We like the Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museums, and we have been to several throughout the state including Moab, Springville, Tooele, and the headquarters in Salt Lake City. Today we added the Provo DUP to that list.
We like these museums for a lot of reasons. For one thing, it is an opportunity for our boys to learn a little bit about history, particularly their pioneer history. They get to see artifacts that show how people lived and the hardships they faced 150 years ago.
Another reason we like to go to these museums is that it is good for children to learn to respectfully look and admire and read about simple objects. Hands-on museums are great and fun, but they are in a different category. We like the fact that our boys know how to walk slowly, examine display cases, and point at things while keeping their voices in control. We look at this as an important skill that they are working on as we visit these museums.
We also like the interaction we have with the workers at the museum. These grandmotherly curators go out of their way to talk to the kids and teach them about history. Our boys need these interactions.
This particular DUP Museum in Provo is rather large, with displays upstairs and downstairs. The boys were given a scavenger hunt, that had 2 sides– one with pictures of objects upstairs, the other with pictures of objects downstairs. They were able to find all of these items, and were rewarded with a root beer barrel candy. We loved that they had an activity to keep our boys more involved in what we were looking at through the museum.
Of course, they have pioneer histories as well, but we weren’t prepared to make a full investigation and the historian wasn’t there, so we weren’t able to find any pictures, histories, or artifacts from our family. If you know of anyone in your family who was a pioneer in the Provo Area, come prepared with names and they can help you located histories.
The Provo DUP is a great way to spend an hour with the kids this summer. It is located on 500 West and about 550 North in Provo in North Park and next to Pioneer Village. The Provo DUP is open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 1-4 pm between April and October.
