MILTON — Whether they're feeding chickens, pumping water or using an old fashioned work bench to carve sticks for games, children remain enthralled by the hands-on activities at the New Hampshire Farm Museum.

It was especially true during Children's Days on the Farm this past weekend as the museum offered plenty of traditional games and activities – like using an old fashioned washing machine and decorating a May pole.

Curator Kathleen Shea said children are drawn to learning about how farm chores were accomplished in previous centuries because the machinery and techniques — such as using hand pumps and clotheslines — is new to them.

“Most kids don't get to do that,” Shea said, adding kids enjoy playing with the old-fashioned wash tubs and laundry wringers.

“They love water,” Shea said.

She said kids enjoy pumping water into buckets, carrying them around and filling the wash bins.

First-time visitor Mary Harrison said her son, Tripp, 4, loved being able to run around as there is nothing like the museum around their home in Winthrop, Mass.

“This isn't a tradition for us – I wish it was,” Harrison said.

He said he loved grinding corn to feed the chickens.

Kent and Diane Marzoli, of Rochester, said they remember visiting the museum about 25 years ago, but were pleasantly surprised to see how many activities it offered children when they brought their two grandchildren, Gregory, 8, and Andrew, 5, both of Berwick, Maine.

“I was fortunate when I grew up since my cousins had a dairy farm so I was exposed to that,” Marzoli said, adding he even learned about woodworking and stonecutting from his grandfather.

As a result, he was glad to see his grandsons enjoy learning about the farm by getting their hands on some tools.

Under the guidance of Ed Carley, a volunteer from Milton, the boys learned how to use a drawknife to carve sticks while sitting on a shavehorse — an old fashioned wooden work bench.

“These things were used to make tool handles for axes, hammers and rakes,” Carley said.

He said he's also used traditional techniques to carve wooden spoons, which takes him about three hours.

Carley said he started using a shavehorse after seeing a demonstration as a boy at the Acton Fair in Maine years ago.

“I sat down and was hooked,” Carley said.

He was delighted to pass on his knowledge to young, eager visitors, he said.

Shea said the children also enjoyed rides on a horse-drawn wagon, played old-fashioned games and decorated scarecrows to keep birds away from small gardens where a variety of traditional vegetables were growing.

“Everything we have planted, we also have planted in our fields,” Shea said.

Children helped harvest the crops in the past and young visitors can lend a hand later this year, she said.

For more information, including a schedule of events at the N.H. Farm Museum, call (603) 652-7840 or visit their website.

jquinn@newstote.com