York Castle Museum

York Castle Museum has a busy programme of workshops for schools and the new Sixties gallery offers an exciting opportunity for students to learn about life in the 20th century.

The Swinging Sixties workshop

Our learning team has devised this new one-hour workshop for Key Stage 2 children, which fits in with the National Curriculum Unit, Britain since 1948. It is available for visiting groups from the beginning of the summer term, 2008.

During the workshop, pupils explore one of the defining decades of the 20th century by visiting our exciting new 1960s gallery and handling original objects.

They:

• listen to music of the time and choose which are 60s tunes and which aren't;
• investigate costume and have the chance to try on clothes from the 50s and 60s, deciding which outfit belongs in which decade;
• look at furniture styles and decide what pieces should go in our 50s dolls' house, and what should go in our 60s dolls' house;
• search for the launch password at 'mission control' and launch their own rocket!

After becoming 'experts' in the 1960s, pupils design their own 60s display by choosing objects from our 'museum stores', demonstrating what they have learned about how to pick out a 1960s object from a collection of other items.

Swing on down to the new Sixties gallery for a snapshot of how Britain has changed since 1948!

Full schools programme

Find more details about booking a school visit, our full workshop programme and other schools information at our main York Castle Museum website.

Our schools booking office can be contacted by telephone on 01904 650333 or by email at groupbookings@ymt.org.uk