Whanganui Regional Museum caters for kids ahead of Christmas

Examples of some the items that children will make on the Christmas activity programme.

The Whanganui Regional Museum is offering a ‘breather’ for busy caregivers ahead of the Christmas shopping squeeze.

For three days in the week leading up to Christmas, caregivers are invited to drop their charges off to the museum for a two-hour session of supervised Christmas creativity.

The programme offers five different activities for children to choose from, with the same activity options repeated on each day.

Education team leader Margie Beautrais says the programme is aimed at children aged between five and ten years old who are able to be left with staff at the museum, giving caregivers an opportunity to go and do some Christmas shopping - and, the museum is bringing back educator Kay Benseman to lead the activities. Kay says: “This opportunity is ideal for whānau who need a couple of hours of child-free time to get ready for the holidays, and it gives the tamariki something fun to do as well.”

The activities have been arranged to complement the museum’s newly-opened exhibition, Whanganui Mūmū – Whanganui By Design, which celebrates design and creativity in the Whanganui region and includes examples of work from local makers, such as hand-made jewellery pieces from Ngaire Swinburne and Frances Stachl.

“As a group, we will explore the new exhibition Whanganui Mūmū – Whanganui By Design for inspiration, then we will be making our own creations.

“Each day we will make jewellery, miniatures and trinkets from polymer clay, and use glitter foam boards to create native flowers of Aotearoa decorations. These will be beautiful for Christmas or summer solstice gifts to koha at this time of Hine Raumati [summer].”

The museum’s public programmes presenter Lisa Reweti will support the activities with her storytelling talents.

Each session is two hours long, from 10am to midday, with a nominal fee of $20 per child, which includes the craft materials.

Spaces are limited to 15 participants per day. Places are confirmed only by pre-payment, required one day prior to attendance. Caregivers can secure a spot via Eftpos in the museum, or details for direct credit payments are on the programme information.

The full schedule of activities and booking information can be found on the museum’s website wrm.org.nz and on the Facebook page.