ROM Around You: YOUseum

What do you know about the things around you? Let’s find out! Explore art, culture, and nature with ROM Teacher Julie Tomé.

Visit ROM Around You for other themes and curiosity challenges to discover more about the objects in your home, yard, and neighbourhood!

Fun Fact: The ROM has over 13 million objects in its collections, and only a small percentage of them are on display in our 40 galleries and exhibition spaces

Museums have a long history: the first may even date back to 530 BCE in the state of Ur in what is Iraq today. The first museums were often called “cabinets of curiosities” and were the private collections of well-to-do people; things they had collected on their journeys and displayed in their homes. The displays in the ROM’s Stair of Wonders are a nod to those first museums. 

Today, there are thousands of public museums around the world. Some are multidisciplinary (cover a lot of topics) like the ROM, but most cover a specific area like natural history, ceramics, and even shoes!

The ROM’s collections cover art, culture, and nature. We have collections from Greece, Rome, Egypt, and beyond. We have departments of botany (the study of plants), herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians), ornithology (the study of birds), and so much more. Going behind the scenes is a real treat!

What do you collect? Rocks? Stamps? Stuffed bears? Books? In this week’s Curiosity Challenge, you will be the exhibition design team and create an exhibition from your own collection!

Curiosity Challenge: Use your personal collections to create a YOUseum for your family to visit.

• A collection — this could be anything: toys, stamps, games, etc.
• A table, bookcase, or other place to house your exhibition
• Paper and pen
• Scissors
• Cardstock (optional)

1. Take some time to think about what a museum is. If you could open your own museum, what specific topic or area would it cover?
2. Make your own exhibition:
   • What is your theme? 
   • Choose pieces from your collection that match this theme
   • Label your selected pieces 
   • What do you put on a museum label?
   • Lay out and install your pieces 
   • Come up with a name for your exhibition and create a poster 
   • Invite your family to your exhibition
   • Give a guided tour of your exhibition and explain the stories behind the pieces you chose
3. Questions to ponder:
   • Why is it important to visit museums?
   • How can museums be useful?
   • What different types of museums are there?
   • What do you like or dislike about museums?
4. Share your YOUseum and thoughts with us on social media @ROMtoronto and  #ROMathome