a visit to the Childhood gallery, full of toys and games from the early 1800s onwards with a supporting activity looking at old and new toys
a handling session focusing on original toys made from different materials
a craft activity: making a thaumatrope (an optical toy popular in Victorian times)
a chance to play with a variety of replica toys
Workshops are available 10am to 12pm, Wednesday to Friday at Guildford Museum, Quarry Street, Guildford.
Up to 30 children per session. Lunch space is available if required.
To book or for further details including availability or adaptations for older students, email learning@guildford.gov.uk.
Guildford Castle
Bring history to life with a pre-booked self-led visit the Great Tower of Guildford's Norman Castle. Follow up with a visit to Guildford Museum to learn more about Medieval objects.
For groups visiting the Museum, space is available to use for lunch.
Guildford House
Guildford House Gallery is a Grade I listed town house with changing exhibitions and an art gallery.
Recent exhibitions have included prints by Henri Matisse, photographs by Cornelia Parker.
We welcome schools for free self-led visits to our exhibitions. Booking is required to avoid overcrowding.
Visits can be booked from Tuesday to Friday, 10am until 3pm.
Discovery Boxes - hold a piece of history in your hands!
Use our Discovery Boxes to bring history to life in your classroom. With a range of real and replica artifacts, and accompanying resources, children can be inspired by the objects of the past.
Themes of our Discovery Boxes include:
Archaeology - the Guildford area in the past
Prehistory - stone age axes (two boxes)
Roman:
Roman coins in Surrey
The pottery of Roman Surrey (two boxes)
Victorian childhood toys
The Surrey cottager around 1800
Guildford in the second world war
Evacuees
Boxes contain handling objects, as well as some objects sealed behind Perspex which can be viewed but not handled.
Discovery Boxes are £16 for three weeks.
How to book your visit
To book your visit, Discovery Box or to find out more information about our education and learning provision, email learning@guildford.gov.uk.
Learning resources
We have a range of learning resources available for schools. As we develop our new resources, we will share links and downloads on this page. Check back regularly for updates!
If you'd like to be the first to hear about our new educational activities, sign up to our Schools Newsletter by emailing learning@guildford.gov.uk.
Your feedback
We are currently developing further resources and education activities. We'd be interested to hear your views on what you would like to see from our Heritage Service. You can email your ideas to learning@guildford.gov.uk.
