As part of our unit this term of "Making and Marking History" the children in the Rooms 4 and 5 Hub went to visit the Toitu Museum.

The children spent the term exploring their own family histories, and specifically why their families and ancestors settled in Dunedin. The Toitu visit gave the children the opportunity to experience how their ancestors would have travelled to New Zealand, if they had immigrated from Europe or the United Kingdom.  The children explored the replica sailing ship cabin with the family sleeping bunks and communal dining.  They dressed in traditional early european clothes, and pretended to sleep in the sailing ship bunks. Later the children explored the galleries looking at the different sections which portrayed life for the early settlers.  The sod hut showed the children how early Europeans would have lived. They were again able to enter the hut and explore looking and touching the implements and basic furniture that would have been used at the time.  The children enjoyed their time at Toitu immensely and it was fun for them to experience life as it was for their ancestors.