For schoolchildren
Program and rates 2025
New workshops on offer! Find out more at the bottom of the page about the History of Cinema Workshop and the Heraldry Workshop!
Here are the workshops available for a Discovery Day at the Château for schools and colleges.
You'll find all the information you need by downloading the brochure (in pdf format) on the château 's activities for schoolchildren.
To register for the Discovery Workshops, simply return the form corresponding to your choice to the following address: accueil@chateau-ainaylevieil.fr
Our Discovery Workshops
Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil discovery tour

Price: €8.5 per pupil (guided tour, free access to park and gardens)
For classes wishing to take part in the proposed activities without visiting the château, please contact us.
Discovery day, a visit and a choice of workshops
This tour has two points of interest:
The château and its gardens
A 13th-century fortified château with a medieval and 15th-century Renaissance dwelling. The main feature of this site is theomnipresence of water, both for defensive purposes when it surrounds the château and for pleasure when it flows around the gardens.
The Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions
Discover daily life in the village of Ainay-le-Vieil in 1914, the rural world, its customs, its life and the wealth of trades that existed at the time.
Circus workshop

Fixed price: €170 per 1/2 day
Maximum 30 students
Website : www.animationstoutazimut.com
E-mail : veroniquerichard18340@gmail.com
Discover a multi-faceted discipline suitable for all levels: kindergarten, primary and secondary school.
Juggling
It enables children to perfect their dexterity, touch and gesture control. (balls, scarves, diabolos, devil sticks, plates, clubs, etc.).
Gym & balance
They will complement motor learning with a focus on self-control (2 wheels, 4 wheels, unicycle, ball, wire, American roller...).
Clown mimes
They will develop an aspect of communication through expression techniques.
Clown tricks, facial expression and gestures.
Baby circus: introducing toddlers to the circus
Activities run by a qualified youth and sports instructor (B.E.A.T.E.P and B.E.E.S.A.P.T).
Animation Middle Ages

Fixed price: €200 per 1/2 day
Cycle 1 and 2 students: PS>CE2
Maximum 30 students
Website : www.animationstoutazimut.com
E-mail : veroniquerichard18340@gmail.com
E-mail : maryline.peret@laposte.net
Become a rider on our mechanical horses and take part in the château tournament.
- Dressed in costume, you'll relive the high points of the age of knights,
- you can build your own château and create your own coat of arms,
- Discover how to handle weapons through a variety of games (sword, crossbow, spear).
Games and history workshop

170 per 1/2 day
Maximum 30 students (primary>college)
Website : www.animationstoutazimut.com
E-mail : veroniquerichard18340@gmail.com
E-mail : maryline.peret@laposte.net
This animation allows you to discover a wide range of traditional games, enriched with their history and context.
"Play and you will become serious" Aristotle
Discover the history of games from antiquity to the present day.
Through a variety of games, iconography, quotations and anecdotes, we'll trace the origins of games and their evolution. There will be a special focus on the Middle Ages.
Play: some twenty games from different eras are on offer.
Through a variety of techniques, children will be challenged to develop their skills (physical, strategic, interpersonal).
Heraldry workshop

Fixed price: €190 per 1/2 day
Maximum 25-30 students (primary>college)
Website : bertrand-lambertot.eklablog.com
E-mail : lambertot.bertrand@orange.fr
The Lhyns Dhë Lhunn company presents: discovering the science and art of heraldry & creating your own coat of arms
The history of the coat-of-arms from the Middle Ages to the present day
What is a coat of arms? What is it used for? Who can have a coat of arms?
Explanation of the rules
But also science, language, symbolism & heraldic art with a visual: a small painted wooden coat of arms + photos + drawings (an essential step in creating a coat of arms).
Setting up and creating a personalized coat of arms
The children imagine and create their own coat of arms, taking into account the information they have received (paper & paint technique).
Words from the vegetable garden in music workshop

145 per 1/2 day
Maximum 25-30 students (kindergarten>primary)
Facebook page: Lalyrepourlire
E-mail / brigitte.gayaud@orange.fr
Musical awakening
Vegetable garden words (kindergarten - 1st - 2nd - 3rd grade)
Based on a story, children will discover and play with the lyre, a 4-stringed instrument. They'll create their own score and form a little show orchestra.
Kindergarten - 1st grade :
- Create a partition,
- "Pom-pom-poù-radis-radis".
CE1 - CE2
- Create a partition,
- "Ladybug or butterfly".
Brigitte will demonstrate how a radish becomes a trumpet and an apple a percussion instrument.
Film history workshop

Package: €200 per 1/2 day
Maximum 30 students (primary>secondary)
Website : www.animationstoutazimut.com
E-mail : veroniquerichard18340@gmail.com
E-mail : maryline.peret@laposte.net
A 2-stage workshop
Discover the history of cinema
Through the manipulation of optical games: magic lantern, zoetrope, praxinoscope, phenakistiscope, folioscope and more. This phase will enable you tograsp the illusion and decomposition of movement to understand how a drawing can come to life and be immortalized on film.
"Build your own Thaumatrope
Each student creates his or her own optical toy.
Nature activities in the park and gardens

Fixed price: €160 per 1/2 day
Maximum 25-30 students (kindergarten>primary>college)
Website : bertrand-lambertot.eklablog.com
E-mail : lambertot.bertrand@orange.fr
The Lhyns Dhë Lhunn Company
Activities in the park and gardens, focusing on the hidden life of the château
Through games, observation, stories and anecdotes, children will discover the flora and fauna of the region, and learn about the links between man and nature.
Bring clothing suited to the environment and the weather (closed shoes, boots, raincoat), as well as water bottles.
NEW: Favorise ton environnement workshop

Fixed price: €140 per 1/2 day
Maximum 30 pupils (kindergarten>primary)
Website : www.fredthanimation.com
E-mail : frederic.thelinge123@orange.fr
Using plants and helping the environment in a playful way
We'll take a stroll through the château 's garden to discover themedicinal and dietary uses of cultivated and wildplants. We'll talk about our place and that of plants in our environment. (approx. 45 mins.)
We'll then garden in real snail shells, in which we'll plant succulents. Sedums and orpins are easy-to-grow, hardy plants (one mini Japanese garden per child).
We can also make clay spinning tops and pirate dice, in which the children hide flower seeds and throw them like "seed bombs " to embellish their environment. (approx. 45 min.)
This workshop offers a gentle progression of learning and action to protect the environment through experimentation that each child can take home with them.