The Old Independence Regional Museum will offer a modified version of its annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Family Day for 2020.
“During this pandemic, we still want families to be able to celebrate the holidays with old-fashioned crafts and activities despite limited gatherings,” said Terri Crawford, humanities educator at the museum, in a release. “Therefore, families are invited to stop by the museum to collect a free activity kit to take home with them.”
Kits may be picked up in the museum gift shop, located at 9th & Vine Streets in Batesville, on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, December 10-12, from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Each kit contains supplies for a variety of activities, including:
- Brown paper and stencils for small hands to make their own garland
- Yarn to create mini ornaments to celebrate the usefulness and popularity of knit hats
- And colored paper and wooden beads to fashion Christmas poinsettias.
Packaging from the activity kit can even be made into a luminary
Traditionally, family day attendees would make dough ornaments on-site, so supplies will be included to make cinnamon dough at home. In lieu of decorating cookies, families can study historic baking recipes to compare to modern-day sweets. The free kits can be picked up in the museum gift shop, one per child while supplies last.
Museum hours during the COVID-19 pandemic are: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, students, and military personnel, $2.00 for children 6-12, and free for children 5 and under. The museum is located at 380 South 9th St., between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville.
Old Independence is a regional museum serving a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820’s Arkansas territory.
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