May 19-23, 2025 As part of National Childhood Services Week 2025, the Museum of Childhood Ireland are very happy to host a recorded read-along / draw-along with Tarsila Kruse. My Little Album of Ireland is a bilingual wordbook from Tarsila & Juliette Saumande. It takes very young readers on an illustrated fun-filled tour of Ireland.… Continue reading Childhood Services Week / Seachtain Seirbhísí Leanaí
Category: Education
Children as Active Citizens
Election by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free Have you ever seen a young baby explore the environment around them? Squeezing, tapping and tasting items that intrigue them. Exploring the world in this manner shows a young toddler’s level of interest in relating to and participating in the world. This form of exploration is also known as sensory… Continue reading Children as Active Citizens
The Educator’s Image of the Child as a Learner
This blog is written by the Museum’s Education Team member, Dr Rita Melia, to coincide with Children’s Workshops – Childhood Services Week 2024 – National Childhood Network (NCN). Encouraging Creativity – Igniting Joy. The blog considers what influences the educator’s image of the child as a learner. The theory of the looking glass self, first… Continue reading The Educator’s Image of the Child as a Learner
Childhood Services Week Seachtain Seirbhísí Leanaí May 2024
13th-17th May The picture book ‘Granny Makes Me Grumpy’ explores the perception of old age through the eyes of a child and how this perspective changes and matures with age. It’s a picture book that the Museum of Childhood Ireland Músaem Óige na hÉireann feels is for everyone. Karolina Olchowska felt it was important to… Continue reading Childhood Services Week Seachtain Seirbhísí Leanaí May 2024
Cantonese Flowerboards: From Hong Kong to Ireland
Welcome to a trilingual blog about Flowerboards, by Cantonese in Ireland (www.cantoneseireland.ie). Flowerboards are an important feature of Hong Kong’s cultural heritage. Read on to understand what flowerboards are, why and how they are made, and see a few that featured in St Patrick’s Day parades! What are flowerboards? Flowerboards are used for ‘for celebrating… Continue reading Cantonese Flowerboards: From Hong Kong to Ireland
Reflections on … when school doesn’t seem to be an option
What happens when a young person just can’t go to school? One response is iScoil, a non-profit online learning service for early school leavers, aged 13-16. Educational Welfare Officers refer young people to iScoil. There, they encounter an online personalised learning plan, designed to bring out the best of the student’s abilities and to provide… Continue reading Reflections on … when school doesn’t seem to be an option
When school isn’t an option: A parent’s story
It started towards the end of Primary School. Fifth class had already been difficult and an ongoing family health crisis that had dropped a bomb into our life. By the last term of Fifth Class, Róisín* (name changed) had had enough. It was all just too much. “I can’t” said the previously fun, happy, smiley… Continue reading When school isn’t an option: A parent’s story
When school isn’t an option: Libby’s story
Hello, my name is Libby. I am a 15-year-old student of iScoil and this is my story. I started secondary school in September 2019 and I loved it. To be able to walk around school, have my own locker, go to buy lunch and eat with everyone. But when Covid hit, I was inside so… Continue reading When school isn’t an option: Libby’s story
Reflections on … childhood adventures, play, risk and freedom
I wonder if the idea of a museum of childhood is a contradiction in terms? A museum is a space for preservation after all, whereas childhood should be a space for unimpeded activities of playful exploring, discarding, abandoning, followed by more play. Yet, childhood makes an indelible mark on our mind’s eye, and, as science… Continue reading Reflections on … childhood adventures, play, risk and freedom
On the 40th anniversary of the ban on corporal punishment…
Ireland’s legacy of physical abuse in religious run schools Many Irish children had secure, happy school experiences. However a proportion of children who went to religious run schools experienced physical and emotional abuse. I was a 12-year-old student when a punch from the clerical Headmaster at one of Ireland’s oldest Catholic secondary schools permanently damaged… Continue reading On the 40th anniversary of the ban on corporal punishment…