Community Engagement: Curious Kids?  We Can Keep Them Busy!

Curious Kids? We Can Keep Them Busy!

General Tom Thumb Boots
Gen. Tom Thumb’s boots from about 1845-50,
compared to an American penny.
(Collection of the Barnum Museum)

If you’ve watched any of the Curious People Wanted videos on the Barnum Museum’s YouTube channel, you know we have wonderful objects with intriguing stories.  Now younger children can “become curious” about our artifacts with new Kids’ Activities on our website!   There are a dozen+ activities geared to 3rd to 5th grade level students, and they’re designed to be fun, creative, and skill-building.

Design a Jumbo lunchbox? Jumbo the elephant inspired many “everyday” items back in his day!  Or see how your shoe size compares with Gen. Tom Thumb’s boots and learn about scale.   Help us design a complete gown for Mrs. Tom Thumb (Lavinia Warren)—we only have the top!  Or plan an Afterschool Tea inspired by Barnum’s fancy red tea cozy.  Maybe you can help Mr. Barnum find his lost gold ring in the Iranistan mansion maze, or write your own Fairy Tale using Iranistan as the setting.   These are a few examples– there are more to explore!

You will find the Kids’ Activities by going to the Collections page on barnum-museum.org, then scrolling down to the photographs of objects.   Those objects with an activity are marked; click on the object and you can then download an activity sheet from the Kids’ Activity link you see.

Enjoy!

Subscribe to our new YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8uxo4PBZFZm6Elm5DbhVg

Donate to the Barnum Museum!
https://barnum-museum.org/Appeal/