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Education programmes

Waikato Museum's education programmes explore and develop the curriculum through classroom-based sessions, exhibition tours and activities.

Explore Art, Science, Social History and Tangata Whenua history and culture through our changing exhibitions. We will work with you to develop a programme to meet your teaching and learning needs.

Read our Education Programmes for 2020:

Admission fees

Short education programme	$6 per student
Extended education programme (Big Day Out half-day)	$8 per student
Full education programme (Big Day Out full-day)	$10 per student
Exscite and Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks Education programme	$8 per student
Exscite and Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks + a gallery programme	$10 per student

Prices vary according to the programme selected, duration of your visit and consumables used.

Ratios

Early childhood - 1 adult:4 students

Years 0-6 - 1 adult:8 students

Years 7-10 - 1 adult:15 students

Years 11-13 - 1 adult:30 students

These ratios include teachers/supervisors.

NOTE: One adult per the ratios listed above may attend free as a supervisor; additional adults who wish to attend beyond that ratio are charged the student fee.

For information on class times, length, ratios and how to book, check out Information for teachers. Booking is essential for all programmes.

Our programmes

Bookings are essential, email education.museum@hcc.govt.nz

Science

Exscite

Open now

The Exscite gallery is jammed-packed with great interactive ways to learn about science. The programme includes a classroom session (tailored to your group), exhibition tour and interactive fun – inclusive cost $8.

Find out more about the exhibition

Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks

Open now

People have brilliant ideas everyday but how do these ideas get transformed into something bigger and real? Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks examines some of our region’s problem-solving success stories through an immersive experience that will take you on a journey through time and space. Learn how bridges work then design and build your own. Power up an electric fence and find out what’s in the DNA of an innovator. This exhibition is sure to motivate the avid inventor and endless tinkerer in everyone.

Find out more about the exhibition

Art

New to Us: Recent collections acquisitions

On now until 8 November 2020

If the museum was a parent, and the collections stored here were children of various ages, then the works purchased in the last couple of years could be likened to toddlers. They haven’t yet had their big day out.

New to Us is the idea of our Director, Cherie Meecham whose intention was to show some new works for you to meet and get to know. The Director shares not only the beauty of the art but expresses gratitude to Trust Waikato whose contribution assists Hamilton City Council in acquiring some of Waikato’s regional cultural wealth. This funding supports growing and updating the city’s permanent collections.

Image: Detail, Salamanca Rd, Karl Maughan b.1964, oil on canvas, 2014, Trust Waikato Art and Taonga Collection

Feeling Blue, Seeing Red

On now until 13 December 2020

In Feeling Blue, Seeing Red art meets the history of medicine as Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato uses artworks from the collection to take you on a journey through the four humours of Greek medicine.

Are you feeling hot under the collar? In a dark mood? Or are you green with envy? Greek medicine proposed that four humours ruled the body, mind, and soul, and they all had their own temperatures, moods, and colours. In ‘Feeling Blue, Seeing Red’ you can learn about the humours and see their continuing legacy through historical and contemporary art.

Image: Russell Clark, Heads, Study Sculpture, c.1950s. Collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato

Remembering Rodin - Te Whakamahara ki a Rodin

5 September - 6 December 2020

Developed and toured by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Remembering Rodin | Te Whakamahara ki a Rodin showcases New Zealand’s most significant Auguste Rodin sculpture, Eve (1882), a work that has been appreciated by fellow artists, experts, scholars and connoisseurs for many years.

Rodin’s sculptures are normally found in the large metropolitan museums of Europe and the United States, but on this occasion an important work has found its way to Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato.

Image: Eve, 1882, bronze, by Auguste Rodin. Purchased 1959 with Lindsay Buick Bequest funds. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (1959-0029-1)

Tangata whenua

Shaping Hamilton Huringa Kirikiriroa

On Now

Maps, historical artefacts, art, photographs and installations tell the story of the changing demographic and geographic shape of Hamilton.

The place we now know as Hamilton has been shaped by many layers of human intervention, changed forever by iwi agriculture, military officers, bridge-builders, and university students. Few of the features of Hamilton as we find them today are here by chance.

The exhibition traces key events that altered the geography and demography of the city, focusing on the decisions that shaped our region. You can position yourself in the shoes of the decision-makers who influenced its past at ‘voting stations’, and vote for the direction you would choose at each juncture.

The exhibition positions human agency at the heart of our history, welcoming visitors to reflect on their own role in creating their city’s future.

Image: City of Hamilton district plan map, 1963. Collection of Hamilton City Libraries 832.141 EDC

E Hina e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori/Maoli of Past, Present and Future

On Now

This unique international exhibition explores the contemporary and ancestral importance of Maaori and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) women. E Hina e! E Hine e! draws on research from the University of Waikato and Waikato Museum and throws a spotlight on messages about environmental sustainability. Myths and legends Koorero Puuraakau are powerful teaching tools. They have strong characters and important messages. Explore myths and legends within this gallery space and immerse your students in this rich cultural exhibition.

Image: Courtesy of Lisa Reihana and Milford Galleries Dunedin

Social history

Shaping Hamilton Huringa Kirikiriroa

On Now

Maps, historical artefacts, art, photographs and installations tell the story of the changing demographic and geographic shape of Hamilton.

The exhibition positions human agency at the heart of our history, welcoming visitors to reflect on their own role in creating their city’s future.

Image: City of Hamilton district plan map, 1963. Collection of Hamilton City Libraries 832.141 EDC

Pre-school programmes

The Museum is a vibrant and engaging learning experience for students of all ages, and at Waikato Museum we appreciate and value our youngest visitors. We can offer a range of early childhood programmes focused on visiting exhibitions as well as our interactive science galleries Exscite and Waikato Bright Sparks. Trained teachers work with centre staff and visiting parents to provide interactive and fun programmes using music, storytelling, games and activities.

Teacher resources

Our Teacher Resource booklets contain information to assist in the planning of classroom units. They are in PDF format and are free to download.

These booklets ask teachers to explore any one of the four areas of interest at the museum: art, science, social history and taangatawhenua. In the booklets we suggest possible areas of study and how we can enhance your programmes by providing a comprehensive education package.