The Royal Museum of Scotland is running sessions on Egyptian mummies, October 14-18; art and design workshops, in late November; the Scottish home across the centuries in January; and printing workshops using designs from the Middle East in February. Victorian object handling and drama sessions will be held at Shambelli House Museum of Costume until October 4, and rocket making workshops at East Fortune Museum of Flight in March. Tel: Ewan Small, 0131 247 4267.

PERTH MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

Arms and armour starts in October and an exhibition about holiday souvenirs, Wish you were here, in February. Other displays include: Time of our lives, which explores Perth from prehistoric times to the present, and Are you being served - the clothing industry in Perth. Tel: Barbara Hamilton, 01738 632488.

WALES

CARDIFF BAY: WELSH INDUSTRIAL AND MARITIME MUSEUM

To enable teachers to run their own sessions in the museum, workshops are available on: sailors and ships; Vikings; weather; Victorian transport; and industrial Wales: the coal industry. Wales in the 1950s runs until December 1, and an exhibition on the centenary of the motor car in Wales is planned for the end of March. Victorian steam day October 4. Tel: 01222 481919.

CARDIFF: MUSEUM OF WELSH LIFE

In “Builders moving house” sessions linked to an exhibition running until Christmas, primary pupils dismantle and rebuild their own structures and make a wattle fence (Mondays and Tuesdays). Laundry sessions and dressing up for a Victorian lesson in the Maestir school also available. Tel: 01222 569441.

NORTHERN ENGLAND

CARLISLE:TULLIE HOUSE MUSEUM

Until end January, discover the surprising richness and adaptability of Wildlife in the city, which encompasses natural sciences, art and human history in its examination of Carlisle’s wildlife corridors - the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. Related lessonshands-on activities available plus KS2 Victorian, Roman and Tudor object study sessions, and KS1 washday (see page 19), light, toys and fossils activities. Tel: Sandra Stancliffe, 01228 34781.

DERBY MUSEUMS

The Museum and Art Gallery invites 4 to 7-year-olds to Autumn Antics on October 29, 10-11.30 am for craft activities and stories and 8 to 12-year-olds to The Opening of the Mouth, October 30, 10am-noon and 2-4pm, for storytelling and crafts on an Egyptian theme. Pickford’s House Museum is running a drop-in day on December 7, 10am-4pm, on Snapshots in Time, a look at Christmas activities in the past. Free but booking essential for the first event. Tel: 01332 255578.

HALIFAX: EUREKA MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN

Students of visual literacy in art will gain an insight into the world of puppetry and animation at Fantasy in Action, November 9-January 6, an exhibition from the National Puppet Centre in London. It traces the history and different forms of puppets from the first appearance of Mr Punch in 1662 to Muffin the Mule and the use of colours and materials. In a complementary one-hour workshop, “The Art of the Puppet”, KS1-2 groups can design and make their own puppets. Tel: 01422 330012.

MANCHESTER: MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

Primary pupils can design, construct and experiment using construction games and computer interactives at Design Works, October 19-January 5. Challenges range from building the tallest building and crossing a crocodile-infested river. Activities have also been created for under fives. Tel: 0161 832 2244.

SUNDERLAND: MONKWEARMOUTH STATION MUSEUM

The stupendous iron bridge exhibition, until April 1997, celebrates the 200th anniversary of the first Wearmouth bridge, then the world’s longest single span iron bridge. Useful for design and technology studies at all levels, the Victorians, transport, and local history. In a “Bridge that Gap!” area, children can design and make their own structures, build and test an arched bridge and try out K’Nex construction kits. Free teachers’ pack available. Tel: Emma Willson, 0191 565 0723.

SUNDERLAND MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

The atmosphere of a Victorian art gallery will be captured in a 150th anniversary exhibition, October 19-January 26. Schools sessions with real museum objects available plus Victorian Christmas card making. Teapotmania, November 9-January 5, will survey contemporary British craft teapots and tea cosies and how they grew out of the arts and crafts movement. The art of glass: art nouveau to art deco continues until October 27. Free teachers’ pack available. A North East childhood, January 18-April 6, will explore 200 years of childhood joys and miseries with object handling sessions on such subjects as schools, homes and pastimes. Coal, a new permanent gallery, opening late autumn, will dig deep into the lives of miners and their families with hands-on reconstructions and audio-visual displays. Free teachers’ pack available. Tel: Jo Cunningham, 0191 565 0723.

YORKSHIRE MUSEUM, YORK

Venom, on the biology and behaviour of deadly creatures, runs until Christmas. Go on a journey beneath the sea and through a ruined temple in the jungle, encounter rattlesnakes, hairy tarantulas, poison arrow frogs, stingrays and sea snakes, and meet the venomologist.

Deep Space schools’ sessions, November 4-18 and February 24-March 10, will comprise an astronomy lecture, hands-on activities and a portable planetarium. Tel: 01904 629745.

WARRINGTON MUSEUM, CHESHIRE

Discover the inspiration behind Alice, the origins of the Cheshire cat, and links with the local area where Carroll lived as a child at Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass!, December 21-April 5. Also on display are likenesses of some famous contemporaries, captured by Carroll wearing his “pioneering Victorian photographer” hat. Tel: 01925 442392.

CENTRAL ENGLAND

SANDWELL, WEST MIDLANDS: HADEN HILL HOUSE

Stepping back through the ages until January 1997 examines the shoes worn by local people from 1500 to the present. The people’s show, October to February, will bring together pop memorabilia, ceramic pig collections, badges, coins, postcards, stamps and anything local people have collected. Tel: Debbie Richards, 01384 569444.

SOUTHERN ENGLAND

BRIGHTON MUSEUM

Puzzles, quizzes, games and a prize trail at the Royal Pavilion, October 26-November 3, plus free drop-in workshops where children will create dragon mosaics, stick puppets and much more, no booking necessary. From November 11-17, discover the professional secrets behind gilding, graining, painting on glass and woodcarving at Behind the Scenes, a conservation week of free tours, lectures and demonstrations. Tel: 01273 713289.

CHICHESTER DISTRICT MUSEUM

At the interactive Stock, scaffolding and stench, until October 12, students find out about medieval entertainments, punishments and lifestyles. Tel: 01243 784683.

TAUNTON: SOMERSET COUNTY MUSEUM

One hundred and fifty years of Dorset farming 1846-1996, until January 18, supports KS3 “Britain 1750-1900: expansion, trade and industry”. Topics include: the farm labourer and rural poor, the Corn Laws, Tolpuddle Martyrs and the rise of agricultural trade unions. Displays in Wells at war 1939-45 until January 25, reveal the effects of industrialisation brought about by steam power, and changing methods of producing pottery, glass and other wares. Two-hour education sessions on the Romans in Somerset are available at Pounds 2.20Pounds 1.10 per pupil. Tel: John Bainbridge, 01823 320200.

GLASTONBURY: SOMERSET RURAL LIFE MUSEUM

The Dorset farming exhibition arrives here, January 22-March 18, and Victorian Britain education sessions are available until November 22. Choose from: domestic activities in a Victorian farmhouse at Pounds 2.20Pounds 1.10 per pupil, or costumed role play on rural Victorian England at Pounds 4Pounds 3. Tel: 01458 831197.

GOSPORT, HAMPSHIRE: CENTRE FOR HISTORY AND NATURAL HISTORY

Science and history SEARCH sessions are available on: animals and classification (KS12); food chains (KS12); skeletons and movement (KS2); Victorian Britain: upstairs, downstairs (KS12); homemaking in the 1930s (KS2); and “When granny was a girl” (KS1). Free information pack from: 01705 501957.

HAMPSHIRE MUSEUMS

Art workshops for KS23 pupils linked to Making faces - an interactive exhibition of portraits will be held in Willis Museum, Basingstoke, in November and Andover Museum in December. Plus KS2 sketchbook and drawing workshops, linked to an Izita Kerr exhibition, in Andover Museum in October. Tel: Susan Jessop, 01962 846313. Primary history packs have been prepared to support new displays at Rockbourne Roman Villa, Fordingbridge, and the Museum of the Iron Age, Andover, together with collections of original and replica artefacts for use as part of visits. Details: Chris Elmer, 01256 332392.

LONDON: HAMPTON COURT PALACE

Care of Buildings, an exhibition about the science of buildings, has taken over 27 rooms at the Palace. It includes full-size sections of ordinary homes and shows how buildings are constructed, the materials used, what goes wrong if they are neglected and how to keep them in good repair. Teachers are invited to make a free preliminary visit and choose from a range of KS1-4 activity packs. Operated by Upkeep, an independent educational charity, the exhibition is open Monday to Friday. Tel: 0181 943 2277.

LONDON: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LAMBETH ROAD, SE1.

Elegant evening wear, ration book fashions, utility frocks and underwear, uniforms and factory wear, and demob suits and zoot suits will be on display in Forties fashion . . . and the New Look, February 12-August 31. Themes will include: make-do-and mend, patriotic textiles, Hollywood glamour and beauty and hairstyles. Tel: 0171 416 5000. Group bookings: 0171 416 5397.

LONDON: ACCADEMIA ITALIANA, GROSVENOR PLACE, SW1

Leonardo da Vinci: scientist, inventor, artist until December 1 brings together paintings, sculpture, facsimile copies of some 144 drawings, fully operational working models and six interactive computer games. Free teachers’ packs from KS2 to A-level available by sending SAE with Pounds 1 postage. Tel: Rachel Tranter, 0171 235 0303.