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Social studies activity

New Jersey's Story: Revolution Battles, Edison's Lab & the Jersey Shore

Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, invented the phonograph, the practical light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the electrical power grid — all in about ten years, working out of one building. Edison held 1,093 patents — more than any other person in American history. Before Edison's lab, there was no recorded music, no movies, no electric lights in homes, and cities ran on gas lamps. One building in New Jersey changed how the entire world lives.

Hands OnAbout 25 minutesScreen-freeParent help expected

Materials and setup

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, invented the phonograph, the practical light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the electrical power grid — all in about ten years, working out of one building. Edison held 1,093 patents — more than any other person in American history. Before Edison's lab, there was no recorded music, no movies, no electric lights in homes, and cities ran on gas lamps. One building in New Jersey changed how the entire world lives.

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

  1. Draw Thomas Edison's laboratory: a long wooden building with windows full of glowing lights.
  2. Add four small pictures around it — one light bulb, one record (phonograph), one movie camera, one power line — one for each world-changing invention.
  3. Color the light bulb bright yellow and make it glow.
  4. Ask: 'Which of these inventions do you think changed daily life the most — and why?'

Learning objectives

  • Recognize that a single laboratory in New Jersey produced inventions that changed daily life worldwide
  • Name four specific Edison inventions and what life was like without each one
  • Wonder at how quickly the world can change when people work hard on new ideas

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

On the night of December 25-26, 1776, George Washington crossed the icy Delaware River in a snowstorm with 2,400 soldiers. They walked 9 miles to Trenton, New Jersey, in a blizzard, arriving at 8 in the morning. The Hessian soldiers there — Germans hired by the British — were surprised. Washington's army won a remarkable victory and captured nearly 1,000 soldiers without losing a single man in the fight. It was the American Revolution's most daring gamble. Before that night, the Continental Army was struggling. After it, people believed America might actually win.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Draw Washington's boats crossing the icy Delaware River at night — make the water dark, choppy, and full of floating ice.
  2. Add 2,400 stick-figure soldiers standing in boats — try to fill the whole river with them.
  3. Draw a snowstorm with diagonal lines across the whole picture.
  4. Write or dictate: 'Washington crossed the river in a storm because ___.'
  5. Ask: 'If you were a soldier that night, would you have gotten in the boat? Why or why not?'

Learning objectives

  • Describe Washington's Delaware crossing with specific details: 2,400 soldiers, December 25-26, blizzard, 9-mile march to Trenton
  • Understand that this gamble happened when the Revolution was nearly lost — it was not a confident army, it was a determined one
  • Develop empathy for real soldiers making an extraordinarily brave decision

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

More battles were fought in New Jersey than in almost any other state during the American Revolution — 296 documented military engagements. New Jersey sat between New York (British headquarters) and Philadelphia (American capital), making it the most contested ground in the war. Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 was a daring gamble: he had fewer than 3,000 soldiers left, enlistments were expiring on January 1, and Congress had left Philadelphia. The surprise victory at Trenton, followed eight days later by the Battle of Princeton, turned the revolution around. Thomas Edison later chose New Jersey for his laboratory — possibly the most productive single building in American history. New Jersey also has more diners than any other state, and the first recorded baseball game was played in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1846!

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Create a New Jersey timeline: 1776 Battle of Trenton (December 26); 1777 Battle of Princeton (January 3); 1787 New Jersey is the third state to ratify the Constitution; 1846 First baseball game in Hoboken; 1879 Edison invents the practical light bulb at Menlo Park.
  2. For each event, draw a scene and write two sentences. For the Trenton entry, include one specific number (soldiers, miles, or days).
  3. On a New Jersey map, mark Trenton (capital), Princeton, Menlo Park (Edison's lab), Hoboken, and draw the Delaware River.
  4. Write a paragraph: Why was Washington's attack at Trenton described as a 'daring gamble' rather than a confident military plan? Use at least two specific facts.
  5. Underline the most surprising number in your paragraph.

Learning objectives

  • Explain why the Battle of Trenton was a daring gamble, not a confident military action
  • Use specific numbers and dates to describe a historical event — not just general descriptions
  • Connect Edison's Menlo Park laboratory to the larger story of New Jersey as a place of consequential history
  • Identify New Jersey's geography — between New York and Philadelphia — as the reason it was so central to the Revolution

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

By December 1776, George Washington's army had shrunk from 20,000 to fewer than 3,000 soldiers. Thousands had gone home. Enlistments expired January 1. British General Howe expected the rebellion to collapse on its own — he paused military operations for winter. Thomas Paine wrote: 'These are the times that try men's souls.' Washington had a choice: wait and watch his army dissolve, or risk everything on a night crossing in a blizzard. He chose the crossing. One week later, after victories at Trenton and Princeton, enlistments surged and France began taking the American cause seriously. Meanwhile, 100 years later, Edison set up his 'invention factory' in New Jersey — the first facility ever designed specifically to manufacture ideas on a schedule. He promised investors 'a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.' He largely delivered. Was Edison's systematic approach to invention more important than any single thing he invented?

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

  1. Research the military situation in December 1776 in detail: How many soldiers had left? What happened to enlistments on January 1? What did Congress do when Philadelphia was threatened?
  2. Read about Edison's Menlo Park lab as a system: How many people worked there? How did Edison organize teams? What was his philosophy about failure and experimentation?
  3. Create a cause-and-effect diagram: The difficult situation of late 1776 → Washington's decision → Battle of Trenton → Battle of Princeton → French alliance → American victory.
  4. Write a two-paragraph essay. Paragraph 1: Analyze Washington's decision — was it brilliant strategy or determined courage under pressure? Use two specific facts. Paragraph 2: Edison invented a process for inventing. Is a system that produces inventions more valuable than any one invention? Argue your position.
  5. Draw a simple map of the Delaware River crossing and the route from Trenton to Princeton, with distances labeled.
  6. Share your essay and map with a family member. Ask: Which decision do you think took more courage — Washington's or Edison's?
  7. Thomas Edison's Menlo Park lab filed over 1,000 patents and licensed inventions to companies for royalties. Pick one everyday object in your home and imagine you invented it. Set a royalty of 5 cents per unit sold. If a company sells 200,000 units a year, what are your royalties, and would you rather take that or a one-time payment of $50,000? Explain your choice.
  8. Edison's team tested thousands of filament materials before finding one that made a long-lasting light bulb. Draw a light bulb and label the glass, filament, and base. Then list 3 household materials you would test as a filament and rank them by which you think would burn longest and why.

Learning objectives

  • Analyze Washington's December 1776 decision using specific evidence about the military situation
  • Evaluate whether strategic risk-taking in crisis is brilliant strategy or determined courage — and argue a position
  • Explain Edison's 'invention factory' as a systematic process, not individual genius
  • Compare two types of consequential New Jersey decisions — military and scientific — and what they share

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

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