The Koskelanlampi running event, organized by the Serlachius Museums every year in Mänttä-Vilppula, brings together all the city ́s schoolchildren from classes 1– 9. The event takes place in the surroundings of museum Gustaf and Koskelanlampi in May. This event combining the joy of sporting and arts has been organized since 2003 and it is a delightful sign of summer in the community.

The pedagogical activities of the Serlachius museums aim to provide insightful teaching activities in addition to the museum exhibitions. Schools are the most important target group for pedagogical cooperation in museums.

This Bachelor’s thesis was commissioned by Serlachius museums and the aim was to analyze and examine schoolchildren’s experiences of participating in the arts workshop during the running event and to find out if the arts activity is a suitable part of the event.

The data were collected by observing groups of children participating in the arts workshop during the event, asking the participating children and teachers for feedback and by interviewing the personnel.

The theoretical part of the Bachelor ́s thesis included museum pedagogy and art education of children and young people. The results of this qualitative study clearly showed that the arts activity workshops are an essential and important part of the event. The Bachelor ́s thesis yielded development proposals and a proposition for the arts workshop in 2017, which will be executed at the event on May 18th 2017.