Cruinniú na nÓg – The Museum of Childhood Ireland

A day of free creativity for children and young people

ABOUT: Ireland is the first, and only, country in the world to have a national day of free creativity for children and young people under 18. Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth Plan to enable the creative potential of children and young people. The inaugural Cruinniú na nÓg took place on 23rd June 2018 ( the same year that the Museum of Childhood Ireland was established!) and for the past number of years, including under exceptional circumstances in 2020, young people and families have come together to enjoy, a wide range of creative activities including workshops and tutorials to recitals and readings in every city, town and village across the country. Delivered in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities and supported by RTÉ, you are invited to participate in a programme of fun, free, creative activities; from graffiti art workshops to stop-motion animation, to coding and architecture workshops!

Cruinniú na nÓg 2024

Story Telling and Book Making Workshop

Lauren, Hadjer and Delaney from the Museum of Childhood Ireland team

Titanic stories, Gabriel, age 6

To celebrate Cruinniú na nÓg 2024 on Saturday June 15th, the team at the Museum of Childhood Ireland, will hold a story telling and book making workshop for families, with our long-time friends at Bloomfields Shopping Centre, Dún Laoghaire, between 11am and 5pm. There is no need to book as this is a drop by event. Looking forward to seeing you there.

The snake , who looked like a long knitted scarf spoke to the boy, and said there is trouble coming…Snake stories, Harvey, age 8

John was quite brave, he was also very cheeky. Denny, age 10

Oisin fell from his horse, and in a flash of green magic became an old, old man, by Zöe, age 9

All materials for the workshop will be provided. The workshop is kindly sponsored by our wonderful supporters at Faber Castell, Bloomfields Shopping centre, and Starbucks

Beautiful Faber Castell materials!

Attitude was the President and she bought new big boots for her special day. She polished her crown early in the morning and ironed her best dress….Sar, age 8

They all lived happily ever after, and had pizza for dinner, by John, age 6

Happiness ruled, by Isla, age 6

In the garden there were butterflies and a special flower, by Heidi, age 13

There they discovered a magical land, by Julie, age 4

Everyone was so happy, by Julian, age 5

But then they came to a river…Anna, age 3

A terrible storm came, by Anya, age 5

Then a magic machine appeared to push the storm away and the sun began to shine through the clouds, by Tom, age 7

But the wind still blew the hats this way and that, by Sam, age 9

Charlie cat saved the day, by Emma age 4 3/4

They began the garden all over again!

No booking required. The workshops will operate on a first come, first served basis.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lauren Kavanagh and Dakota Oliveira, MCI team

Cruinniú na nÓg 2023

A day of family and community outdoor fun and creativity for Cruinniú na nÓg 2023. We played street games, we talked and shared and pavement chalked. We set up tables for drawing, painting and making – what we wanted our museum to be – what in our locality inspired us! We made some fantastic models, using only found, borrowed, or recycled materials, LEGO, magnetic squares, and we drew on inspiration from a patchwork home-craft teenager’s skirt (Daisy, 1970s) in the museum’s collection, with our fantastic artist Jean. And we’ve also launched our young songwriters, music composers platform!