Dear Teacher,
Welcome back, teachers! Wishing you an inspiring start to 2026 filled with growth, creativity, and joyful learning!
Bring learning to life with the National Museum of Ireland’s exciting new school’s programme for 2026. Across our sites in Dublin and Mayo, we offer a rich mix of hands-on workshops, immersive guided tours, and engaging classroom activities designed to spark curiosity and support curriculum learning.
From prehistoric artefacts to social history and biodiversity tours, our sessions connect directly with the Primary and Post Primary Curriculum and provide unforgettable experiences for pupils. With popular new options like the Dead Zoo Lab now open, early booking is advised to secure your preferred dates!
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What's on for Primary Schools at the National Museum of Ireland
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What's on for Post Primary Schools at the National Museum of Ireland
BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES:
We are delighted to announce our new booking system! Teachers can now make a booking request directly through the webpage of their preferred tour or event.
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If you have any queries for the Dublin sites, please contact the Bookings Office at bookings@museum.ie
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For the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park, please email BookingsCountryLife@museum.ie or call (094) 90 31751.
See the full schools programme for the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND at:
Some highlights for PRIMARY LEVEL include:
WORKSHOP: Bumbly Wings and Crawly Things
10:00 - 11.30 or 12noon - 13.30, Thursday, 22 January
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
Fun, Biodiversity and Art themed workshop in response to the Murmur of Bees exhibition. Enjoy a short introduction to the exhibition and then get creative with artist Cas McCarthy by assembling and painting your own cardboard insect in the Courtyard Education Room.
CALENDAR CUSTOMS: Make your own St Brigid's Cross
10:00 to 11:00 or 11.30 to 12.30, Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 January
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
Find out about the history of St Brigid’s Day and discover the customs and traditions involved. View our collection of different types of crosses from around the country and afterwards have a go at making a St. Brigid's Cross with the Education Team.
TOP 10 TOUR: Highlights of the National Folklife Collection
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
See how people lived in Ireland in times gone. Learn about traditional lifestyles including trades, customs, life in the home, clothing, farming and fishing.
ONSITE WORKSHOP: Safari in Silver
10:00 & 12:00 on select Thursdays in February & March!
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
In this sensory creative art & drama workshop students will be introduced to the Museum's Irish Silver collection and learn about mythical creatures of the past. After some object handling and discovering all the different animals hidden in the gallery, students will be challenged to design and create their own imaginary animal.
ONSITE WORKSHOP: If Things Could Talk
10:00 & 12:00 on select Tuesdays in February & March!
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
Explore the power of objects to tell stories about Ireland’s rich history. Working in small groups, students will develop their historical enquiry and communication skills, through hands-on, object based learning. Engaging with a selection of objects from the Museum's handling collection, students will take on the role of historians and curators to explore the different meanings that we invest in objects.
GUIDED TOUR BUNDLE: Continuity & Change Over the Centuries
10:30 &11:30, Thursdays
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
This tour bundle offer is specially designed for larger classes. On this interactive social history tour, students explore how fashions in clothing and food have developed over time, revealing the fascinating insights that objects can teach us about everyday life and culture in 18th and 19th century Irish society. This 45 minute whole class tour can be achieved by splitting your class into two groups and each group having a combined shorter version of the ‘Taste of the Past’ tour and ‘The Way We Wore: Representations of Social Change through Clothing’ tour simultaneously.
GUIDED TOUR: The Vikings in Ireland
Tuesday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00, Wednesday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00, Thursday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
This tours explores the three main activities of the Vikings in Ireland Raiding, Trading and Settling, with hands-on activities linked to the National Curriculum.
VIRTUAL SESSION: The Vikings in Ireland
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
Discover the amazing history of the Vikings in Ireland in this live virtual session!
GUIDED TOUR: Prehistoric Ireland - Stone Age and Bronze Age peoples
Tuesday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00, Wednesday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00, Thursday 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
Pupils explore the Stone Age and Bronze Age through real artefacts like Mesolithic fish traps and Bronze Age swords, using the Museum’s unique collection of artefacts.
MEET & GREET: Dead Zoo Lab Explorers
10:30 & 11.45, Thursdays & Fridays - limited availability for January & February!
(The Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
Start your Dead Zoo Lab Exploration with a Meet & Greet! Be the first to visit the newly opened Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks.
SELF-GUIDED VISIT: Resources at the Dead Zoo Lab
Museum opening hours - limited availability!
(The Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
Let the Museum and its collections capture the imagination of your pupils with a self-guided visit to the Dead Zoo Lab. Activity sheets are a great way to learn, explore and enjoy the objects and themes of the collections. Describe your favourite animal and become a wild life champion with a curriculum-linked activity sheet.
GNÍOMHAÍOCHTAÍ SEOMRA RANGA: Éire san Oighearaois – Iontaisí Iontacha
Sa ghníomhaíocht Músaeim seo, déanfaimid iniúchadh ar Oighearaois na hÉireann, foghlaimeoimid faoi iontaisí i mbailiúchán an Mhúsaeim agus faoi na cineálacha éagsúla ainmhithe a bhí ina gcónaí anseo san am a chuaigh thart. FAIGH TUILLEADH EOLAIS
Some highlights for POST PRIMARY LEVEL include:
WORKSHOP: Make Your Own St. Brigid's Cross
10:00 to 11:00 or 11.30 to 12.30, Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 January
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
Find out about the history of St. Brigid’s Day and discover the customs and traditions involved. View our collection of different types of crosses from around the country and afterwards have a go at making a St. Brigid's Cross with the Education Team.
WORKSHOP: Creative Writing: Bee Inspired!
10:AM - 13:00, Wednesday, 18 March
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
Join poet and author Terry McDonagh on this creative writing workshop. Students will explore the temporary exhibition Murmur of Bees and will be encouraged to be creative and imaginative in creating their own written piece of work based on the themes explored in the exhibition.
GUIDED TOUR: Highlights of the National Folklife Collection
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays
(National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo)
Learn and develop an understanding about traditional lifestyles including trades, customs, life in the home, clothing, farming and fishing. Gain a fresh perspective on society, economy, culture and politics in Ireland from 1850 to 1950 by examining the various objects on display in the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park.
GUIDED TOUR: From Revolution to Repeal: An Introduction to Changing Ireland
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, Thursdays 13:30, 14:30
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
This tour takes students through the new Changing Ireland galleries, focusing on objects which demonstrate to us how Ireland has changed in the past 120 years. We will explore objects from the political and social backdrop of Ireland at the beginning of the century, which led towards rebellion and revolution, the partitioning of Ireland and Irish independence. We will follow the establishment of the new Irish state through the 20th century. We will explore the beginning of ‘The Troubles’ – the violent conflict that engulfed Northern Ireland in the late 20th century. Finally, we encounter Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century, and social movements towards a more open and accepting society.
GUIDED TOUR: Sliotars, Sashes and Symbols: Shaping Irish Identity
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, Thursdays 13:30, 14:30
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
On this tour we look at how the meaning of ‘being Irish’ has evolved since 1900 through the new Changing Ireland galleries. We examine how Irish governments, organisations and ordinary people have attempted to shape national identity through language, culture, sports, and religion. Looking at how Ireland presented itself as an independent nation on the world stage, we explore how Irish identity was seen abroad. We address how issues of identity and belonging have had serious implications at home, focusing on the conflict in Northern Ireland in the second half of the 20th century. Finally, we look at what it means to be Irish today, in all its complexity.
GUIDED TOUR: Game, Set, Match: The History of Sports in Irish Society
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, Thursdays 13:30, 14:30
(National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
From hair hurling balls dating from the 1500s to ladies camogie dresses from the 1960s, join Museum Guides on an engaging and interactive tour focuses on the development and evolution of Ireland's sociatal and sporting past.
GUIDED TOUR: Leaving Certificate History of Art
Tuesday 10am, 11am and 12pm, Wednesday 10am, 11am and 12pm, Thursday 10am, 11am and 12pm.
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
This tour is specifically designed to cover key objects that appear on the History of Art Leaving Certificate specification and can be tailored to focus on Pre-Christian Art or Insular Art.
VIRTUAL SESSION: Leaving Certificate Art History
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
You and your Leaving Cert Art Students can join Museum educators for a live online virtual session broadcast direct to your classroom.
GUIDED TOUR: The Work of the Archaeologist
Tuesday 10am, 11am and 12pm, Wednesday 10am, 11am and 12pm, Thursday 10am, 11am and 12pm.
(National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2)
This tour, for Junior Cycle and Transition Year History, will focus on the work of the archaeologist and the discipline of archaeology, through the lens of the Vikings in Ireland. This tour will support students in acquiring historical skills, conceptual understanding, and historical consciousness, as part of their curriculum requirements.
SELF GUIDED VISIT: Dead Zoo Lab
Tuesday and Wednesday Mornings at 10am, 11am and 12 noon.
(Dead Zoo Lab, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
Discover the Dead Zoo Lab at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks with your students in a self-guided visit. Self-guided visits are a great way for students to engage with the Museum's Natural History collections. As part of Science Week 2025 and in partnership with the Midlands Science Festival, we welcomed Transition Year students from St Mary’s Secondary School, Edenderry, to work with us and develop a new resource for exploring the Dead Zoo Lab. With the Museum's science educators and graphic designers they tested and workshopped with us on the creation of this new journal for students to use when exploring the natural history collections.
RESOURCE: My Nature Journal Coming Soon
(Dead Zoo Lab, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7)
Coming soon in 2026! We’re excited to announce My Nature Journal – a new self-guided resource for post-primary students visiting the Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks.
RESOURCE: What are Natural History Scientific Collections
(Natural History online)
Discover the scientific collections of the National Museum of Ireland at Merrion Street and go behind the scenes of the Museum with talks from our Tales from the Decant Series.
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