We went to Family Day at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology today and it was packed! We were running late with our previous errands and lunch, so we didn’t arrive until 1:30p (it started at 1). The event was much more crowded than the last one that we attended (One of the staff told me it was 2-3 times their previous high attendance). I like to think our promotion of the event helped with their crowds.
Family Day Presentation
We walked in as a presentation on Mummy Making was starting. The presenter was great at presenting things at the kids level, but in an interesting way. I learned some gross stuff (how a hook was probably used to liquify the brain so it would drain out of the nose – yuck) and other interesting things – like how amulets were inserted into the mummy over the incisions that were used to remove the internal organs.
The presentation was standing room only with kids sitting in the aisle as well. Even with the crowds, it was still easy to hear and see the presentation.
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Family Day Crafts
After the presentation, we tried to do the Mummy making project, but they had just run out of dolls to use as the mummy and coffins. We also found that they had run out of the mummy masks to color.
We did a few of the other activities and during that time they came up with new activities. They made copies of another mummy mask and had pyramids for the kids to color and assemble. I was really impressed with how they recovered when faced with unexpected crowds.
Overall Impression of Family Day
Overall we had a great time and were not intimidated by the large crowds. The museum staff did a great job adapting to larger than expected crowds and developing alternate activities. We are looking forward to attending the next family day this spring. Watch the blog for more details as they are published.
