Y4 Silk Museum Trip
Lesson: History
Class: Year 4 Year: 2023 - 2024
Year 3 & 4 have visited the Silk Museum as part of their Victorian learning. Located in Macclesfield, the Silk Museum holds many wonderful artifacts and original mill machinery from it operational days. The children were split into three groups and rotated around three immersive activities.
Victorian House and School room
Children learned how many Victorians washed their clothes, slept and bathed. The school experience introduced the children to the dunce cap, the posture correction device, slate boards and dumbbells for holding horizontally in the air (a method of discipline). Victorian toys were then shared among the groups which proved very popular!
Paradise Mill
Upstairs in the original mill, the children learned where silk came from and how the mill turned silk into intricate designs. Next, the children explored the machines observing how intricate and difficult the process of spinning and weaving was. We learned about the weavers’ cottages in Macclesfield and the jobs people would have continued in their ‘free’ time.
Rag Rug making
In this session the children each made a small rag rug using scraps of materials, a hessian sack and a special tool for threading the material through the hessian. Every child managed to produce a square of rag rug as a wonderful example of how Victorians would have made use of every waste resource available.
Both Year 3 and Year 4 enjoyed their trip, it was wonderful to listen to their questions and observe their impeccable behaviour.
