Museum at Home is a weekly blog series offering fun and educational hands-on activities for children to do at home over the summer. Each week throughout July and August, the St. Catharines Museum will post a new history-inspired activity aimed to spark curiousity and learning.
Become a Bedroom Archaeologist!
Materials
- Notebook or paper
- Pen or pencil
What can you learn from your STUFF?
We all have STUFF. Big stuff. Little stuff. New stuff. Old stuff. Stuff we can play with. Stuff we can wear. Stuff that reminds us of special memories. The list goes on!
This STUFF can tell us a lot about ourselves, the stories that make us who we are, and what is special to us. And a lot of this stuff can be found in our bedrooms.
Over the course of three Museum at Home activities published throughout the summer,we’ll give you the tools to become an archaeologist, and study the contents of your bedroom. An archaeologist is a person who learns about the past by studying the STUFF people have left behind. As a bedroom archaeologist, you can study the stuff you find in your own room and learn what can tell about you!
Read below for Part I of the Museum at Home Bedroom Archaeology activity:
Activity: Part I – Inventory
In an important part of being an archaeologist is making a list of your discoveries and keeping it organized. This list is called an inventory.
Instructions
- Grab a notebook or paper and a pencil or pen and head to your bedroom.
- Sit somewhere comfortable and take a moment to look around your room. Make notes about what your room looks like by answering the following questions. What colour are the walls? What colour is your bedspread? What STUFF stands out to you? Do you share a bedroom? If so, with whom? Make a special note of this and any other details you think are important to record.
- Draw a birds-eye-view map of your bedroom. Label the furniture in the room, as well as any doors, closets, or windows.
- With your notebook, list ten items in your bedroom that are special to you. These can be books, toys, clothes, photographs, games, technology, a blanket, anything! Be sure to number this list.
- Using your map, mark the location of each item on your list. You can mark the item by its number on your list, its name, or by drawing a special symbol.
You have now created an archaeology inventory of your bedroom as well as a archaeology map! Well done! Stay tuned for Part II of the Museum at Home Bedroom Archaeology activity. We’ll post in a few weeks!
We’d love for you to share what you’ve learned with us! Share your bedroom archaeology map on social media, and tag us tag us on Twitter or Instagram at @stcmuseum #stcmuseum or find us on Facebook! Your story is part of St. Catharines’ story!
[…] summertime Bedroom Archaeology activity. Before you go further, make sure you’ve completed the first Bedroom Archaeology activity, inventorying your […]
[…] Bedroom Archaeology activity series. Before you go further, make sure you’ve completed the first Bedroom Archaeology activity to inventory your STUFF, and the second Bedroom Archaeology activity to catalogue your […]