Cozy Weekends with Children in Varėna

Very close to the capital, after only about an hour’s drive, you will find yourself in the heart of Dzūkija. Here, in addition to the best mushrooms in the country, you will also discover the best traditions of the region – you will bake potato herds, gather honey and learn why you must embrace the tree.

Cozy children’s weekends in Varėna – together with the Varėna’s tourism information center we present the most interesting and cozy places in Dzūkija for autumn and winter days with children.

To try out the educations, contact the organizers or Varėna TIC in advance and find out when the classes are held, how to prepare for them, make be sure to register.

Dzūkija National Park Directorate Ethnographic Homestead Exposition

The ethnographic homestead consists of a house and a cottage built in the beginning of the 20th century. Here you will learn how the Silesian dzūkai walked in “mushroom huts”, fished, and hunted, what was the lifestyle of the Silesian dzūkai. In the ethnographic homestead, you are invited to try educational programs: weaving wicker, printing eggs, felting wool, pouring candles.

For educations and visits, contact the address Miškininkų g. 6, Marcinkonių village, Varėna district. Contacts: tel. +370 310 39 169, museum@dzukijosparkas.lt, cepkelai-dzukija.lt

Museum Exposition of Wooden Beekeeping

In 2006, an apiary of ancient stump beehives was established in the village of Musteika, and bees settled in the trees of the surrounding forests. In the apiary, you can see live how bees are cared for in stump hives, how honey is handled and wax is made.

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Anzelmas Matutis Tree – Museum

In the museum, the poet’s friend, the hero of the book, Drevinuk, is a wax figure with a pine cone nose. Everyone who visits the tree must perform a kind of ritual, established by the poet himself: to hug the tree standing in the yard and pass through Uosupis with a log thrown over it.

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Vincas Krevė – Mickevičius Memorial Museum

The Lithuanian literary classic Vincas Krėvės-Mickevičius memorial museum collects, preserves, studies and popularizes the creative and memorial legacy of the writer Vincas Krėvės-Mickevičius. After visiting the museum, you can see not only the house where V. Krėvė was born, but also the legendary places that the writer described in his works.

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Merkinė Regional Museum

The museum exhibits stone, brass and iron finds from the 16th – 18th centuries. Reminiscent of the glory of the city of Merkina, the ornate bell of the Merkina town hall cast by the most famous bell caster in Vilnius, Jonas Delamars, the bust of King Vaza IV, an impressive collection of cobblestones, and other archaeological finds.

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Perloja History Museum

In the museum, you will get to know the archaeological and historical past of Perloja: the development of the settlement during the times of the great dukes, the years of tsarist rule, the famous Republic of Perloja, life during the period of independent Lithuania. Archaeological finds, old prints, photographs, the most famous works of local masters, farm implements and household items of the old are exhibited here for your attention.

For educations and visits, contact the address Perliaus st. 22, Perlojos village, Varėnas district. Contacts: tel. +370 310 47 605, vienaragiui@gmail.com, merkinesmuziejus.lt

Lithuanian Tatar Household Museum

This is a private museum, established in the homestead house of its owners Luise and Vladas Gaidukevičius, which housed an elementary school before the war.

For educations and visits, contact the address V. Krėvės st. 4, Subartoniai village, Varėna district. Contacts: tel. +370 614 78 316

The Homestead-Museum of the Writer Martynas Vainilaitis

Here, for almost three decades, the poet spent his summers and drew inspiration from the wonderful nature of the surroundings, writing his works for children. Many wooden characters from fairy tales created by the poet live in this manor: gnomes, hedgehogs, pikes, gnomes, woodpeckers, fairies, carved by the folk craftsman Adolfas Teresius.

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Exposition of Liturgical Heritage in the Basement of Liškiava Monastery

17th-20th centuries Liškiava St. In the Trinity Museum of Liturgical Heritage, established in the basement of the monastery, you will see various utensils, books, sculptures, flags and many other interesting exhibits used in the church.

For educations and visits, contact the address Bažnyčios g. 7, Liškiavas village, Varėna district. Contacts: tel. +370 671 88644, administracija@liskiava.lt, www.liskiava.lt

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

The Dargužiai Crafts Center

Educational programs:

• From Grandma’s Chest (Ribboning)
• The art of wood carving
• Pretzel (baking yeast buns)
• Dzūkiška patrova (baking herds on a cabbage leaf, babka, cookies, kučučki)
• Herbs heal and soothe (stories about herbs, their collection, processing, use, tasting of herbal teas)
• The part of the virgin is green as a berry (ethnographic games, songs, afternoon for adults)
• Shepherd songs and games (ethnographic games, songs, afternoon for children)
• Who lives in the hive?
• Wool felting
• Bee’s body, linen depth, above the moon flows (candle making)
• How bread appears
• Let’s make ice cream
• Production of straw toys
• Let’s talk about clay (sculpting the work, firing, glazing, firing – you can choose only the molding of the work)
• Grandma’s white cheese
• Valkininkai region since the 14th century. until these days
• I draw with charcoal
• Karkl’s wicker braid is intertwined
• Photography with us and among us
• Meeting with photographer Ričardas Anusauskas and video operator Rūta Žemaitiene – for the group

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Dzūkija National Park

Educational programs:

• Casting wax candles
• Tying straw gardens
• Buckwheat babka baking
• Cooking potato herds
• Cooking galkeli (cuties).
• Woodpecker
• Ever green pine
• Swamp
• Rivers and springs
• Weeding
• Extraction of fire with the help of flint

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Unicorn Heather

Educational programs:

• Crafts
• Knowledge of nature
• Wooden beekeeping

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in the “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

Rural tourism homestead “Grikucis”

Educational programs:

• Buckwheat’s path from sowing to dinner table
• Advent at the Grikucis homestead
• Winter, winter, run from the yard
• St. Waiting for Easter
• 40 Bird Day (March 10)

For educations and visits, contact the address Žarkausko st. 7, Pamerkiai village, Varėna district. Contacts: tel. 8 614 24814, laima.macioniene@gmail.com, http://www.sakalai.lt

Falcons Homestead

Educational programs:

• Certified home bread baking classes
• Baking lessons for ancient pie buckwheat dabka
• Busil bandaitis cooking lessons

For educations and visits, contact the address Naujaliai st. 15, Marcinkoniai village, Varėna district. Contacts: tel. +370 615 34306, marcinkonyse@sakalai.lt, http://www.sakalai.lt

Homestead “ŠILAS”

Educational programs:

• Casting wax candles
• Straw gardens and straw Christmas toys
• Wool felting
• Traditional marguerite printing
• Dry flower bouquets and verbenas
• Paper cuttings
• Weaving with carnes
• Baking Dzuki banda and buckwheat babka

More information with exact coordinates and contacts of this place can be found in our “Traveling with Children ®” attractions map.

This article is author’s work and was prepared by “Traveling with Children ®”. Copying and use without permission is strictly prohibited.

Don’t forget to follow us on social networks. You can find more about travel in Lithuania on the Facebook account “Traveling with children” and on the Instagram account “Traveling with children”.

Information about traveling around the world can be found on the Facebook account “Traveling with children around the world” and on the Instagram account “Travels with children around the world”.

Looking for more places to visit with kids, travel tips and recommendations? Feel free to connect to groups of travelers with children. We also invite you to share your travel experiences here.

Want to share your trip or experience traveling with children? Feel free to email us.