Suggested Activities

Some suggested activities to Involve Communities in Museum Week: The Farming Factor

A Night at the Museum

Suggest that museums choose one day during Museum Week when they open outside of normal working hours, so that families can visit together.
This activity could include a ‘farm feast’ of food made from locally grown ingredients in the particular community. If a cookbook has been produced by a community group, perhaps this could be the basis of this.
The meal can be followed by some traditional activities that farmers did at night. For example, have the rooms lit by kerosene lamps or candles, play card or parlour games, perhaps do some knitting or sewing, mending of equipment or clothing, or have demonstrations of these, listen to some of the old wireless shows that were broadcast in days gone by, or have a sing-along!

An “Open Day” at the Museum”

For this, the entry fee is waived and the community is invited to attend the museum with farming implements and equipment highlighted in some way.
Consider including a guest speaker on farming or a related topic of interest.
Children could be involved in making butter and cheese and then tasting it.
Community members could be encouraged to bring along and share photos from the farm in earlier days

Bonfire at the Museum

Make friends with your local fire brigade, but welcome community members to assist in building a big bonfire and hold storytelling sessions around the fire, with traditional campfire food as a treat.

Bring the farm to the museum

Encourage a local farmer to bring along some pet lambs, calves etc to the museum for children to pat (there are companies who do this as well, please look in the Resources Section).
Alternatively hold a shearing demonstration, someone milking a cow, grading apples, a packing apples competition, demonstrate post and rail fence making.