Visit Struwwelpeter! Tours for children
For kindergartners and children of other grade levels we offer a participatory program consisting of two parts and lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. During the first part of the program children are made familiar with a wide range of topics in Heinrich Hoffmann’s classic Struwwelpeter in a manner that is age-appropriate. In this section of the tour children learn how the Struwwelpeter came to be written, as well as about the backgrounds of the different stories. Together with their tour guide the children talks about the comic strip like stories and connect the old stories to the experiences of children today. In the museum’s dialogue with visiting children, the particular quality of this children’s literature classic arises: the book gives children the chance to approach and think about a broad spectrum of experiences in their own lives, from arguments at the dinner table, to daydreaming.
During the tour the children explore the exhibition with various “hands on-games” inspired by the stories. The children are shown original works of Heinrich Hoffmann, old editions, imitations, translations, kitsch, and artworks that document the long success of the Struwwelpeter.
The second part of the tour is a theatre workshop: The children act and reinterpret the Struwwelpeter stories using the various costumes and props in the museum’s theatre room. Whether or not a story should end as it does in the book is entirely up to the children performing it. Children incorporate their everyday experiences and perform with varying amounts of intensity in these impromptu shows. The grand finale is the performance of the impromtu sketches on our little stage.
Tours for adults and young adults
For adults and students of higher grade levels the museum offers general tours of at least an hour in length on the topic of “Heinrich Hoffmann and his Struwwelpeter.” The following themes may also be covered, by request:
- Education Then and Now: the Pedagogy of the Struwwelpeter
- Heinrich Hoffmann as Reformer of Psychiatry and Witness to History in the Nineteenth Century
Reservations
Please notify us at least two weeks before your visit in order to reserve a tour time.
E-mail: info@struwwelpeter-museum.de
Telephone: 069 94 94 767-400
Tours are also available in English and French