March Break at Annandale features a pioneer theme
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Learning about pioneers and their life can be fun, but actually doing it? That’s even better.
That’s what children will be doing at Annandale National Historic Site during the March Break (March 14-18).
Pioneer Adventures with mascots Oscar and Wilde begins March 14 for the four to eight-year-olds (9:30 p.m. to 11 a.m.) and nine to 14 and older from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum in Tillsonburg.
Each day has a different theme starting with Time for Dinner, featuring food made during pioneer times.
“We’re going to be making traditional pioneer ‘bread biscuits’ as part of the program,” said Kathleen Watkin, Culture and Heritage Program Coordinator.
“We’re also going to be making some homemade butter – during the session – to use on their biscuits.”
Tuesday is all about toys and games.
“We’re going to be playing some with some of the traditional toys and games that the kids would have played during the pioneer days.”
Participants will also make a kaleidoscope toy to take home.
“It’s a hands-on session but we’re also going to talk about what pioneer kids had for toys. They couldn’t go to a store to buy a toy, they had to make toys out of what they had. They would make their own dolls, go outside to play with broken hoops… if they were lucky their parents would buy them tea sets they could play with. So it’s not games like crokinole (which originated in the 1800s), it’s kids going out in their environment and playing games. So we’re going to talk about those games and play a couple as well.”
Hearth and Home, Wednesday’s theme, will focus on what it was like in a one or two-room pioneer home.
“Everything revolves around the hearth, the fireplace. So we’re actually going to be doing some paper quilting. The kids will also get a recipe on how to make the Tillson Crispy Cookie. We won’t have time to make the cookies but they will be getting something to take home every day so they can do more stuff at home.”
The March Break ‘campers’ will be Celebrating Good Times on Thursday, learning how pioneers celebrated their holidays.
“And how they are different from how we celebrate holidays,” Watkin noted.
That will include the harvest celebration and how they prepared their feast.
“A lot of the presents that were given would have been hand-made and we’re going to make ‘yarn people.’”
The children will also go home with a recipe to make homemade ice cream.
March Break ends Friday with Making Friends: Pioneers and their Indigenous Neighbours.
“We will talk about pioneers and their connection with the Indigenous people of Canada in this community and what we would have learned from the Indigenous people, including learning how to tap the trees for maple syrup, and learning about different herbal remedies.
“We will be doing heart basket weaving and if there is time, we’ll create our own paper canoes. We’re going to be weaving a basket in the shape of a heart.
“The kids will go home with an activity book that will tell them a little more about what we talked about each day – and activities to do at home.”
Register your children by Friday, March 11, but if you can’t make register by Friday, call next week to see if there is still room.
The cost is $15 plus tax per session and there is a 20 per cent discount if a child/youth registers for all five sessions
Registration can be done online via the Connect to Rec 2.0 website or by calling Annandale National Historic Site at 519-842-2294.
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