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Workshops, guided tours and lectures

Group visits and basic guided tours can be booked directly from our various museums. In addition to traditional museum tours, we offer interactive guided tours and workshops, designed to meet the specific needs of different groups visiting us. We organise changing workshops related to exhibitions, as well as interactive tours, that are particularly suitable for groups of children. You can also enquire about audio-described tours for the visually impaired, tours in plain language, remote workshops or themed tours. We also offer lectures about Tuusula’s history and other themes.

On the lawn, the instructor and children are playing.
Tuusula Museum summer camp in Klaavola in summer 2024. Photo: Timo Nurmi
People in the yard of the small, wooden cottage where Aleksis Kivi died in the summer.
Aleksis Kivi’s death cottage. Photo: Kari Kohvakka
A man wearing glasses stands in front of the fireplace and instructs the group. The children listen.
Fourth graders on a local history trip, guided by Harri Nyman, public relations officer. Photo: Timo Nurmi

Our activities are designed to inspire museum visitors to conduct their own research and make observations. The aim is to make a visit to the museum an inspiring and memorable experience.

Museum tours

Halosenniemi and Erkkola, two of Tuusula Museum’s sites, are open all year round. Aleksis Kivi Memorial Cottage and Kellokoski Hospital Museum are open during the summer season. Private groups are welcome throughout the year. In addition to historical buildings, you can explore interesting temporary exhibitions at our museums. All of our museums have guides who can provide you with additional information about the site and the current exhibition. Groups can book guided tours of the museum sites. 

Guided tours booked at museums

When booking a guided tour, please inform us of your group’s wishes and any physical limitations. Please book your guided tour at least one week before your planned visit. Guided tours are mainly free of charge for educational institutions in Tuusula. We charge a fee for guided tours for groups from other municipalities and cities.

More detailed information and instructions for group bookings can be found on the museums’ websites:

Open public tours

We also organise guided tours, that are open to everyone, and included in the admission price. These tours are in Finnish and English. Please, check timetables from individual museum’s website. No advance booking is required for open guided tours. 

Children sit on the floor of Halosenniemi's studio and follow the instructions. In the background are paintings and a library corner with books.

The Secret of Tupatölli – guided tour

Guided tours for children and families can be booked in advance at Halosenniemi. The tour introduces visitors to the life of an artist family and their home through clues, tasks and stories. What traces did painter Pekka Halonen leave behind? What was everyday life like for Maija, the lady of the house, and what did the children think about being models? The content of the tour varies according to the age of the children.

  • The tour lasts 45 minutes.
  • The guide fee is €40 and admission fees are according to the price list. (Guided tours are free of charge for school and early childhood education groups in Tuusula.)
  • The group size is limited to a maximum of 15 people.
  • Reservations: museopeda@tuusula.fi

Workshops

Our diverse museum sites offer a magnificent setting for art and cultural history workshops. We mainly organise workshops in Halosenniemi, the Erkkola Artists’ House, Klaavola House and the Kellokoski Hospital Museum, but from time to time we leave the museum environment and set off on adventures around Tuusula. We also organise workshops in connection with events. We also have travelling workshops that you can book for daycare centres or schools.

Two shadowy figures are projected onto the screen in silhouette. One figure has a Halloween pumpkin for a head and the other has a hook for a hand.
Shadow theatre workshop at the Jokela Brick Factory Pop-Up Halloween event in 2024.
A woman wearing an apron, red rubber boots and a straw hat leads a group of people along a sandy path. The woman is carrying a basket with a rabbit doll peeking out of it. Children and adults are walking behind her. There are green trees all around.
Drama tour in Halosenniemi.
Two children in a museum workshop. The girl in the foreground is looking for a button in a large glass jar full of buttons.
Crafts in the courtyard of Klaavola House. Photo: Timo Nurmi

We often use visual and literary arts as well as theatrical expression as methods. Various tasks that stimulate thinking and imagination also serve as aids. We organise a wide range of museum activities related to Tuusula’s cultural heritage. Our changing workshops are usually inspired by the exhibitions in our museums. The topics, working methods and tasks are closely linked to the themes of the current exhibitions or the subject areas of our museums.

The content of the workshops changes seasonally. We will inform target groups separately about new workshops, and at the bottom of this page you will also find current, ongoing workshops that can be booked by groups from Tuusula and elsewhere.

A large part of our workshop activities are linked to Tuusula’s cultural education plans. You can find separate information about these workshops on the Tuusula cultural education (Tuusulan kulttuurikasvatus) website. We announce workshops for early childhood education and other educational offerings in the Taika-Kultsu programme. Although early childhood education units, schools and educational institutions are our main visitors, private individuals can also book workshops for their own groups. Wouldn’t it be fun to come and celebrate a summer birthday party at Halosenniemi? First, a guided tour of the house for the children, followed by a picnic in the garden?

Special groups

If your group requires audio description or plain language guidance, this can be arranged. Please contact the museum’s educational services or mention your group’s needs when booking a guided tour directly with one of our destinations. If your group has other special needs that you would like us to take into account during the tour or visit, please contact us so that we can tailor a tour or workshop to suit your needs!

For more information on accessibility, please enquire at our museum sites. Our museum buildings also have additional material to support special groups and customers. Halosenniemi has an introductory text and floor plan in Braille. You can also ask our guides for help and advice at any time.

The virtual museum Muste has created a sign language guide to Aleksis Kivi Memorial Cottage on it’s website.

Enquiries

Lectures

Our museum staff have extensive expertise in the local history of Tuusula – prehistory, the Middle Ages and industrial history. And, of course, the culture and cultural history of Tuusula – art and artists. Our experts give lectures on topics related to their areas of expertise at various events and occasions. Popular examples include curator Jaana Koskenranta’s lecture series on the cultural history of Tuusula and exhibition curator Päivi Ahdeoja-Määtän’s lectures on Martta Wendelin.

Popular lectures, particularly suitable for schools and educational institutions, include Medieval Times, which covers the Middle Ages. Tuusula Anno Domini 1000–1500, Tuusula 11,000–1,000 years before the present day, which focuses on prehistory, and Snowy games – the history of winter in our backyards. We announce current lectures in the Tuusula event calendar and on these pages. You can also enquire about expert lectures and lessons on many other topics, such as the art of Pekka Halonen, the Tuusulanjärvi artist community, or public art.

Lectures available for booking

Tuusula 11,000–1,000 years before the present day

Finland’s first inhabitants also settled in the area that is now Tuusula after the Ice Age ended 11,000 years ago. Lake Tuusula was at the end of a narrow bay, and seals were the most important prey for Stone Age people. As the sea receded, signs of life became sporadic, but 5,000 years ago, the hammered axe people who swept across Finland left clear traces of themselves in Tuusula. We are studying the metal ages in the light of pollen analyses of the bottom sediments of Lake Tuusula and the burial mounds of South Tuusula. What about the roots of permanent settlement in Tuusula, our roots? Archaeological data points to 1,000 years ago, to the Viking Age.

Harri, the public relations officer, is shown in a close-up by the window. He is stroking an ancient stone object with white cotton gloves on his hands. In the background, you can see the interior of an old house, a chest of drawers and blue-toned wallpaper.
Harri and a prehistoric stone axe. Photo: Anton Soinne
  • Target group: Recommended for 5th grade and above, secondary education, adults
  • Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
  • Reservations and enquiries: Public Relations Officer Harri Nyman, harri.nyman@tuusula.fi, +358 40 314 3474

The Middle Ages. Tuusula, 1000–1500 AD

The area around Lake Kaukjärvi, later Lake Tuusulanjärvi, was in a state of flux during the Middle Ages. Slash-and-bu agriculture and permanent settlements spread to the region from Häme in the early 11th century. The peasants of Hyvinkää and Tuusula argued over the use of the Vantaankorvenmaa area behind Jokela. The rugged Tapionkivi rock is probably an ancient Hämeenlinna sacred site. The tu ing point came with the Häme Crusade in the 13th century. Hämeenlinna and churches were built, and settlers from Sweden moved in next door to the Häme people. In 1420, Hans Nahkelasta wrote to Tallinn to claim his inheritance. Was Hans, who lived in the Middle Ages, the first known resident of Tuusula… or was it the wilde ess man Tuusa?  

In front of the brick wall, Harri, the public relations officer, poses in close-up wearing a knight's armour. His helmet and gauntlet are clearly visible in the foreground.
Knight Harri immerses himself in the Middle Ages.
  • Target group: Recommended for 6th grade and above, secondary education, adults
  • Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
  • Reservations and enquiries: Public Relations Officer Harri Nyman, harri.nyman@tuusula.fi, +358 40 314 3474

Snowy games – winter history in our backyards

Harri Nyman recounts the amazing history of winter outdoor games. Did you know that a hundred years ago, making snow angels was frowned upon and even feared? Building snow castles, on the other hand, is a medieval tradition that has remained virtually unchanged. Where does the carrot nose on snowmen come from, and is the world’s most famous snowman really from Finland? Snow games are classified as valuable living cultural heritage, but what does the future hold for them?

An old photograph showing three children in winter clothes in front of a large snow structure. Two of the children are peeking out of the mouths of the castle tunnels. There are three candles in the snow on top of the fortress.
Childhood snow fun in the 1980s. (research collection H. Nyman / Lahti Ski Museum).
  • Target group: Recommended for grades 3 and 4 upwards, adults
  • Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
  • Reservations and enquiries: Public Relations Officer Harri Nyman, harri.nyman@tuusula.fi, +358 40 314 3474

Remote workshops and guided tours

Remote lessons increase the accessibility of museum education in a geographically large municipality. We have developed remote lessons at the request of teachers, and we continue to welcome ideas for lesson topics. Remote lessons can also be booked by groups from other parts of Finland.

We can arrange remote exhibition tours on request. These tours are intended for care homes and other groups who are unable to visit in person. During a remote tour, we move around the exhibition and the customer can view it via a camera. The tour requires the recipient to have a large screen, a sound system and a remote connection, for example via Teams or Zoom.

A close-up view of the large window of Halosenniemi's studio, taken from below. Above the gabled roof, a small strip of blue sky and tree leaves. Trees are reflected in the window.

An architectural discovery tour

What can a curious eye find in architecture? We will explore the architecture of Halosenniemi log castle and our own school from surprising perspectives.

After the joint part of the lesson, the pupils are given independent tasks to complete.

Before the lesson, teachers are sent clear instructions and ideas on how to prepare for the topic. There is a shorter version of the distance lea ing lesson for pre-schoolers.

Time: During the academic year

Target group: Primary school; content modified to suit the grade level; separate content for
pre-school Duration: 45 minutes/school; 30 minutes for pre-schoolers

Reservations and enquiries: museopeda@tuusula.fi

A red-haired woman is speaking into a megaphone in a close-up shot taken from behind. Children are listening.

Harri Nyman

Yleisötyön amanuenssi
Sivistys
Klaavola ja A.Kiven kuolinmök.
+358403143474
kulttuuripalvelut/museo

This content has been translated using AI