A game to learn

A visit to the museum can truly be a fun and exciting activity for the whole family! There are countless interesting things to see, explore and experience. All kinds of old houses, artefacts, pictures and stories that combine the thoughts of the generations and can be a trigger for fun conversations and speculations. A visit to the museum bridges the gap between generations.  

A trail game that guides visitors through all the museum buildings always brings happiness, and the same can be said about the seasonal workshops that belong in the rough but warm environment of the sheep house. In the spring we paint Easter eggs and plant flowers. During the summer there is free painting, construction and cumin picking. As winter approaches, we send postcards to loved ones, work with wool and make mouse ladders. If families or smaller groups bring lunch and picnic blankets, the garden outside the House is an ideal place to have a sweet moment in the awareness of the present surrounded by the past. 

It's fun to be a child at the museum, but it's important to always be accompanied by an adult. There is no admission fee for under 18s.  

What guests had to say: 

"visiting the museum with my grandson was wonderful. Go through the exhibitions through his eyes and stop at what interested him, which was completely different than I would have possibly noticed".  

"The kids loved the orienteering game. Incredibly fun and fit!"  

"a pleasant and sincere time together. Then we could go on a beach trip afterwards!” 

Museum education – School groups 

One of the cornerstones of professional museum work is museum education. The museum puts a lot of effort into getting schools to visit throughout the school year, and we cherish the relationships we have with the county's schools. The educational projects should underpin the work done within the walls of the classroom and possibly serve as an introduction to the daily tasks of students and teachers.  

The projects are presented in such a way that it is easy to use the knowledge of the museum visit for processing when you get back to the classroom! We want to support the work done in the schools and add new dimensions to approaches and teaching methods. It is the goal of the Byggðasafn to continue to develop diverse, challenging, fun and interesting educational projects based on the museum's advantages, exhibitions and the museum area itself. These projects will be much better if they are done in collaboration with the school community and developed further in active collaboration with teachers and student groups.  

For the youngest guests 

Kindergarten students are frequent and very pleasant visitors. The form of their visits is of all kinds. Sometimes the museum teacher has received countless questions before he can ask the students. Traditionally, there are visits to the Þorran, and then the children are taught about lost farming practices and milk processing. Often Christmas just creeps in there and general housekeeping in the 18th and 19th centuries. These are sincere and relaxed visits where the children are in charge within a certain framework.

The cloak of history is preserved with us. Its origin is unknown, but one thing is certain that the person who wraps himself in the cloak has become. This is a fun and flowing program where the kids take turns choosing an exciting place inside the museum's exhibits and wrapping themselves in the cloak of history. Then others have to be completely silent, so quiet you can hear a sewing needle drop. Then the one who has the cloak of history on his shoulders can tell. We at the museum also have great stories to tell!  

Lubba's audio stories 

The oldest kindergarten students and the youngest primary school students can visit the museum dog Lubba, who many students know from the book about Lubba, who finds tongue bones. The students team up to help Lubba find the story bones hidden here and there around the museum. The project is a game, but along the way a little bit of historical information, strange words and some speech sounds. The talking bones in the museum contain fun audio stories that are true to the day!

Come and try Icelandic folk customs 

Soon after Easter we open a "pop up" wool workshop at the museum. A worker is on duty with us museum employees when we welcome students from all over the world who have in common that they are in the 4th grade and work with the subject "Come and see Icelandic customs". The students are divided into several groups and go to different stations in the museum and get to know firsthand various things that characterized the life and work of Icelanders in the past. Students get to comb wool, make yarn, even spin with a tail pin, handle dried cod heads, travel the waterways and look for ships so that only a few are picked up. Every year several hundred students go through this program with us. Each visit is unique, but they all have one thing in common: great fun!

The Christmas trees are moving 

It is a regular part of Advent to collaborate with schools and visit either one year group or one class with three Christmas trees in their suitcases. The Christmas trees are reproductions of one of our collectibles, but we keep countless homemade Christmas trees. Education and togetherness, reflections on Christmas then and now. The Christmas trees are then left behind and the students get to decorate them according to their own ideas. Finally, the trees are put up at the Árnesing Museum's Christmas exhibition. The Christmas trees have already gone to Vallaskóli, the Laugarvatn High School and Flóaskóli.   

The museum also works with its local community, and a tradition has been created that students in the 10th grade at the Kindergarten in Eyrarbakki and Stokkseyri have come to the museum and decorated a replica of the abandoned spit Christmas tree from Hrun. The decoration of Christmas trees will thus become a gathering place for children from many parts of the county during Advent.    

Is a magic wand preserved at Bygðasafn Árnesinga? 

We are used to everything when it comes to welcoming older students to what can be called creative school visits, whether the students draw, play, write or something else entirely. Students in creative writing in secondary schools of the county have visited us and let the fun rage. The visits have been structured in such a way that after a short introduction, the students are divided into groups and they are allowed to go around the museum on their own with a task description. The project can be easily used in teaching and for continued creativity in the next lessons.  

The treasures of the folk houses 

The carpentry students of the Polytechnic School of Southland have visited the museum regularly in connection with a phase of their studies. Curriculum is being prepared by the museum that suits their course description. Students work on a project here in Eyrarbakki in connection with the old houses in the village, and the museum houses are part of that diverse flora. The course material is developed in great and close cooperation with teachers and students of the carpentry department, and professionals are brought to the table.  

We can handle the cases 

University visits have been tailored to each group individually. Groups have received lectures on the relevant topic or come to some kind of prying visit where one specific topic is discussed.  

More about school visits by phone:

Phone 483 1504 /483 1082 and by email info@byggdasafn.is