Family Sunday in Museum of the Origins of the Polish State

We noticed that the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State had prepared a special event for families. It is named Family Sundays. We wanted to give it a try, so a few minutes before 11 AM we went to the Museum building. In the hall, a group of children had gathered with their parents.

In the museum lobby there were models showing Gniezno in the old days. The kids liked them a lot, and it was a sign that the rest of our plan for that day was spot on. But more about that in the next post.

At 11 AM the museum staff appeared and took us to the basement of the building. There, in an interesting way, the children learned what is in the museum's collections and found out the difference between replicas and original pieces. In the room, together with our guides, there was a mysterious chest with the items we were going to talk about. The children could take an active part in the program and answer questions, and they even got magnifying glasses to see the details better. Justine helped to draw items from the trunk. She pulled out a bone which in the old days was used as a skate. It seems that people liked sliding on ice back then too.

Fun fact: skates like this were made from long bones of cattle or horses. Horse bones were valued more, because they are thicker, longer and harder. People tied bone skates to their shoes and pushed themselves across the ice with two iron-tipped sticks.

Photo by: MPPP

We moved to the next rooms, and in each of them we had a presentation of another object pulled out of the trunk. At the end of the tour, the kids had to answer quiz questions that tested what they had learned. And another nice surprise - everyone left the museum with a gift. We got a book and a Memo game.

Photo by: MPPP

Family Sundays at the museum are a great initiative. I think other museums could do the same. The subject of the museum's collections is not easy or particularly engaging, but we saw that with a little effort it can be made interesting for children. It is worth mentioning that "Family Sundays" are free and the meetings are held regularly. The kids are already asking when we will come back. Probably soon, because we really liked it there.