Take 5

Learn how we lived in daily life gone by

Most of us know that daily life was significantly harder in the past. There are lots of objects to help you explore the rigours of just getting through the day!

1) Start with some objects to help you explore the household chores that would have required lots of effort. Take a look at a washboard from Ullapool Museum and a carpet beater from the Highland Museum of Childhood
Washboard | Museum of the Highlands
Carpet Beater | Museum of the Highlands

2) Next, use the fun ‘What’s that Noise?’ activity to engage your class with the wonderful world of butter-making from Ullapool Museum.
Noise-14 | Museum of the Highlands

3) Discover daily life in the Seaboard villages, with the incredible achievement of Jessie MacDonald, a Highland school teacher whose students collected stories from the community. Those stories have been preserved in an original copy of ‘Down to the Sea’ at the Seaboard Centre.
Jessie MacDonald | Museum of the Highlands
Original copy of Down to the Sea | Museum of the Highlands

Pair this book with the fisherwoman’s creel from Nairn Museum. Fisherwoman’s Creel | Museum of the Highlands

4) Learn about crofting life in the fun activity Could You Survive?
On the Family Croft | Museum of the Highlands

5) Finally, what would it have been like to live through the Potato Famine? It makes a powerful topic for reflection.
The Potato Famine | Museum of the Highlands
Pair this with this supersized potato masher from the West Highland Museum
Extra Large Tattie Masher | Museum of the Highlands