COVER STORY

Children explore the Iron Age roundhouse

A mammoth adventure

Visit Corinium Museum’s brand new Stone Age to Early Roman galleries! When families enter the new galleries they step back into the past, greeted by a huge tusk and teeth from a woolly mammoth which used to roam the Cotswold landscape.

By the time families reach the Iron Age, they are welcomed by an Iron Age dog skeleton, nick-named Rusty through the museum’s ‘Name the Iron Age Dog’ competition. Children are invited to explore the replica round house with soft-play logs, a cauldron and a wood fire creating a realistic but safe experience of Iron Age living. Finally, the Romans arrive, bringing the Roman cavalry with their horses to Cirencester. The new galleries have interactive films and handling objects to bring the past to life for everyone.

Handmade stone tools and tiny flints are clues left behind by people who lived alongside mammoths and other animals in this area. As you make your way through time from the Palaeolithic era to the Neolithic, beautiful pottery emerges. Yellow metals shine from the display cases with bronze axes and even gold jewellery telling visitors that the Bronze Age has arrived.

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SCHOOL WORKSHOP

Corinium Museum has launched a fantastic new Stone Age to Iron Age workshop for schools which encourages children to explore the ancient past through hands-on activities. Children can roleplay characters by dressing up in Stone Age furs, Bronze Age tunics or patterned Iron Age clothing. Secret feely boxes ask them to guess the ancient object. Is it a bronze axe, a fishing net, an ancient pot, or something else? Baskets of food are waiting to be sorted – did people from the past eat the same food as we do today? And a fun jigsaw lets children recreate the settlements from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age periods. The museum also has Stone Age to Iron Age loans boxes for schools with all resources meeting KS2 national curriculum requirements, making learning lots of fun!

Midnight’s Winter Trail

Ben Miller with his new book and Iron Age dog, Rusty

Comedian and children’s author Ben Miller is leading families on a merry hunt through the Corinium Museum this winter to celebrate the release of his new children’s book ‘How I Became a Dog Called Midnight’. From 1 December 2021 to 28 February 2022, the museum is inviting families to follow Midnight’s journey through its galleries to find drawings from Ben’s book. The digital trail encourages younger children to use their observational skills while older children can click on the image they have found to reveal some of the story. Adults can take part too by reading snippets to the children. When children have finished the trail, they can claim a sticker as a prize from the museum’s Welcome Desk.

Corinium Museum Explorer’s Handbook

Corinium Museum has just launched an interactive guidebook for children. The book aims to encourage children to ‘Discover Archaeology!’ It features at-home activities, including bread making, crossword puzzles, colouring-in and spot the difference. Special stickers, included with the book, let children learn about Beaker burials, Roman town buildings, Roman gods and goddesses, the Anglo-Saxons and medieval monks. The book offers an enjoyable way for children to discover museum objects and is available from the museum or online shop.