[Family Travel]Preserving Traditional Craftsmanship: Taiwan’s Only Wu Family Dough Figurine Culture Museum

This week, Nainai Papaplay visited Taiwan’s only dough figurine culture museum—the Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum. Nowadays, when taking kids out, parents increasingly prefer places like tourist factories where there’s plenty to see and do, making learning through play much more effective~

The Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum is located in Xihu, Changhua. I’d read reports about this unique family before—their name says it all—they’re all in the same line of work (a family business, perhaps?!), all dedicated to dough figurines. To preserve traditional dough figurine culture, they don’t just perform for locals but also take it abroad to promote this traditional art. This year, in addition to maintaining their traditional sanheyuan (traditional courtyard) exhibition hall, the Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum has also undergone renovations. So, until the end of the 2015 summer vacation, admission is free~Upon arriving at the Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum, a guide offered to give us a tour, helping visitors rediscover the charm of their own cultural heritage. But since I was busy exploring and taking photos, I politely declined the kind offer~ At the entrance, there were drying dough figurines on display—Nainai was chatting with them~

The park’s map—signs clearly indicate directions to all exhibits, so you won’t miss any hidden corners. The vibrant colors really catch the attention of little ones. Can you spot the 12 zodiac animals? Starting from the right: the rat. Nainai is the rabbit, and she couldn’t resist teasing the bunny again!! Is that a legendary candy house?! Nainai spotted it and dashed over excitedly—she loves candy the most~ She happily pretended to be the shop owner, insisting I place an order~ But I don’t actually like candy, Boss!The walls are shaped like cookies.Nainai put on quite a show in this cookie-and-candy house all by herself~ She didn’t want to leave, clearly dreaming of living in such a magical place. All kinds of candy shapes~ The adjacent wall features various clay-related introductions—and how to make dough figurine clay~ Two common methods and the types of clay you usually see in stores~ The display table even lets you compare weights in person~ Even the gender signs in the restroom are made of clay~ Next to it is the dough figurine classroom~

We continued along the exhibition route. This place houses some old artifacts—related to the history of dough figurines, and there’s even the dough carriage my mom and I saw before temple festivals when I was little~
The traditional sanheyuan exhibition hall—lifelike temple parade scenes—everything is in motion~ Each character’s expression is incredibly detailed. Dough figurine culture truly was a part of my childhood temple festival memories. Naturally, the main activity here is DIY clay modeling~ We play with clay at home too, but the clay here is different—it’s light clay, giving Nainai a new experience. Basically, you first choose a wooden base (priced at 50 or 60 NT$, etc.), which comes with a set of six-color light clay and tools (one set included).
That’s 150 NT$ in total (if you choose the 60 NT$ wooden base, the total is 160 NT$—that’s the base plus 100 NT$). If you don’t want a wooden base, you can just buy the clay directly. Single colors come in larger quantities, but I forgot to check the price Up~ In the dough figurine classroom, we found seats and got ready to start creating Up~ Once we began, a guide came over to explain and demonstrate various basic kneading techniques. Nainai started working on her creation Up~ The guide mentioned—when you first take the clay out of the bag, you need to press and fold it several times—this “proofing” process makes the clay softer and smoother during shaping~ (I think this is similar to bread-making principles~) Next to the dough figurine classroom is the tool cabinet—besides white glue, markers, and samples, there’s also the super important “color mixing chart.” I found this extremely useful because when you look up color mixing online, it’s usually just color + color without proportions. This chart gives you the actual ratios to mix clay to get the colors you want—and the results are really accurate. Awesome. The Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum is truly a great place to kill time; playtime flies by. We only made three animal figures, and an hour had passed. The museum was preparing to close, so we packed up our unfinished creations to take home. For those who don’t want to DIY but still want to take a dough figurine home, they have pre-made ones too~ Luckily, the guide earlier explained everything~
Mom’s little reminder—no matter what kind of clay you use, remember to store it in a zip-lock bag or wrap it in cling film when not in use, to prevent it from hardening due to air exposure. The light clay we played with here dries out pretty quickly, so you have to shape it fast—it gets hard and hard to mold Up~ It’s more suitable for kids aged four and above who already have a sense of form.
Letting kids play with clay (any type) not only trains their hand muscles but also provides great parent-child bonding time—it’s really fun for both kids and adults~ Alright~ I admit I had more fun than Nainai, haha!!
*Wu Family Dough Figurine Museum
Address: No. 151, Lane 439, Section 4, Zhongshan Road, Xihu Township, Changhua County. Phone: 04-8610865
Opening Hours: Open year-round: 09:00–18:00 (group visits require advance reservation)
Admission: Currently free (only DIY dough figurine sessions are charged). Fees may be introduced soon Up. Parking: Available in the open space in front.

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