Visit the Learning Resouce Room and join in this craft activity and discover all about Sun Discs of Bronze Age Ireland. In the Early Bronze Age Ireland, people made beautiful gold discs that looked like the sun. Drop in to find out more about these precious objects and make your own shining sun disc to bring home with you.

To learn more about the Bronze Age in Ireland, check out the Prehistoric Ireland Exhibition and Ór - Ireland's Gold Exhibition. For more Bronze Age activities, check out our Museum at Home webpages. 

No booking required. Located in the Learning Resource Room, First Floor. Not wheelchair accessible. This workshop is for families. 

What is a Drop-In Workshop?
This summer, bring the family into the Learning Resource Room, first floor, at the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, and take part in a Drop-In Workshop. Each Drop-In workshop takes place for up to two hours and has a short activity that takes between 15-30 minutes to complete, however, you are more than welcome to stay as long as you wish. Every activity is based on something on display in the Museum and are designed for anyone aged 7-107! For full details of our list of Drop-In Workshops, please see our Event Calendar
 

What is a 'Relaxed Drop-In Workshop'?

• A relaxed morning visit to the Learning Resource Room at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, on Kildare Street.

• This room is on the first floor of the Museum and is not wheelchair accessible. It is accessed by the stairs at the back of the Museum and is on the left hand-side when you reach the top of the stairs.

• The drop-in takes place from 10:30am-12:30pm. The Learning Resource Room will be open to families during this time, and they can come and go as they please during the two hours. There is no set time that a family needs or can stay in the room.

• During the drop-in, children with their accompanying adults, can complete the craft activity which will take between 15-30 minutes to complete.

• When you arrive at to the Learning Resource Room, you will be greeted by two Museum Educators.

• They will welcome you to the room and talk to you about the Bronze Age in Ireland, how people lived during this time, and about the gold objects they made and used. You can ask them questions about the Bronze Age, archaeology and the Museum.

• They will show you how to do the craft, which is creating a sun discs, using gold paper and decorating it with patterns. 

• You will be shown examples of how the sun disc will look like when it is completed.

• You will be given a square piece of gold card, with a circle template, and examples of different patterns and decorations you can use to create your sun discs. You will also be giving full instructions on how to make it, and pictures of examples of Bronze Age sun discs found in Ireland.

• All of the crafting supplies will be provided including the cardboard template, scissors, and colouring materials (crayons and pastels).

• When you have finished your craft, you can bring it home with you.

• If you arrive the Learning Resource Room and the room is full of people doing the craft, you may be asked to have a look around the Museum and come back in 10-20 minutes when a family have completed their craft activity and have left.

• Throughout the duration of the drop-in workshop, all children must be supervised by an accompanying adult.

• Please click here to see a floor plan of the Museum, which shows the ground floor and the first floor where the Learning Resource Room is located.

• The Drop-In Workshop is based on the Ór - Ireland's Gold exhibition, which is located on the ground floor. 

• Only the ground floor of the Museum is wheelchair accessible.

• Toilets are available at the back of the Museum on the ground floor and includs an accessibility toilet. 

• Please bring along any PPE that you want e.g. ear defenders. the Museum galleries can get very noisy.

• There is also a shop onsite.

• Scroll down to the very end of this page to see a picture of what the outside of the Museum looks like.