Where can you get a close-up look at a Native American buffalo hide painting, learn how to build a sod house and take a behind-the-scenes tour with museum curators to learn how exhibitions are produced?

In your own home or classroom, thanks to the "Smithsonian's History Explorer." The new website allows you to do all this and much, much more.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History launched the site on Sept. 15 in partnership with Thinkfinity.org with a grant from the Verizon Foundation.

"The Smithsonian Institution has the premier collection of artifacts and information to share with teachers, parents, students and others," said Patrick Gaston, Verizon Foundation president. "The website offers free, standards-based, innovative resources for teaching and learning American history."

The site is simple to use. Visitors can search by grade level, keyword and historical era for lessons, activities and interactive games that feature objects from the more than three million artifacts in the museum's collections. Teachers can integrate the activities, media clips and artifacts into any K-12 curriculum and find professional development opportunities to help them bring history to life for their students.

"Smithsonian's History Explorer" was developed with guidance from a national teacher advisory group and draws on the expertise of the museum's renowned curatorial staff - making it a unique educational tool.

Access "Smithsonian's History Explorer" at http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu and via http://thinkfinity.org.