History & Geography workshops index

Exploring Ancient Egypt (Key Stage 2)

• Become a history detective and investigate Ancient Egyptian artefacts.
• Touch real objects which are over 2,500 years old.
• Encounter many Ancient treasures from our amazing Egyptian gallery.
• Be transformed into characters from the past, including a scribe, priest and mummified pharaoh.

Local History ( Key Stage 2)

Bolton Archives Service is able to offer a new session to schools

• Find out more about your school or your local area through hands-on sessions
• Become an archivist and access historical records, photographs, census data and local maps

Classes will be split into two groups, so that one group will be based in the Bolton History Centre looking at resources on microfilm such as newspapers, whilst the other group continues the hands-on research in the Learning Studio.

Half-way through the visit the groups will change around giving all the pupils the same research opportunities.

Toys (Key Stage 1)

• Encounter fascinating toys from the past and compare them with modern toys.
• See how fascinating mechanical clockwork toys move.
• Investigate materials, which traditional and modern toys are made from.
• Explore, handle and play with a wide range of historic toys.

Samuel Crompton & the History of Spinning at Hall i’ th’ Wood (Key Stage 2)

• See where Samuel Crompton invented his famous Spinning Mule which revolutionised the cotton industry.
• Watch a talented spinner use a spinning wheel to transform wool into thread.
• Become children from the past with traditional costumes and have a go at carding and spinning some yarn from a sheep’s fleece.

Tudor Family Life at Hall i’ th’ Wood (Key Stage 2)

• Meet Master or Mistress Brownlow and re-live life in a Tudor merchant household.
• Be transformed into a variety of characters from the past.
• Participate in an exciting tour of the Great Hall, Bedroom, Kitchen and Dairy.
• Investigate Tudor household artefacts.

Extend your Tudor experience into the afternoon with these optional activities:

• Create a traditional pomander and write with quill pens.
• Participate in Tudor dancing.

Tudor Celebration at Smithills Hall (Key Stage 2)

• Be transformed into Tudors and re-enact a traditional Tudor feast.
• Participate in an exciting tour of the Great Hall, Bower, and Solar.
• Discover the difference between rich and poor people in a Tudor household. 
• Investigate Tudor entertainment and participate in traditional Tudor dancing
  

Extend your Tudor celebration into the afternoon with these optional activities:

• Make observational drawings of the stained glass window in the chapel
  
• Investigate the crests at Smithills Hall and design your own family crest
  

Global Explorer (Key Stage 2)

NOTE: this workshop is only available until December 2009

• Be a global explorer. Discover natural and manmade objects from around the world on an exciting journey through the museum.
• Handle and examine museum objects from the Ethnology and Natural History collections.
• Explore different continents in our World Galleries. Make notes and observational drawings of our specimens and artefacts.
• Investigate how different cultures have used nature as inspiration for the objects they have created.

Victorian Experience at Smithills Hall (Key Stage 2)

• Become a Victorian servant and experience life at Smithills Hall.
• Participate in an exciting tour of the Victorian rooms and sneak a peak into Colonel Ainsworth’s study and library.
• Investigate the different lifestyles of the Ainsworth family and their servants.
• Handle Victorian artefacts and take part in an exciting washday experience.

Extend your Victorian experience into the afternoon with these optional activities:

• Take part in an interactive washday experience.
• Perform drama inspired by Victorian characters from Smithills Hall
  
• Discover how some of our Christmas traditions have evolved