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Primary School

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Students looking at treaty poster
Print Hand Vector

Primary School Tours

Book an exciting and engaging visit for your class to the National Print Museum! In this tour, students will learn all about Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, and how newspapers, books and posters were created before the arrival of today’s computers. The class will also get to work directly with artifacts from the Museum’s collection, learn about a selection of the traditional printing machines, hand-set and print their own poster, and make and decorate their very own printer’s hat! Your group can test their knowledge back in the classroom with the activities and quizzes in our Primary School Teacher’s Fact and Activity Pack.

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Girl examining type pieces

Tour Structure and Learning Outcomes

The tour is cross-curricular in nature and interprets a number of strands within the Primary School History, Visual Arts, Science and English curriculum. There are three core Activities.

Activity 1: Tour of Printing Machines & Finishing Area: During this hands-on and engaging tour, children learn about a selection of the traditional printing machines in the Museum’s collection including the Wooden Press, Columbian Press, Wharfedale Stop-Cylinder Press and Platen Presses. Children view an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation and help their guide to explore and spot the printing errors throughout.  The tour closes in the Finishing Area, where children are invited to interact with the traditional perforating and hole-punching machines.

Activity 2: Hand Composing & Poster Printing: During this activity, children learn about Johannes Gutenberg and his invention of movable type. They learn about aspects of the traditional composing of text for printing (the case-room, composing stick, movable type, uppercase and lower case, inking up, the proofing press etc.). Each child is then invited to hand-compose their names and insert them into a ‘forme’ in order to print their own ‘Wanted’ poster.

Activity 3: Printer’s Hat-making: A printer’s hat was one of the first things an apprentice printer learned to make. During this activity, children learn to make a similar hat using the traditional Japanese paper craft of origami. Once the hat is complete, children decorate and personalise their hat using wooden ink stampers.

Primary School Curriculum Links

  • Print
  • Drawing
  • Construction
  • Looking & Responding

  • Working as an historian – time and chronology, using evidence, change and continuity, cause and effect, using evidence, empathy
    Story, life, society, work and culture in the past
  • Continuity and change over time
  • Eras of conflict and change
  • Politics, conflict and society

  • Receptiveness to language
  • Emotional and imaginative development through language

  • Working scientifically – questioning, observing, predicting
  • Designing and making – exploring, making

  • Visual
  • Auditory
  • Kin-aesthetic
Round stain glass window of the print museum building

Practical Info and Booking

The tour lasts approximately 90 minutes and the cost is €3 per student, with teachers free.

Make a Booking
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A tour guide assists a student with operating the perforator

Teacher Resources

The National Print Museum would like to ensure that your class has a safe and enjoyable visit with us and as such all teachers and group leaders should be aware of the guidelines and code of conduct prior to their visit.

Feel free to avail of our fact and activity pack as well; you can download it below to have digitally, or pick up hard copies onsite the day of your tour.

Teacher Resource

Child Protection and Welfare Policy

The National Print Museum has a firm philosophy that all children and young people have the right to participate in and enjoy Museum activities within a safe environment, and as such presents a childcentered approach to all its relevant educational provisions including school tours, workshops, outreach, family days and the Education Area. Considering this the National Print Museum has devised a Child Protection and Welfare Policy derived from and consistent with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs Children First: National Guidance 2011. A copy this policy is available upon request.

Gallery

Primary Student Gallery Image 1
A student picks type out of a case to compose their name
A student hands their composed name in type to a tour guide
A student prints on the Farley proofing press during a school tour
Wanted poster
Primary Student Gallery Image 12webp
A tour guide supervises a student to pull the handle on an Albion printing press
Students make origami printer's hats out of paper
What People Are Saying
The National Print Museum is a fantastic destination for school groups! Our pupils were fully engaged from start to finish with hands-on printing activities and interactive exhibits. The staff made the experience both exciting and educational and brought history to life in such a fun and memorable way. We can’t wait to go back!
Karen
May 2025
What People Are Saying
We came here on a school tour with a large group of third class students. They loved it. The whole team at the National Print Museum were so friendly, accommodating and really pitched the tour at the level of the children. It was very well organized with the children divided into 3 groups and each getting to do 3 activities while they were there including a tour of the museum and printing their names. Highly recommended. Thank you to all the team for such a great day!
Emma
June 2019
What People Are Saying
I can't stress enough how friendly and patient and engaging the museum staff always are with the boys. It really enhances the whole experience. Not everywhere is so capable at levelling their educational offerings so appropriately! It makes it so easy for pupils to get involved and enjoy themselves.

June 2025
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