet costumed residents as you stroll through Conner Prairie's three historical areas. At the 1816 Lenape Indian Camp, strike a deal with fur traders and, depending on the day, help craft a dugout canoe, work a hide into soft buckskin or hear tales of the natives who lived in the region centuries ago. In Prairietown, an 1836 village, learn to use a bellows at the smithy's, watch jugs being made at the potters, or chat with the local doctor. Stroll Liberty Corner, circa 1886, and chat with Mrs. Zimmerman and find out about the farm. Kids can milk a cow, card wool, churn butter and walk on stilts at Pastport, the hands-on section.

The historic areas of Conner Prairie, located about six miles from Indianapolis, are open April through October. Book ahead for the special immersion experiences. "Follow the North Star" is held November 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, and 19, 2006 as well as in April 2007. "Weekend on the Farm" is held August 12 to 13, and September 30 to October 1, 2006 as well as on selected weekends April through July 2007 (800-966-1836; www.connerprairie.org).