Join the Museum staff and volunteers for a day of play! Old Independence Regional Museum will host its fall Home School Day on Monday, September 30, 2013 from 9 a.m. to Noon, with sign-in beginning at 8:45 a.m. Registration and a program fee of $5 are due by September 25, 2013. This fall our theme for Home School Day is Historic Toys and Games.
Parlor Games became very popular among the upper and middle classes during the 19th century. These games were often played during small parties, in mixed company, and usually in the parlor, hence the name. Charades was a very popular parlor game that is still played today. Students will learn parlor games from the Victorian era such as Lookabout, Throwing the Smile, and the Name Game.
The board game Mancala is hundreds of years old and is not only fun, but it also teaches skills like strategy and planning. Fox and Geese and Draughts are other board games that students will be able to try.
The lawn games of shuttlecock and battledore, skittles, and quoits will be played on the side lawn of the museum. Students will also participate in Trundling and Skin the Snake relay races.
Toys were often made from things that could be found around the home or in their environment. Students will make a set of clay marbles, a Jacob’s ladder, and a thaumatrope.
Again, the cost for this program is $5.00 per participant and space is limited to 50 participants.
Old Independence serves a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820s Arkansas territory.
This humanities program is made possible by local support from Independence County and the City of Batesville, as well as by Challenge Grant Endowment funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
