The Lotta Museum is part of Tuusula's cultural education plans

The municipality of Tuusula and the Lotta Museum have signed a partnership agreement concerning educational visits to the Lotta Museum by children from Tuusula.

“We are delighted that the Lotta Museum is starting to produce content for cultural education programmes, as this will broaden people’s understanding of Tuusula’s history and the people who played a part in it,” says Ulla Kinnunen, Director of Culture and Museums in Tuusula. 

The Lotta Museum offers a fun, educational museum visit for 5–6-year-olds in early childhood education in Tuusula. Visits to the Lotta Museum are voluntary for groups. The Lotta Museum Evening Workshop introduces participants to the museum’s exhibitions and organises an evening party. The workshop involves making various items for the party, preparing gifts for unknown friends and rehearsing performances in small groups. During the workshop, we will discuss the themes of volunteer work, working together, charity and caring. The workshop lasts approximately 1.5 hours. Groups should register directly with the Lotta Museum.

In basic education, visits to the Lotta Museum will be part of the Kultsu programme for Year 8 pupils starting next year. The visits will be coordinated annually in January-February during weeks 2-7. During the Lotta Museum workshop, students will learn about the Lotta Svärd organisation and the history of Finnish women through a theme that changes each year. In small groups, the pupils will plan a social media post in which they will discuss the theme from their own perspective. At the end of the workshop, the assignments will be reviewed from the perspective of media education.

The Kultsu workshop at the Lotta Museum is suitable for history, social studies and mother tongue lessons. Its purpose is to develop pupils’ multiliteracies, source criticism and digital and visual literacy. The workshop covers various means of influencing. The workshop lasts approximately 45 minutes.

“It’s great to be part of the cultural education programme. Cooperation with the municipality’s cultural services has always been mutually beneficial. The Lotta Svärd Foundation and the Lotta Museum have revamped their strategy, with children and young people as one of the focus areas. Being part of this serves our goals very well, says museum director Saija Ylitalo. 

The Lotta Svärd Foundation provides visiting groups with lunch at the Lottakantti canteen and also supports Kultsua with transport costs.

The Lotta Museum is a professionally managed specialised museum that preserves the history of the Lotta Svärd organisation and studies women’s voluntary work as part of our country’s history. The Lotta Museum’s main exhibition, Lotta Svärd – 100 Years of Social Responsibility, tells the story of the Lotta women and Finnish women from 1921 to the present day. Temporary special exhibitions support the themes of the main exhibition and examine the history of the Lotta movement from different perspectives. The museum is maintained by the Lotta Svärd Foundation.

Tuusula’s cultural education plans ensure that children in Tuusula have equal opportunities to experience local culture in a variety of ways. The cultural education plan is a plan for how cultural, artistic and cultural heritage education is implemented in the municipality as part of early childhood education and teaching, and is brought into the lives of every child. Kultsu, which began in 2016, is an appendix to the curriculum. Taika Kultsu for early childhood education has been in use since 2020. The cultural education content is implemented in cooperation with Tuusula’s cultural services, museum, library and art school – and now, as a new addition, the Lotta Museum.

Further information

Tuusula Municipality, Director of Culture and Museums Ulla Kinnunen, +358 40 314 3456, ulla.kinnunen@tuusula.fi

Lotta Museum, Museum Director Saija Ylitalo, +358 50 556 8212, saija.ylitalo@lottamuseo.fi

Questions from teachers

Tuusula Municipality, Cultural Producer Jaana Hopeakoski, +358 40 314 3436, jaana.hopeakoski@tuusula.fi

Lotta Museum, museum lecturer Elina Tarvainen, +358 44 705 4755, elina.tarvainen@lottamuseo.fi

This content has been translated using AI