Kids Can Learn Old Fashioned Craftsmanship at Temple Museum

Long before Amazon and Walmart, people liked to make handmade gifts for friends and family. Their traditions were an art, and they don't to become a lost art.

Local families are invited to step back in time this weekend at the Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum's Homespun History Family Day. During this free event from 10 AM to 2 PM Saturday, September 7, your family can learn how local craftspeople of yesteryear dedicated their lives to a trade and created beautiful handmade works of art for their friends, family, and neighbors long before modern machinery and mega stores.

Modern craftspeople will be there to demonstrate traditions of horseshoeing, loom weaving, basketry, and other traditional crafts. Kids can get hands-on experience as they use the skills they learn to make their own handcrafted goods. They can also get a look at traditional crafts on display at the museum.

The Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum hosts a free family day event on the first Saturday of every month. They're a great opportunity for families to get out of the house on a weekend and enjoy local culture and history.

The museum is located at 315 West Avenue B in Downtown Temple. While family day events are free, regular museum admission prices apply if you want to tour the displays.

I highly recommend touring the museum not only for their permanent displays, but for the great touring displays they often make available as well. From now until October 20, they've hosting a temporary exhibit titled 'Picturing Nam'. The exhibit features uncensored images from the Vietnam War taken by military photographers.

If you believe your kids are mature enough to handle such images, it would be an opportunity to share that history with them and show them what our men and women in uniform endured and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.