Primary Programmes
Contact our team to discuss your requirements and any questions you may have for your next visit. Please note that charges apply for all our education programmes.
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Wellington Museum
Museum Highlights
Can be adapted to suit all year levels. The Wellington Museum Highlights concentrates on our most interactive areas of the museum, The Attic and the Maritime Floor and includes one Audio Visual of choice. This 1-hour programme makes time for a few select top Wellington stories based on either People, Place or Action depending on your focus and is supported by an age-appropriate discovery trail.
This visit is $2 per student (adults free).
Head of the Fish/Te Ūpoko o Te Ika Our
Wellington's people, places, and history
Our Head of the Fish/Te Ūpoko o Te Ika programme invites students to get to know their capital city and Wellington region better: its people, places, and history. Suitable for regional schools and also for those coming to Wellington for a capital city experience.
Years 1 – 4
This programme introduces students to place names and early migration stories. Students learn about further migrations and celebrate the different contributions of many influences over time to the Wellington region.
Key words: Maui, Kupe, Te Wheke, Ngake and Whataitai, early migration, harbour, tangata whenua, colonization, Captain Cook, capital city, leadership, citizenship, Kiwiana, identity, Wellington region, local stories
Years 3 – 4
This programme invites students to discover the meanings behind place names, hear early Polynesian migration stories, learn about the impact of further migrations and celebrate the different contributions of many influences over time to the Wellington region.
Key words: Maui, Kupe, Te Wheke, Ngake and Whataitai, early migration, harbour, tangata whenua, colonization, Captain Cook, capital city, leadership, citizenship, Kiwiana, identity, Wellington region, New Zealand Company, local stories, Matiu/Somes Island, internment camp
Place to Call Home
Waves of Migration
Years 1 – 4
Our Place to Call Home programme introduces students to migration stories through museum exhibits. Students learn about the journey, arrival and settlement of people over time, explore how groups of people have come to live and work together and celebrate Wellington’s diverse society.
Key words: waves of migration, diversity, journeys, society, belonging, contribution, people and place
Years 5 – 8
This programme invites students to explore how early Polynesian, early British and modern migrations to New Zealand have continuing significance to New Zealand’s society.
Key words: tangata whenua, New Zealand Company, Whina Cooper, 1975 hīkoi, Te tiriti o Waitangi
This visit is $3 per student (adults free)
Streams and Stormwater
Hidden streams of Wellington
Years 5 – 6
This programme gives students the opportunity to discover hidden streams of Wellington and use museum exhibits to get an understanding of the impact of urbanisation on wildlife and communities. The programme includes an outdoor component and some simple science. Field work includes visiting Kumutoto Stream and Wellington Harbour.
Key words: Wellington Harbour, kaitiakitanga, guardianship,hiddenstreams,tangatawhenua, kai moana, long fin eels, urbanisation, permeable and impermeable surfaces, kumutoto stream, land reclamation
This visit is $3 per student (adults free).
Te Waka Wahine
Wahine Diaster
Years 6 – 13
The sinking of the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine on 10 April 1968 was New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster. The programme invites students to examine cause and effects as well as the significance of this tragedy through artefacts, audiovisual links, stories from survivors and ethical perspectives.
Key words: Wahine disaster, cause and effect, cyclone Giselle,CookStrait,lifejacket,rugged coasts, survivor stories, maritime history
This visit is $3 per student (adults free).
Small steps big changes
Changemakers
Years 5 – 6
This programme invites students to gain an insight into how people make positive changes and contributions to society by hearing stories of changemakers told through museum exhibits.
This visit is $3 per student (adults free).
The World Around Us
Explore the Earth, Sun and Moon
Years 1–4 (Levels 1–2)
Explore the Earth, Sun and Moon, including day and night, the rotation of the Earth and the changing phases of the Moon. This programme can be tailored to complement your class programme. The planetarium show Tilt works well with this programme.
- $7.50 per student
- $7.50 per adult helper
- One teacher or adult helper per ten students is free
- Teacher aides are free
Seasons, Shadows and Cycles
How shadows change
Years 3–8 (Levels 2–4)
Study how shadows change. Whether it be daily or yearly, shadows relate to seasons and time. Learn how shadows affect our day-to-day life. The planetarium show Tilt works well with this programme.
- $7.50 per student
- $7.50 per adult helper
- One teacher or adult helper per ten students is free
- Teacher aides are free
Explore the Solar System
Planets of the Solar System
Years 5–10+ (Levels 2–5+)
You’ll begin with the Earth, Sun and Moon, before setting off to explore the planets of the Solar System and the relationships between them all. The planetarium show Dynamic Earth and We Are Astronomers works well with this programme.
- $7.50 per student
- $7.50 per adult helper
- One teacher or adult helper per ten students is free
- Teacher aides are free
Solar System and Beyond
Interactive tour of Space
Years 5–10+ (Levels 2–5+)
Fly through our Solar System, find out what galaxies are and see the Hubble Deep Sky Field during this special interactive tour number limitations apply). This is an interactive tour, with video snippets and gallery challenges. It’s a perfect introduction to Space and for students on School Camps to Wellington.
- $7.50 per student
- $7.50 per adult helper
- One teacher or adult helper per ten students is free
- Teacher aides are free
The Wellington Cable Car
Look into the city’s past and present changes in technology
Years 5–8 (Levels 1–4)
Look into the city’s past and present changes in technology, and how the Wellington Cable Car has played a big part in how the city has developed.
Nairn Street Cottage
Home of the Wallis family
This programme invites students into the home of the Wallis family, the oldest remaining home of its kind in Wellington. Students will hear the family’s arrival story and are able to participate in a guided visit of the cottage. As students move through the cottage they travel through different eras represented by artifacts from three generations who have lived in the home over time. Students are invited to appreciate and understand how social and technological changes affect people.
Years 3 – 4
Students will be able to learn about the difference between past and present living conditions of families. They will be able to find out about the daily routines of families and their children and how these have changed over time.
This visit is $4 per student (adults free)
Collaborations with our other sites
We offer collaborative education programmes between Cable Car Museum, Space Place and Wellington Museum. These are full-day programmes. More information on timings on enquiry with the education team.
Star Path – A magical exploration of navigation, journeys, and arrivals
With Wellington Museum and Space Place
Years 5 – 8
Embark on a journey of discovery, focusing on the opportunities and challenges of exploration and navigation, from the early Polynesian way-finders to the satellite technology that we use today. In this joint venture between Space Place and Wellington Museum, students learn how to identify constellations in the southern skies and find out about the incredible navigational techniques and tools of adventurers who crossed the Pacific Ocean to settle in Aotearoa.
This visit is $13.00 per student, including entry to both Space Place and Wellington Museum and a one-way trip on the Wellington Cable Car. Adults $2.50 for a one-way Cable Car ride.
Treasure Island
With Wellington Museum, Department of Conservation and East by West Ferries
Year 5 and up
This programme begins with a visit to Wellington Museum where students find out about the many facets of our harbour, the beautiful, the prosperous and the hidden. They then set sail to Matiu/Somes Island by ferry and continue discovering more of the diverse roles of our harbour in the past and present.
This visit is $16 per student and $13 per adult. Includes ferry trip to Matiu Island (return).
Option to book a guided tour with a DOC forest ranger on Matiu/Somes Island for an additional charge of $2. Must be arranged with DOC.
Harbour and Hills
With Wellington Museum and Cable Car
Years 3 – 8
This programme introduces students to stories of our harbour, from its creation (Ngake and Whataitai) to its uses over time and its special place in the center of New Zealand. The programme continues with a ride on the Cable Car, an appreciation of the view at the top and finishes with a visit to the Cable Car Museum. Students are introduced to many stories around the history of the Cable Car, from the planning process to the first rides to a little girl who helped her engineer father clear the way before blasting through the rocks to construct the tunnels and many more. Students are invited to climb aboard the original Cable Car in style – with our dress ups.
This visit includes visit to Wellington Museum, Cable Car Museum and Cable Car fare.
Single Trip $6.00 per student and $2.50 per adult, OR Return Trip $8.00 per student and $4.50 per adult.
Newfangled
With Wellington Museum and Cable Car Museum
Years 5 – 10
This programme introduces students to objects and stories in our collection relating to revolutionary technologies and inventions straight out of Wellington. Students will be able to explore, name, identify and critique products invented by Wellingtonians for the use in Wellington’s characteristic weather and its natural as well as cultural environment. The programme continues with a one-way cable car ride and a visit to the Cable Car Museum.
This visit includes visit to Wellington Museum, Cable Car Museum and Cable Car fare.
Single Trip $6.00 per student and $2.50 per adult, OR Return Trip $8.00 per student and $4.50 per adult.
Key words: design project, invention, testing, prototypes, design brief, materials, target audience, purpose, design objectives, technological practice, technological knowledge, characteristics of technology.
Resources
Activity Books and Worksheets
- Activity Book Level 1
- Activity Worksheets Level 1
- Activity Book Level 2
- Activity Worksheets Level 2
- Activity Book Level 3
- Activity Book Level 4
- Planet Cards
- Solar system scale model activity
- Matariki booklet
Presentations
Observing sunspots offers us a great way to learn about the closest star to Earth, our Sun. This interactive project uses yearly sunspot data along with recent images from a space-based telescope to analyse annual sunspot activity and learn about how sunspots form, move, change and disappear.
- Solar Cycles Online – Teacher
- Solar Cycles – student
- Annual sunspot numbers
- Solar Cycle Map grid
- Sunspots chart
- Multiwavelength Sun Images
- Daily Sun Image
Other Websites
- NASA’s Website For Educators
- NASA’s Teaching Materials Database
- National Schools’ Observatory, UK
- The National Library of New Zealand’s Space Guide
- The National Library of New Zealand’s Matariki Guide
- Australian Astronomy Fact Sheets for Astronomical Events
- Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand
- Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand Wiki for Teachers and Students
- Astronomy New Zealand
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