Fehér György szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1995-1997 (Budapest, 1998)
CSÓK MÁRTA: Szolgáltatás vagy hivatás? (Múzeumpedagógia a Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeumban)
„Szeretnék szántani" (I'd like to plough) (Experimental children's programme in the Hungarian Agricultural Museum) M. CSÓK It is three years since the Hungarian Agricultural Museum of Budapest has hosted groups of children from nursery and primary schools offering them specially devised activities based on its permanent exhibitions. The main point of this project is to get the children acquainted with the different procedures of agricultural work as well as the questions of forest, game, and environment protection, and to offer them the experience of preparing hand-made souvenirs of their own. The fact, that these activities can be used either as independent programmes or as an extension to the curriculum and also as a combination of both, makes the whole project more attractive. The project consists of three parts and is sponsored by the Hungarian Soros Foundation. In 1997/98 we had 10 groups of children from nursery and primary schools on 30 occasions. They took part in a series of three programmes based on three of the museum's permanent exhibitions (The History of Hunting; The History of the Cultivation of Grain Crops; The History of Horticukure) , where they also had the opportunity to use their manual skills and make toys. In the first part of the programme entitled „A furfangos, ravasz csalavér" („The Cunning Fox") the children visited the hunting exhibition, where they could see the big and small game of Hungary, got acquainted with the animals' natural surroundings, and learned about the history of hunting. The programme ended with a playful test designed to consolidate their freshly acquired knowledge on the subject. On the second occasion the children took part in the programme „Szeretnék szántani, hat ökröt hajtani" (the title of a well-known Hungarian folk song about ploughing), when they were shown 19th century agricultural tools, learned about the procedures of ploughing, sowing and reaping, and the programme was rounded off with dramatic playing and drawing. The third and final part of the programme, „Saláta Sára elment a vásárba" („Sarah Lettuce Went to the Market" - again the title of a children's book) was about the history of vegetable and fruit production, the garden types of the aristocracy, the middle class and the peasantry, and also about fruit conservation and medicinal plants. This time the children made toys from different crops and prepared traditional corn-cob dolls. All the three programmes were carried out in a relaxed atmosphere with lots of singing and fun. Summarising our children's development programme sponsored by the Soros Foundation we can say, that our main purpose is to introduce children to museums as friendly institutions, where they can observe objects, understand connections and acquire knowledge easily and in an interesting way - or simply have fun.
