“Scouting Out Arkansas History”
Workshop for Boy and Girl Scouts to be held at
Old Independence Regional Museum
Old Independence Regional Museum will present a special program for Boy and Girl Scouts on Monday, June 29th from 9:30 to 12:30. Through hands-on demonstrations, crafts and traditional games, scouts between the ages of 6 and 12 will learn about life on the Arkansas frontier. They will make several take-home craft items, and those who complete the workshop will be awarded a limited edition, custom designed Old Independence patch. The fee for the workshop will be $5.00. Registration is required and the workshop is limited to 100 individuals.
“We developed this workshop at the suggestion of one of our volunteers. It is designed to provide Scouts with a fun way to learn about history and to experience what life was like for children on the Arkansas Frontier,” states Amanda Nikkel the Volunteer/Education Coordinator for the Museum. Nikkel goes on to say that Scouts who participate in the workshop will be given a check list of 8 or 9 “Frontier Tasks”, and they will travel through the Museum’s exhibits and out onto the side lawn in order to complete all the activities. Only after Scouts have completed all their “Tasks” will they receive their patches.
Museum volunteers and staff will lead the workshop and some of the “Frontier Tasks” include: Chores, Quill Pen Writing, Candle-Making, Butter Churning, Dyeing Fabric, Spinning Wool, and more. Old-Fashioned games, like the “Game of Graces” and the Rolling Hoop, will be played outside, weather permitting. Nikkel says, “This workshop provides an opportunity for today’s scouts to have some of the real experiences that children of a similar age would have had on the Arkansas frontier around 200 years ago.”
Nikkel goes on to say that during this workshop “children will learn by doing, so that when they are studying history and read about something like spinning they can say “I’ve done that”.
Old Independence Regional Museum, located at 380 South Ninth Street in Batesville is non-profit institution serving 12-counties in north central Arkansas. The Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Regular admission is $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for seniors and $1.00 for children. The museum also offers a variety of specialized tours and workshops, day camps, family days, and other programs. The full schedule of 2009 events can be found at the museum’s website www.oirm.org. The museum is located at 380 South 9th street, between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville. The Museum’s Gift Shop is open to the public and has an extensive collection of books, historical reproductions and gift items related to local history and culture for all ages. Call 870-793-2121 for more information.
