A Day in the Life of A Royer Child – Renfrew Museum Event

Life as a child during the 1800’s was very different than today. Simple toys, playing outdoors and chores with no video games or tv shows.

Some friends recently told us about the Renfrew Park in Waynesboro, PA. They said it was an awesome park with a creek that the kids could play in.

This sounded like a great summer outing so I googled Renfrew park and found out that Renfrew isn’t just a park it’s also a museum. I also found out there were having an event called “A day in the life of a Royer Child“. Though we weren’t exactly sure what a Royer child was (google didn’t help us) we decided to go to the event and we are so glad we did.

A Day in the Life of A Royer Child

This was the second year that this event was held at the Renfrew museum and park. The event is sponsored by John and Deb Beck with free admission, free food, and free activities.

The Location

Since this event had free activities and food I was expecting it to be really crowded but there weren’t a lot of people and because the Renfrew museum grounds are large it wasn’t crowded.

There were picnic tables and plenty of shade. The yard was beautiful and the perfect place for a family event.

The Food

First the most important part, the food. Everything at this event was free including the food. The Food included grilled ballpark hot dogs, lemonade, and Antietam Creamery ice cream.

A group of volunteers and scouts were at tables handing out hot dogs and lemonade.

The Antietam Creamery Ice Cream truck gave out cups of ice cream in 10+ different flavors. We each got a different flavor to try. So we ended up trying chocolate brownie blast, mint chocolate chip, blueberry cheesecake, and peach. They were all delicious. I’m definitely planning on visiting the Antietam Creamery sometime soon.

Activities

This event had tons of fun activities including a petting zoo, craft stations, games and demonstrations of children’s chores.

Petting Zoo 

It was so cute watching the kids watch and pet all the animals. It was the kids favorite part of the day. The first animal they saw a llama, it wasn’t wearing pajamas. Then they petted some baby pigs with help from dad.

Both kids loved feeding the baby goats grass. There were lots of smiles and giggles. The other animals we saw were baby ducks, chicks, turtles, rabbits and a pony.

Demonstrations of Children’s Chores

These weren’t just demonstrations the kids got to try doing the chores. The kids learned about cleaning rugs and each took a turn beating the rug with a stick.

Then we learned about washing clothes in the 1800s. They used a block of wood to rub out stains. The grain of the wood created ridges that helped get the clothes clean. Then the kids both got to try cleaning clothes in a washtub.

Then we were off to learn about carding wool. This was a little advanced for our kids so we didn’t stay long at this activity. There was also a dress-up station and an area with checkers, pickup sticks, and other games that we didn’t make it to this time.

Crafts 

Ok, so at a free event, I wasn’t expecting a lot from the crafts. But I was so impressed!

Each child could make a handkerchief doll to take home. Then the kids were able to play with some wooden toys, including tops, a cup and ball toy and wooden buttons on a string. The kids could each pick one wooden toy to take home with them.

Music 

For several hours during the event, there was a little band playing kids songs and they had instruments for the kids to join in.

After spending a couple of hours learning about childhood in the 1800s and eating some yummy food we decided to call it a day. We really enjoyed this event at the Renfrew museum and park. We are going to have to go back another time to take a tour of the museum and learn more about the history of the farm.