Daily schedule

From listening to testing your balance, from building sandcastles to hide-and-seek – the playground at the ‘Alter Bären’ Restaurant (311) on the edge of the forest is a fun place for children of all ages. On the treetop path, you can see the world from above and then whiz down the slide at high speed.

Make your own butter: Shake cream until it turns into butter. If cream is shaken or beaten for long enough, it turns into butter and buttermilk. Try it – and enjoy your homemade butter on bread.

Hats, coats, skirts and even hair slides were embellished with colourful silk ribbons. The manufacture of these ribbons, the trimmings, has been characteristic for the Basel region since the 16th century. In the farmhouse from Therwil BL (131) a large loom dating from 1895 is in operation. The silk ribbons woven here can be admired and purchased directly on site.

The individual roof tiles are heavy, but they keep out the rain for many years. Have a go yourself and help re-roof our houses. Use the spray can to test whether your roof is watertight.

In the year 2000 the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum took possession of a complete hat maker's workshop. Its new home is in the Dwelling from Villnachern AG (211). On certain days of the week it is possible to watch the hat makers at work.

You can touch the exhibits here – and join in fun, hands-on activities too. Feel free to explore the entire building. Depending on the day, experts will help you learn how to weave straw, do woodwork or even print bags.

In the dark kitchen of the farmhouse from Madiswil BE (321) farmers’ wives prepared the daily food. They stood in the smoke for many hours at the low stove - an everyday life that is hard to imagine. The smoke from the hearth fire served to preserve sausages, bacon and other pieces of meat. These days sausages hang from the ceiling in smoke - you can purchase these ‘homemade’ sausages in the Ballenberg shop.

In olden days baking your own bread was of great importance in order to put food on the table. Farmers’ wives would bake their bread in the oven houses, which were often owned by the local community. In the baking room of the Stöckli from Detligen/Radelfingen BE (333) the Museum’s bakers fire up the wood-burning oven every day in the early morning.

There’s a lot to do in the cheese storehouse. Lend a hand and help store the cheese wheels. Our younger visitors can carry a bundle of dry twigs on their backs using the traditional wooden frame. Try on clothes as they were worn 100 years ago.

There’s a fire! At Brandboden, you can pretend to be a firefighter. Fill the bucket with water and then use the hand-operated pump. Using all their strength they have to pump enough water to put out the fire. When the bell rings, you’ve beaten the fire.

Younger visitors can have a go at rearranging the Swiss Open-Air Museum – thanks to the magnetic pieces!

In the hut farmhouse from Villars-Bramard, Vaud (531) people cook as the farmer's wives used to do every day. Come by and try a bite. 

There are countless types of embroidery – cross stitch, kilim, silk embroidery, Schwalm embroidery, to name but a few - and this technique for working on textiles is known throughout the world. The principle is always the same: a backing material is decorated by means of drawing through or sewing on threads.

In the cellar underneath the Granary, Wellhausen (622), you can play with the toys of your ancestors. You can walk around on stilts, ride a hobby horse, look through children’s books, pile up building blocks, dress up rag dolls and play a game of ring-toss – who still remembers those old games and would like to try them out?

Bats feel right at home in this building. Use the webcam to observe a colony roosting and learn about the unique characteristics of these nocturnal animals. Children can change their perspective in a playful way and discover the world through a bat's eyes.

Watch how wool is plucked and carded in the dwelling from Schwyz SZ (751).

How does the silk worm moth spin its precious silk cocoon? Find out how the extremely thin silk thread, which is up to 3 kilometres long, forms a cocoon.

A building with many faces! Youth hostel, home, farmhouse, restaurant and more. An eventful past that you can explore using digital tools.

In the Small Farmhouse from Unterseen BE (1051) there is a small pottery workshop, just like the ones found in villages in the old days, when pottery was made by hand in small family enterprises. All the various stages of production are to be seen at Ballenberg, from the turning on the wheel, to the pre-firing (bisque firing), to the glaze firing, to the engobe decoration. The potteryware can be purchased directly in the pottery workshop.

The women weavers in the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum regularly sit at the 200-year-old loom in the weaving cellar, letting the shuttles glide across the warp. In the weaving cellar it is possible to purchase handwoven products such as the legendary “Znüni”, bread bags with the Haslital pattern, or towels and linen Kirschstein bags.

Here you can practise milking using a wooden cow. Settle yourself on the milking stool and work carefully, as this is the only way to fill the bucket.

The cheese dairy in Ballenberg functions on an almost daily basis. In House (1361), the Alpine Cheese Dairy from Kandersteg BE, visitors can not only look at the various bits of apparatus needed for cheesemaking but also follow the process itself as it happens.

The table in the old living room and bedroom is a spot for lively and sociable exchanges. Take a seat – there’s coffee and tea ready for you.

Here, you can get a hands-on insight into our rich Alpine culture. Don a pair of Swiss wrestling shorts, learn how to yodel, dress like they did 100 years ago or use a wooden frame to carry cheese. Fun for young and old.