What secrets are kept by doctors' and healers' masks? Did they protect the patient, the doctor himself, or did they perform other unimaginable functions? How did doctors protect themselves by wearing masks at a time when microbes had not yet been discovered? Together with the children, we will seek answers to these and other questions in the online lesson "Masks in Medicine", highlighting the role of science in the history of medicine and answering the question why the mask has become an integral part of our daily lives. Topics such as society, history, medicine, peculiarities of different cultures are discussed with the students. At the end of the lesson, a practical task is carried out – self-made masks will be created together. The remote learning activity will be provided on the Zoom platform, so it is necessary to make sure that children have access to a camera and a microphone for quality participation in the interactive part of the activities.

Many kids dream about becoming a doctor when they grow up. A doctor’s career is full of challenges, it ignites excitement and admiration. Those who choose a vocation in medicine work hard to justify the trust conferred them by society. Their work is demanding, sometimes even risky. This programme is a chance to see how doctors’ offices have changed over the centuries, and to even step back to the times when doctors had no offices at all!

Lack of physical activity, or too much of it when your body is still growing, wearing the wrong kind of shoes or bags — our lifestyle can have a big impact on our skeleton. Children will find out how fresh air, healthy food and a good night’s sleep can influence the development of human bones. The participants will also be able to touch and move a full-sized skeleton and learn posture-strengthening exercises. To help the children retain and further explore what they have learnt and experienced, tests will be provided for the kids to fill out in the Museum or later in school.

How do a smoker’s lungs look? And a liver, affected by cirrhosis? Or a heart, stopped by a heart attack? The organs of patients who suffered from addiction-induced deseases will create a stimulating context for discussing the use and abuse of harmful substances. We will invite kids to think about the reasons for using alchohol, take a critical look at addiction and co-dependency, describe the illnesses caused by smoking, its effect on pregnancy, discuss how alcohol adds to the risk of STDs the risk of STDs, raised by alcohol, as well as the social and criminal aspects of substance abuse. At the end of the tour, we’ll invite participants to imagine themselves “drunk and dangerous” using special glasses.

We invite kids to imagine themselves as medieval city-dwellers by guiding them through extraordinary scenes of surgery without anaesthesia, sophisticated punishments for crimes and the bizarre rules people of the time had to live by. We talk about medieval medical techniques that range from the surprising to hideous, as well as the impact of wars and epidemics on people’s physical and mental health. To help the children retain and further explore what they have learnt and experienced, tests will be provided for the kids to fill out in the Museum or later in school.

A full-sized transparent model of the human body reveals everything that is usually hidden from sight: blood vessels, the nervous system and internal organs. The story about our bodily structures and functions is made complete with real human organs in jars.

We rarely connect our emotions to physiological processes, however, they have great influence on our mood. This programme teaches kids simple joy-inducing tips and tricks, such as eating the right foods, drinking water and herbal teas, providing the body with enough activity as well as rest, and developing a positive mindset. To help the children retain and further explore what they have learnt and experienced, they will be invited to use all of their five senses in a test.

Plant-based treatments are popularly used and misused, so we provide kids with a scientific and evidence-based outlook on herbal medicine. A special focus is given to poisonous plants, including those found in Latvia, and we will learn about their positive and negative properties as well as their use in pharmaceuticals. The programme is both thrilling, as we listen to the “secret language” of flowers, and practical, as we learn how to handle dangerous flora.

We invite kids into the laboratory of a mysterious medieval alchemist. Participants will meet the alchemist himself accompanied by his assistant, and dive deep into thrilling secrets and discoveries of the distant past. The programme combines facts about chemistry and pharmaceutical science with practical advice on hygiene.

The revelatory exhibits coupled with exciting experiments will boost any adolescent interest in chemistry. This interdisciplinary journey through the history of medicine, chemistry and traditional healing practices will ignite kids’ imaginations and allow them to take a creative look at the subject.