Cuneo Civic Museum - Educational Activities

Educational activities for compulsory and secondary schools

The available workshops cover the following topics (click on the topics to see descriptions of the individual activities):

1. Time to time
The workshop takes place through the viewing and description of significant objects and environments of the Museum.

2. The Bear Game A
revisitation of the traditional “Game of the Goose” thanks to which preschool and school-age children will learn about the objects and rooms of the Museum.

Recommended courses for preschools and the first years of elementary school

3. The fantastic game of evolution – the evolution of flora, fauna, and the human species throughout prehistory.
Manipulative activity (upon request): Prehistoric animals (each student can make and keep, as a memento of the day, a clay tablet featuring a positive image of a bear, mammoth, aurochs, saber-toothed tiger, and other prehistoric animals). Alternatively: Model your own clay vase (each student can model and keep, as a memento of the day, a clay container using the coiling technique).
Specifically for high schools: fill out and keep an AR (Archaeological Find) form like a true cataloger.

4. Life in the valley like the ancient shepherds – the "professions" of Neolithic man: agriculture, herding, livestock farming, textile and ceramic crafts.
Manipulation activity (upon request): Neolithic pintadere (each student can make and keep, as a memento of the day, an ochre-colored mold, created using the Neolithic pintadere technique, on a scrap of raw linen fabric). Alternatively: Model your own clay vase (see workshop no. 3).

5. The Birth of Art. Artistic manifestations in prehistoric and protohistoric times – art in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods: engravings, sculptures, and paintings.
Manipulation activities (upon request): Neolithic pottery (see workshop no. 4). Alternatively: Model your own clay vase (see workshop no. 3).

Recommended courses for third grade classes, revision for fourth grade and first grade of high school

6. Ligurians, Celts, and Etruscans – Languages, trade, and contacts in the Cuneo area during the Iron Age, with a focus on the mysterious Ligurian people.
Manipulative activity (upon request): My name in the Etruscan alphabet (each student can make and keep, as a memento of the day, a clay tablet on which they have written their name, using the Etruscan alphabet).

Recommended course for fourth grade and upper grades

7. Between Ligurians and Romans: on the Threshold of the Empire – The history of the relationship between Ligurians and Romans in our region.
Hands-on activities (upon request): The Roman lamp (each student can make and keep, as a memento of the day, a mold for a lamp, the Roman oil lamp, using the ancient clay molding technique). Mosaic (each student will be provided with colored clay tiles to learn the mosaic technique).

8. Lights, shapes, and colors of the Roman world – tools and aspects of everyday life: school, construction, food.
Manipulative activities (upon request): The Roman lamp (see workshop no. 7). Mosaics (see workshop no. 7).

9. 193 AD: A day with Asteria, a Roman girl – Roman daily life seen through Asteria's eyes.
Manipulative activities (upon request): The Roman lamp (see workshop no. 7). The mosaic (see workshop no. 7).

10. IX Regio: Cuneo before Cuneo. The Granda in Roman times – The main Roman centers in the Cuneo area.
Manipulation activities (upon request): The Roman lamp (see workshop no. 7). The mosaic (see workshop no. 7).

11. Leisure and Business: A Day in Ancient Rome – Daily Life in Ancient Rome.
Manipulative Activities (upon request): The Roman Lamp (see Workshop No. 7). Mosaics (see Workshop No. 7).

12. Sacred Waters and Imperial Headdresses – New Roman Age Finds from the Asti-Cuneo Area: Starting from recent discoveries related to the construction of the Asti-Cuneo highway, the educational tour aims to present the extraordinary finds from Castelletto Stura, Montanera, and Cuneo. The salient themes of the Roman Age, from daily life to the history of costume, will be illustrated through the analysis of lamps, vases, and coins.
Manipulation activities (upon request): The Roman lamp (see workshop no. 7). Mosaics (see workshop no. 7).

Recommended courses for fifth grade students, review for first grade students and in-depth study for upper grade students

13. The Lombards of Sant'Albano Stura – This tour aims to introduce the early medieval remains of our province, with particular emphasis on the necropolis of Sant'Albano Stura and the knight of Baldissero d'Alba.
Handicraft activities (upon request): creation of reproductions of Lombard-style jewelry or decorations based on Lombard "agemine" motifs.

14. Women, knights, weapons, and love: the Middle Ages in our region – Medieval archaeology in Piedmont: traces and testimonies in the area.
Manipulative activities (upon request): writing exercises with a quill pen or quill and ink, and a miniature of Saint Francis.
Help us create the friars' vegetable garden: the classes participating in the workshop will be asked to study various medieval plants to design the friars' vegetable garden. Each class will have the opportunity to plant the seeds of a plant, which the children will be responsible for caring for throughout the year.

15. San Francesco Rediscovered: The Church and His City – A guided tour through the images, symbols, and spaces of the church and monumental complex of San Francesco in Cuneo.
Help us create the Friars' Garden (see workshop no. 14).

recommended itineraries for middle schools

16. Once upon a time… Insights into the traditional lifestyle of local Alpine communities – an educational journey back in time to discover the rural world of the Cuneo valleys.
Handicraft activities (upon request): Felting (each student can create and keep a souvenir of the day, using traditional artisanal techniques).

route suitable for all types of users

17. In the animal kingdom between science and myth – the story of the extraordinary relationship between humans and animals.
Manipulative activity (upon request): prehistoric animals (see Workshop No. 3).

18. Correspondence of Loving Senses: A Journey Through Funerary Rituals – A workshop aimed at investigating and understanding funerary rituals from prehistory to the present.
Manipulation activity (upon request): Making a shell necklace.

routes suitable for all types of users

19. Discovering the profession of archaeologist. Don't call us Indiana Jones!!! – A workshop aimed at understanding the functions and work of archaeologists, clarifying their current significance.

20. Series of three participatory lessons on strictly archaeological topics, aimed at high school students – Scripta manent: stones tell stories…: a journey to discover epigraphs and writing techniques, with an experimental cataloging of the epigraphic material preserved in the Museum; Not just pottery: the aim of the course is to understand the reasons for the importance of ceramics in archaeology and to understand how much information can be gleaned from studying the materials. Students will be asked to complete a drawing test on ceramic fragments; From excavation to museum: what is the path an artifact takes from discovery to display? The following workshop aims to answer this question and retrace the steps that led to the birth of the concept of the modern museum.

recommended courses for secondary schools, but adaptable to any type of user

The educational tours are curated and led by specialized and trained staff under the direction of the Cuneo Civic Museum. Visiting hours are as follows:

each activity is carried out with the aid of multimedia presentations, color slides, models, reconstructions of "experimental archaeology", and from time to time adapted to the class to which it refers;
Each itinerary includes a visit to the Museum rooms exclusively relevant to the period covered, with particular reference to the objects described during the workshop itself;
Each workshop is accompanied by a specific worksheet that the children will complete at the end of the activity and with the help of the operators;
To participate in the educational courses, telephone reservations are required;
at the end of each course, it is possible to carry out, upon request at the time of booking, one of the manipulation activities, as indicated in the individual workshops;
for educational and safety reasons, no more than one class (maximum number of 25 students) can carry out a single educational course, unless otherwise agreed;
any “snacks” must be consumed outside the Museum premises;
each route lasts approximately two hours and costs €40.00;
Choosing the manipulation activity entails a €1.00 fee per participant; the hands-on activity, if requested, does not increase the cost of the service.
A special visiting aid has been created for visitors with intellectual disabilities: The social history of the Monumental Complex of San Francesco – Civic Museum of Cuneo.