The Easter school holidays are just around the corner in Hull – which means parents and carers of children in the city will be frantically trying to find activities to keep their young ones busy.
This year’s Easter holidays, from Friday 5 April to Tuesday 23 April, will see the fantastic museums in the city’s Old Town hosting a range of family-friendly activities, including the chance to build a boat, make a camera and learn how to make a Popsicle chick.
Here are 11 Easter holiday activities at Hull museums:
1. Pinhole Cameras
Streetlife Museum
Monday 8 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
Street photography has been used to capture the faces of Hull’s Rag and Bone men, on display in the Any Old Rag Bone exhibition at the Streetlife Museum. Learn how to make the earliest type of camera, a pinhole camera, and be inspired to go outside and take photographs.
2. Face to Face
Wilberforce House Museum
Tuesday 9 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
Create a portrait of yourself through collage and art materials and add it to the museum’s bigger collaborative art piece, showing the face of Hull.
3. Boat Builders
Hull Maritime Museum
Wednesday 10 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
The Hull Maritime Museum will host a Boat Builders session on Wednesday 10 April from 1pm to 3pm.
Discover the stories of the amazing men and women who worked in Hull’s maritime industries. Find out what it was like to be a fisherman before building your own fishing boat. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project.
4. Prepare to Portrait
Ferens Art Gallery
Thursday 11 April 1pm-3pm
Free (booking required)
Be inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait on show at the Ferens Art Gallery. Join an artist-led portrait workshop and venture inside the artist’s studio. Book your free place here.
5. Screenings of Steptoe and Son “The Offer” (1962)
Streetlife Museum
Friday 12 April 11am, 1pm and 3pm
Free (drop in)
Classic British sitcom Steptoe and Son aired on the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s. The father-and-son rag and bone pair entertained millions with their escapades and misfortunes. Watch the pilot episode, “The Offer”, in the Any Old Rag Bone exhibition at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.
6. Design, like Madame Clapham
Hands on History Museum
Saturday 13 April 1pm-2.30pm
Free (drop in)
Learn how to “Design, like Madame Clapham” at the Hands on History Museum.
In the late 1800s, Emily Clapham opened a dress-making salon in Hull. She was, and still is, very well-known, with a reputation as both a fine dress-maker and very successful businesswoman. She even went on to make dresses for royalty. Take inspiration from the Madame Clapham costume collection at the Hands on History Museum before designing and decorating your own fashion drawing.
7. Horse Power
Streetlife Museum
Monday 15 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
Before steam, petrol and electric power, people relied on horse power – and many still do, including the rag and bone men in the Streetlife Museum’s Any Old Rag Bone exhibition. Celebrate the importance of the magnificent beasts at this horse-themed craft session.
8. Time Troopers: Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick, Chicken
Ferens Art Gallery
Saturday 13 April 11am-1pm
Free (drop in)
This family-friendly event takes place across Hull’s museums on the second Saturday of the month. Using collections as inspiration, the museums will host fun craft activities for everyone in the family to enjoy. Visitors will even be able to learn how to make their own Easter Popsicle chick.
Mini Masterpieces: Digital Portraits at the Ferens Art Gallery.
9. Mini Masterpieces: Digital Portraits
Ferens Art Gallery
Tuesday 16 April 10am-11.30am
£1.50 per child (pay on the door)
Create a portrait which will be added to a live feed in the studio of all the portraits being made. Suitable for under-fives and their families.
10. Crane Builders
Maritime Museum
Wednesday 17 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
Discover the stories of the amazing men and women who worked in Hull’s maritime
industries. Find out what it was like to be a Hull docker and build a crane to help you unload goods from ships. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project.
11. Please Touch: Medieval
Hull and East Riding Museum
Thursday 18 April 1pm-3pm
Free (drop in)
Get hands on with the museum’s medieval collections and discover what life was like for people living in Hull in the past. Handle real archaeological objects, ask the team questions and imagine what life was like in medieval times.
