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Primary School
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.
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
- 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
Practical Info and Booking
The tour lasts approximately 90 minutes and the cost is €3 per student, with teachers free.
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 following guidelines and code of conduct prior to their visit. Also please check out our teacher’s fact and activity pack as well.
Children 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.
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