20/10/2026
☎️ Calling all educators 🖌️
Book now to secure your Term 4 adventure at the Museum, and have your student's artwork included in a public display!
Students to put their own stamp on Whanganui’s creative landscape
By Karen Hughes
Whanganui Regional Museum is inviting schools to bring students to the Museum for hands-on experiences that connect curriculum learning with local stories, specialist knowledge and creative practice.
Scheduled for Term Four delivery, the Museum is offering two education programmes with activities spanning science, mātauranga Māori, history, art, technology and design. The programmes are available for learners from ECE through to Year 13, and delivered by qualified Museum educators, supported by the Ministry of Education’s Education Outside The Classroom (EOTC) fund.
Typography in Motion brings design, history and creativity together through typography and printmaking. Rūaumoko – Restless Land offers science, mātauranga Māori and natural-hazard learning through practical investigation.
Typography in Motion
From 20 October to 4 December, learners can experience Typography in Motion, inspired by the Festival of Design Aotearoa 2026. Students will take creative cues from the Museum’s newest exhibition Protest!, followed by a series of design challenges inspired by themes of protest and poetry.
Led by Pou Mātauranga/Team Leader Education Natasha Priddle, the programme explores how typography, design and physical space can influence the way people interpret and experience text. Students will explore composition, white space, text placement, and the relationship between words and their physical surroundings, before turning their ideas into printed posters and collaborative installations.
The Museum’s historic proofing press will be a central part of the programme. Originally used by the Whanganui Chronicle, the press will be used by students to produce posters on newsprint, combining colour and type. Resolved artworks will be displayed in the Museum’s atrium for the public to view, and a selection of printed posters will be displayed on the exterior of the former Chronicle building on the corner of Drews Avenue and Rutland Street.
Sessions run Tuesday to Friday, from 10am to 12pm, with capacity for up to 35 learners per session.
Rūaumoko – Restless Land
From 27 October to 4 December, students can explore the forces that shape Aotearoa through Rūaumoko: Restless Land, a touring exhibition developed by Te Papa Tongarewa and Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, currently on display at Whanganui Regional Museum.
The programme explores Rūaumoko, the atua (god) associated with earthquakes and volcanic activity, alongside scientific understandings of the forces that shape the whenua/land.
Through hands-on activities, geological specimens, models and practical challenges, students will investigate earthquakes, volcanoes, tectonic movement, floods and other natural hazards, exploring how and why the whenua is constantly changing. The programme also encourages students to think about how people live alongside natural hazards, and how knowledge, preparation and resilience can help communities respond to natural events.
Sessions are led by the Museum’s Kaiwhakaako Māori/Māori Educator, Timara Wallace and run Tuesday to Friday, from 1pm to 2.30pm. Each session can accommodate up to 35 learners.
Book a Term Four session
Bookings are now open for Term Four. Early childhood centres, schools and home-school learning groups are all welcome. To secure a booking, visit wrm.org.nz or contact the Museum’s education team.
Pictured:The historic proofing press at Whanganui Regional Museum. Image credit: Karen Hughes/Te Puni Tiaki Taonga o Whanganui/Whanganui Regional Museum
