Highlights
How is fabric made and who makes it? At the Try Your Hand at Textiles station, students will explore the world of textile creation through hands-on and object-based learning. Using replicas and working collection items, students will create yarn using a drop spindle, weave using a loom, and pass yarn through a spinning wheel. Students will discuss social class in the Victorian period, focusing on who would be making yarn and cloth
The Try Your Hands at Textiles station is one of five options available as part of the Hands-On History program.
Curriculum Outcome Links
Grade Five Specific Learning Outcomes (Social Studies):
- Learners will investigate how we learn about the past, with a focus on Acadians, African Nova Scotians, Gaels, Mi’kmaq, and additional cultures.
Activities
3-5 Minutes: Introduction
Students will be introduced to the textile equipment (loom, spinning wheel, and drop spindle) and given a demonstration by a Heritage Interpreter.
10-15 Minutes: Textile Creation
Students can try these pieces of equipment with guidance from the Heritage Interpreter. As this station takes place in the basement kitchen, students can also explore the kitchen area. Students will be able to take some of their created textiles home.
3-5 Minutes: Conclusion
Students will discuss their experience using the textile equipment with the Heritage Interpreter as a group. They will discuss who would have been responsible for making textiles in the Victorian age and why the museum has chosen to have the textile equipment in the basement. Students will discuss how the lives of the upstairs house inhabitants would have been different than those living and working downstairs.