Kids Are Learning to Weave on YouTube: What Can Museums Learn from That?

Are we missing the best chance to engage the next generation with history?

This is what I pondered as I volunteered at the eighteenth-century Schifferstadt Architectural Museum for Frederick’s Museums By Candlelight Saturday. My husband and I cooked over the open hearth, sung German carols with our Hessian soldier friend Ben, and chatted with guests, including a wave of young visitors deeply interested in the past.

I spoke with several 20-somethings who wished they owned historic homes where they could cook over their own hearths, and two little girls under 10 proudly told me they knew how to weave on a loom like the one in the corner. Where did they learn these skills, I asked?

Their answer: YouTube.

This got me thinking. I hear a lot of hand-wringing from the history community that young people don’t care about history. But that isn’t what I’m seeing. Today’s young people are digital natives, and the analog nature of history is the appeal. They want to make something with their own hands. They want to weave, cook, build, and connect. And right now, YouTube is filling that void. That’s a wake-up call for the museum and heritage tourism world.

Who is creating ongoing, hands-on, group-based ways for Gen Y, Z, and Alpha to engage in history, build skills, find mentors, and connect to place?

I’d love to hear from museums or heritage organizations that are doing long-term engagement, whether that is maker spaces, living history clubs, traditional skill workshops, or even digital communities that extend beyond a single event.

Header image by Unsplash.