Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Teacher Blows Students' Minds By Creating 'Millennial Museum' With Their Parents' Help

Screenshots from @hipsterhistorywithmrsn's TikTok video
@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

TikToker and history teacher Malinda Nichols created an incredible experience for her 6th-grade students—by enlisting the help of parents to create a "Museum of the Millennial."

There are countless amazing teachers in the world, but there are some out there who just "get it."

History teacher and TikToker Malinda Nichols doesn't just teach history—she immerses her students in the worlds of different decades, generations, and historical events through costumes, decorations, fun facts, interactive activities, and the occasional party.


In the past months, Nicols has created immersive decade studies for the students to explore, including a '60s day to highlight that "Boomers weren't always out-of-touch old people."

Most recently, she collaborated with fellow elder Millennials and Gen Xers, the parents of the Gen Alpha students in her classroom, and put together a "Millennial Museum" for the students to explore.

Nichols and the parents gathered up various Millennial artifacts, from appliances found in the home like a rotary phone to fun toys that passed the time, like Nintendo GameBoys and Furbies. Beanie Babies even made an appearance!

Some of the parents even visited during the event to demonstrate how to use different game systems, electronics, and home appliances, and they answered questions, like how they used to make plans with their friends before texting was an option, or what songs and commercial jingles from their childhoods they still get stuck in their heads sometimes.

You can watch the video here:

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn

Welcome to Part 2 of the Museum of the Millennial: curated by parents, gasped at by 6th graders. 🎧📼📟 This pop-up classroom exhibit TRULY had it all:
✨ Rotary phones (thought they figured it out but then they tried to “press the middle button to make it go through.” What a learning moment.) ✨ VHS tapes (Be Kind, Please….do what?) ✨ Folded hearthrob posters (Gen Alpha, meet #JTT and #DevonSawa) ✨ Beanie Babies (“My mom has purple princess one! Is it worth anything?!”) Not sure they were ready for ancient artifacts of the previous century, but when their parents SURPRISED them and showed up TO EXPLAIN IT ALL (like Clarissa), welllll, it wasn’t just a throwback…it was living tangible history. And it was hands down one of the very best days in my classroom EVER. 
If you love seeing classrooms bring history to life in creative and hilarious ways — follow for more reels like this! Let’s make history weird, fun, and unforgettable together. 🙌 
👀 Want to bring this lesson to your own classroom? This is in my TpT store for free! The download even includes directions on creating the perfect AOL Screen Name and Away Message! 
#MillennialMuseum #PopCultureInTheClassroom #ReverseShowAndTell #AncientTech #MillennialParents #RetroRewind #MiddleSchoolMoments #HistoryIsCool #TeachersOfInstagram #Edutok #ClassroomReels #ThrowbackTeaching #90sKidsUnite #TeacherContentCreator #HistoryClassroom #HistoryTeacher

The students proved to be so invested in the experience, imagining the fun days of the '90s and the era their parents grew up in, that Nicols included a few other activities after the museum, like watching the beloved family film Casper.

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn

Our 6th grade classroom turned into a pop culture time machine this week. Parents surprised students by bringing in “historical artifacts” from their own childhoods—growing up in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s—as we studied the decade of dial-up, denim, and discmans. We laughed. They gasped. We explained what a floppy disk was. This generation of parents didn’t just live history—we were the bridge from analog to digital, from mixtapes to MP3s, from landlines to livestreams. And maybe we’re only just realizing what a radical shift that was. To our kids, it’s ancient tech. To us, it’s memory lane. To historians… it’s officially history. #90sKids #GenX #MillennialParents #FromAnalogToDigital #RetroInTheClassroom #MiddleSchoolMagic #SocialStudiesClass #HistoryCameToLife #Edutok #TeachersOfInstagram #ThrowbackVibes #TBTEveryDay

Fellow TikTokers felt a mixture of amusement and nostalgia over the curated museum.

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok


@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

Others were shocked that they were old enough to be included in a museum.

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

@hipsterhistorywithmrsn/TikTok

Especially with how we're all presented on social media, it's easy to "other" each other and imagine each decade as completely different, separate, and unable to get along. But through explorative exercises like this, it's easier to imagine how someone else grew up, what life was like for them, and what they might actually have in common with the person looking at their memories.

Ms. Nichols has made printouts available to make it easier for other teachers to curate similar museums, and hopefully more Gen Alphas—and beyond—will be able to experience the fun of Millennials and other generations.

More from Trending

A woman sitting up in bed as a man sleeps next to her.
Florida State University Researchers Find Predictors for Infidelity in New Study
(Wodicka/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The Biggest 'They're Definitely Cheating On Me!' Signs People Ignored

When our partner commits suspicious behavior, it's easy for us to jump to conclusions.

Most of the time, the conclusions we jump to are 100% wrong and are just our imaginations playing tricks with us.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @cassdamm's TikTok video
@cassdamm/TikTok

Woman Shares Why She Refuses To Tell Her Late Dad's Mistress Of 30 Years That He Died

While it doesn't always happen, sometimes we get to see karma at work—and sometimes, the revenge is sweet.

TikToker @cassdamm, who previously went viral for sharing the unhinged, five-page letter her 15-year-old son's principal sent, complaining about him "wandering the halls" and "being truant" for buying a drink on his way back to class, is openly celebrating the death of her father, but it's not for the reason you'd think.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from Kristin Hughes' TikTok video
@im.krispy/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate About What Color Her Furniture Is—Only To Discover She's Colorblind

We've all heard the saying that there's no way of knowing everything that you don't know until you're faced with it directly. For some people, that could even be the color of the world around them.

Kristin Hughes, or @im.krispy on TikTok, reached out to the platform for a second opinion while she was trying to list a chair on Facebook Marketplace. Even though she wasn't charging anything for it, the woman who was interested in it continued to inquire for more photos and to know more about the color of the couch.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @budget.audit.save's TikTok video
@budget.audit.save/TikTok

Woman Shares Hack For Keeping Lettuce Fresh For Two Months—And TikTok's Minds Are Blown

It's no secret that groceries are expensive and that they're more expensive than they've ever been before.

Add to this the fact that many items, especially produce, tend to expire very quickly, so people often find themselves spending the money, only to figuratively throw that money into the trash a few days later when they didn't get around to using the produce fast enough.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @notjenneeree's TikTok video
@notjenneeree/TikTok

TikToker Goes Viral For Epically Laying Out Why Women Break Up With Men—And It's Spot On

Navigating the dating scene can be rough, and it can be really hard to understand why a relationship doesn't end up working out.

Men, for example, have posted infinitely on the internet about the "pointlessness" of dating because of women always breaking up with them, while women have admitted to seeing fewer and fewer reasons to even participate in the dating scene.

Keep ReadingShow less