The Western Development Museum has several activities planned in February to celebrate heritage, including discussions about homemade toys, The Great Depression, communications in Saskatchewan and a seek and find game.
Throughout the month, the museum is offering a Penny Farthing Seek and Find activity for families to enjoy. There are images of old-fashioned bicycles to find throughout the galleries, with alphabet letters attached to those images to solve a riddle.
Visit https://wdm.ca/event_manager/pennyfarthings for more information.
Also, WDM Moose Jaw will screen a selection of heritage-themed short films from that National Film Board from Feb. 1 to 27. Visit https://wdm.ca/event_manager/heritagefilms for a complete list and synopsis of each video.
Presentations
The museum is hosting two in-person heritage-themed presentations on Saturday, Feb. 12.
Toys and pastimes — 10:30 a.m.
Before mass production and store-bought toys, young people made their fun from items found around the house. This talk will look at how people enjoyed playing and staying active during Saskatchewan’s settlement period and beyond.
This was when riding bicycles, shooting marbles and playing hopscotch were more popular than television and video games. The presentation includes an activity bag to make replica toys at home.
This presentation is free with museum admission and is recommended for ages seven years and up.
The Great Depression — 2 p.m.
Participants will learn about some of the struggles and challenges faced by people in Saskatchewan during the Great Depression. How did they adapt and persevere while facing disaster after disaster? This talk explains why the 1930s were one of the most pivotal times in the province’s history.
This presentation is free with museum admission and is recommended for older youth and adults.
Coffee Club
The WDM is launching the first of its new sessions of Coffee Club in February. These programs are free, but pre-registration is required. Visit https://wdm.ca/coffeeclub for more information.
Communication — Tuesday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m.
This presentation will examine evolving communication technology and how it has been used to overcome distance and isolation in Saskatchewan. To relieve their loneliness, pioneers could walk or travel by horse to a nearby farm, village, or town, but since this was sometimes a long trip, they didn’t go very often.
Some people didn’t leave their homestead for weeks — even months! This talk will look at how people in the province kept in touch over 100 years ago.
For more information, visit www.wdm.ca.
