Apprendre et explorer : Solstice d’hiver

In this interactive theatre lesson, stories from art, culture, and nature are told by the winter “campfire.”

Students will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning with real objects from collections at ROM during the Winter Solstice Learn & Explore lesson. Some objects they might encounter include an Inuit stone and sealskin doll, a Hannukiah, a medieval bone skate, a snowshoe, and a diya lamp.

The Hudson’s Bay Company post at Churchill, Manitoba provided an accessible and abundant supply of glass beads for the Paallirmiut of the Arviat area in Nunavut. Beaded designs were created on cloth panels that were then stitched to the hood, chest, and shoulder areas of the woman’s inner parka. Inuit seamstresses displayed a keen sense of colour patterns and graphic design.

In one example from nature, students may learn about how polar bears learn to hunt on ice in the winter, catching seals as they come up through holes in the ice.