5 great at-home craft tutorials from Irish museums to occupy the kids this week

With school officially out for the summer, these craft tutorials from some of Ireland’s best cultural centres are perfect for keeping kids occupied

School may be out for summer, but as we’ve all been living under lockdown for three months, finding activities to keep the kids entertained is getting tougher and tougher.

We’d love to be heading to some of the city’s best cultural centres for a day out, but this may not be possible for another few weeks. In the meantime, museums and galleries around Dublin have been making the most of their presence online, posting content for the whole family to enjoy from home as we wait for them to reopen.

If you’re in the mood to get crafty this weekend, here are some of our favourite tutorials we’ve spotted.

The Chester Beatty Library’s homemade kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope is such a fun and beautiful toy for a child, and making your own adds so much more to the fun. The Chester Beatty Library posted this creative tutorial on their YouTube channel, and many of the supplies you probably already have at home.

IMMA’s Explorer at Home projects

Every Wednesday afternoon on their social media channels, the Irish Museum of Modern Art posts a simple and fun craft tutorial to keep the boredom at bay for interested kids. There have been some truly spectacular projects over the last number of weeks, all inspired by modern art, including a Pride Month special. This week, it’s creating your own mobile, inspired by Julio Le Parc’s Continuel-mobil Argent, using tissue paper, tinfoil and twigs.

MoLI’s Bright Sparks Creative Bursts

A newcomer to the Irish museum scene, the Museum of Literature Ireland features some fantastic works from the country’s brightest literary sparks, and even during lockdown, are encouraging the small bright sparks at home to join in. Their Creative Bursts videos are hosted by award-winning children’s author Sarah Webb, and give kids the opportunity to get lost in a page of writing, using story prompts and games to keep the fun of literature alive at home.

The National Museum of Ireland’s Museum at Home projects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeAhhD7bjOs&feature=emb_logo

Whether it’s natural history, decorative arts, country life or archaeology your little one is into, the National Museum has something for everyone with their Museum at Home videos. One of our favourites is the giant Irish deer antlers tutorial above, but there are countless resources around the different sections of the museum to enjoy, including making your own musical instrument, and learning to write in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The National Gallery’s Inspired by- art series

If your kids are art-crazy, the National Gallery’s fun and colourful tutorials are the best way to get them learning about art history while letting their creative juices flow. From Monet to Van Gogh, there are easy ways to recreate some of the most famous artworks in the world, and will have them raring to get back to the surroundings of the gallery later this summer.

Feature image: Pexels

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