History/Education
More than 60 ships from 20 countries and 7,000+ international sailors will participate in the June 2026 Sail250® Virginia events. This offers incredible opportunities for students of all ages across the Commonwealth of Virginia to get involved and incorporate maritime themes into their educational curriculum in school or at home! Sail250® Virginia programming and events will illustrate the importance of Virginia’s maritime community throughout our history and in our modern world, recognize the importance of our maritime military services, and highlight the strong international partnerships between Virginia and the world.
This page provides educators with the resources they need to participate in the Sail250® Virginia events – as part of our Adopt-A-Ship program, with more than 200 maritime themed online educational links, or with ideas for maritime themed projects to engage their students. We hope you enjoy this material and look forward to you being part of the Sail250® Virginia events!
ADOPT-A-SHIP
The Sail250® Virginia Adopt-A-Ship program allows schools, homeschool co-ops, youth programs, and civic organizations from across Virginia to directly engage with the international sailors of the visiting ships. Participating schools and organizations can “adopt” a specific ship and become ambassadors for Virginia – learning about the country from which their ship hails, communicating with the ship’s crew before their arrival, and even welcoming their ship to Virginia in June 2026. This downloadable PDF provides more information about the Sail250® Virginia Adopt-A-Ship program and how to get involved.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
The Sail250® Virginia educational team has collected links to more than 200 online resources and nearly 100 books that focus on maritime history from our country’s 250 years. These resources include personal narratives and oral histories, videos, and educational curriculum from some of the best maritime institutions around the country. Whether you are a teacher, parent, youth leader, or just interested in maritime history, this collection of resources contains great content for you to enjoy and share! The downloadable PDF allows you to quickly find maritime content related to specific themes, time periods, or formats, and to directly access those links from the PDF.
SUGGESTED MARITIME PROJECTS
Looking for inspiration on how to engage your students in maritime projects related to the Sail250® Virginia events? This collection of maritime themed projects and educational content has something for students of all ages – from coloring and activity books to mock U.N. style maritime incidents from world history. Whether you are in a classroom, or in a kitchen (galley), find a project that is right for you and your student’s interests and abilities.
Thank you to our Sponsors
Sail250® Virginia is produced by Sail Norfolk, the maritime division of
Norfolk Festevents, Ltd. (501C3), based in Norfolk, VA.