Things in a museum

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 20 minutes

Read together

A museum keeps old things safe. We look with our eyes.

Each old thing has a story.

Do it

1. Visit a small local museum, or look at the online collection of a museum with a grown-up.
2. Pick one old object together. Ask what it was for, who used it and what it was made of.
3. Draw it in a notebook.
4. At home, start a family museum: put three special things on a shelf with labels.

Talk about it

• What do you think this was used for?
• Who made it?

For the grown-up

Objects are primary sources. They are traces of the past that we can look at. Teach "look, don't touch" before the visit. Many museums offer child-friendly trails.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Wineburg, S., Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts (Temple University Press, 2001)
• International Council of Museums (ICOM), definition of a museum and code of ethics

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.