With an aim to build and maintain meaningful and engaging relationships with local community and promote museums as dynamic and safe learning environments, the WCM offers frequent and diverse creative workshops for children and youth, both onsite and online.
During these workshops, children and young people engage with museum educators, local artists, actors, IT or experts from different sectors in a tailored-made activity for each of the workshops, ranging from cartoon drawing and making origami cranes, to environmental and children rights awareness activities.
In addition to fun and creativity, the workshops are designed to encourage children and young people to explore different skills, experiences and ways to interact with the world and become agents of change in their community.
If you would like to organize a creative workshop at the War Childhood Museum, please reach out to us at visit@warchildhood.org.
Examples of Creative Workshops Previously Held at the WCM
“Story of a Clown”
One of the WCM’s creative workshops named “Story of a Clown” was devised and is facilitated by a puppeteer and primary school teacher Sabit Agić, our collaborator who facilitates workshops with children from 8 to 12 years old.
This workshop was inspired by and is closely connected to an object and personal story from our collection, namely one special toy Ragdoll made by a girl’s mother to brighten up gloomy and gray days after having become refugees during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In this workshop, children learn about the importance of toys and play and the support that can be drawn from playtime and craftsmanship by having a chance to learn about the story from our collection and also about basic puppet crafting skills. Throughout the workshop, children create their own puppets with reused items like old plastic bottles, clothes, paper and other kinds of materials that would otherwise be thrown away, thus learning about the importance of reusing and recycling as a way to contributing to preserving our Planet Earth.
Women of B&H visiting the War Childhood Museum
The famous women visiting the War Childhood Museum in this workshop are actually main characters of a book named “Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Children” and together with renowned author and editor of children’s magazines, Lamija Begagić, who is WCM’s collaborator, the children bring these women’s spirits and experiences to life as they revisit topics related to gender equality. Through this workshop intended for 10 to 13 year olds, we follow the lives, careers, and work of five Bosnian-Herzegovinian women who have shown excellence in various areas of life, and we discuss the spirit and challenges of the times in which they lived.
We fly with the first female pilot Fatima Mušić Manojlović, travel and help children get an education with Miss Paulina Irby, paint with artist Adela Behr, perform pirouettes with ballerina Rifka Levi, and solve complicated mathematical problems with mathematician Vera Šnajder. We connect each of their stories with exhibits in the museum’s exhibition and talk about what girls and young women can do, what they are doing, what they are successful in, and whether it matters if we dream our dreams with short or long hair on our heads.
In Search of Memories – Photography and AI workshop
“In Search of Memories” is a workshop designed for youth from 14 to 18 years old that allows them to explore the intersection of ethics, artificial intelligence (AI), and photography within a museum context led by Majda Turkić, visual artist and photographer.
After the introductory session on the ethical considerations of AI and the importance of respecting its principles, coupled with an introduction to photography fundamentals relevant to modern AI applications, participants explore the museum exhibits, selecting an artifact to photograph and conceptualize. They capture the chosen artifact from their unique perspective, using contextual information provided by the personal story told by the owner of the object to visualize the artifact’s significance to its original owner and its historical symbolism.
Participants employ AI tools to place their photographs into realistic or imaginative settings, aiming to connect with the experiences of the artifact’s original owner. The workshop concludes with participants presenting their work, discussing their own personal connections with the chosen artifacts, and reflecting on whether it is possible to understand another person’s reality through thoughtful reflection and the visual representation of their experiences.
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The War Childhood Museum is an independent non-for-profit museum not funded by government. In addition to institutional donors and partners, the Museum has been receiving support from dedicated individuals and friends from its very opening. Become a friend and support the WCM.