School visits at the National Museum of Rural Life
Get a healthy dose of fresh country air and take in the sights,
sounds and smells as your class explores our 1950s working
farm.
Discover what life was like for country people in the past and
how this has shaped Scotland's countryside today. Experience how
people lived through hardship and compare it with modern
farming.
- Pre-school and Primary school children can try milking 'Clover'
by hand and meet the horses, sheep, cows and hens.
- Older students can examine rural issues such as dairy
production and how our food gets from field to fork.
- Visit our interactive exhibition, Garden
Detectives. Aimed at 5-9 year olds, it will get your class
thinking about the wildlife on their doorstep.
- Explore what role the farm played during the Second World
War. Visit the bothy where German prisoner of war, Heinrich
Luckel, lived.
What do we offer schools at the National Museum of Rural
Life?
- Free admission for all pre-booked school groups.
- Museum building and historic Georgian farmhouse to visit.
- Free accompanied tours of our working 1950s farm, which
preserves many traditional and rare farming methods.
- Excellent resources for ecological studies including woodland,
farmland and wetland habitats.
- Workshops and live interpretation sessions led by experienced
facilitators - full details can be found in the schools
programmes.
- Free teacher-led object handling sessions - explore the past
using real and replica objects.
- Free teachers' packs to accompany your visit to the National
Museum of Rural Life.
- Resources to download.
- Explorer backpacks with binoculars, bug boxes, maps
and activity sheets.
- Farm Explorer tractor-trailer ride.
- Outdoor play tractor, bats, balls and parachute games for
younger pupils
- Bookable lunch area, cloakroom and toilets.
- Sheltered picnic field with benches and room for outdoor
games.
“Fantastic for kids ‒ more museums should be like this.
Excellent for making learning fun and interesting.” Colinton
Primary School