You've all probably planned your Mother's Day events by now (if not, why not?) but just in case you haven't, or if you've still got room to add and change your programme then I figured I'd throw out a few ideas.
As an event which celebrates part of the family unit, Mother's Day is a fantastic opportunity for encouraging families to work for each other and with each other.
Some fun ideas that I've had over the years;
- an event that encourages kids to bring their Dad to make something for Mum as a present. This works particularly well when they're doing an activity that Dad will probably feel plays to his strength, such as making a picture frame (Dad's are responsible for supervising the gluing of the wood together for the frame, the kids can take the lead on the painting-and-sticking decoration).
- making bath salts in glass jars as a gift for Mum. This is so easy even very small children can do it, as essentially they're just mixing in colours and scents in a giant mixing bowl and then decanting it into glass jars. Make sure you buy cosmetic grade epsom salts, colours and scents so that they're bath safe. Personalise the activity more by having the children decorate the jar with labels, ribbons and so on.
- making Mother's Day cards. A tip; don't run this activity on Mother's Day itself, as most people have already given their cards by then! If you're going to make cards, do it in the week or weekend before. This sort of activity would work very well with groups of children. There are lots of types of cards you can make, but I find the pop-up flower cards are excellent for Mother's Day, as are the paper tissue flowers with pipe cleaner stems.
- encourage Mum and children to share memories and play together with a special trail. Ask children and their mum to tell each other what their favourite object in a room is, or get them to pick an object and explain it to one another. Play i-spy, twenty questions or other games, using the museum as the starting point. Some of these work well even with older children.
- make Mum medals. Rosettes, made with paper or ribbon, are a lot of fun and fairly easy to make though they can be time consuming. Rosettes can be made to say 'Happy Mother's Day', 'Best Mum', 'I Love You' or anything else at all.
There's just a few suggestions there but hopefully its given you some ideas.
If you'd like step by step instructions for any of the crafts I've mentioned please just ask, and I've sometimes got trail or worksheet templates as well so shout if you'd like them.
If you've got a topic you'd like me to cover in a how-to post, just drop me a line on twitter @Sarah_Fellows or here on the blog and I'll see what I can do!
Showing posts with label Family Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Learning. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Facepaints and Visitor Feedback
You might not think that facepainting and museums go all that well together. Dogs, butterflies and spiderman in lurid colours on kids' faces are more the realm of birthday parties than museum events, right?
Well, I'm sort of hoping I might change your mind about that in this post.
Here are the top reasons I think facepainting should be included in at least a couple of your events every year. Oh, and it's important that it's your staff doing it too - but I'll get to that in a minute.
1. Kids LOVE it. And I mean LOVE. Most children who would otherwise not sit still to engage with anything remotely museum-y (is there such a thing?) will happily sit quietly for ten minutes and let someone doodle on their face with a paintbrush.
2. Parents love it too. Mostly because of #1 - they love that their kids get to sit quietly for a few minutes. I'm sure they love the animal impressions that come after you've finished just as much, too.
3. Most importantly: it gives you a captive audience. Whilst the child is sitting there, at the mercy of your artistic talent, you can ask them all the questions you wish you could ask every visitor. Are you having a good day? What's your favourite thing you've seen or done? Is there something you're looking forward to later? Have you been here before? Everything you ever wanted to know. And their parents are right there too, ready to be quizzed. Have you ever had a better chance to do some on-the-spot evaluation?
Bearing that in mind, because I'm sure I've just convinced you all to slot some facepainting into your programmes for next year, here's a few things you need to think about before you get out your "facepainting here today" sign.
1. Buy good paints. I can't stress how important it is not to give your visitors an allergic reaction with cheap face paints. Invest in a decent brand, like Snazaroo. It's honestly worth it; not only are good paints easier to paint with than the ones you might pick up from the poundstore, but you'll get some instant respect from any visitors who have painted faces before just for having a good brand on the table.
2. Find someone with some artistic talent to do the painting. It's not fair to say that everyone can be a face painter. Having said that, though, just because you've not done it before doesn't mean you'll be terrible; there are some excellent books out there which have some great simple designs in. If you're only confident doing a tiger, a butterfly and a dog then that's fine. Just make sure you make that clear on the signs that that's what you're offering.
3. Consider your event and your audience. Nature events are a great time to get out the facepaints because it's so easy to find loads of great inspiration for face paint designs in the animal kingdom. But that's not your only option; I've done painting for "princesses" and "fairies" at a magical event before, just by offering small stars or glittery swirls. Small children often won't sit still long enough for a full face so if you know you're going to get a lot of little ones then think about what cheek or arm designs you could do.
4. Facepainting doesn't have to cost the Earth. Parents are very grateful when you can offer it for free, or even for a small charge such as £1 for a full face. If you're not confident in your abilities just yet, offer it for free. You can always start charging at events later in the year when you feel you have improved.
5. Facepainting is time consuming. Make sure you plan enough time into your day for it. If you're expecting a lot of visitors then don't expect your facepainting staff member to have time to do anything else that day.
I've been facepainting for about five or six years now, so if you've got any other questions about it then just ask, as always I'm happy to answer.
Well, I'm sort of hoping I might change your mind about that in this post.
Here are the top reasons I think facepainting should be included in at least a couple of your events every year. Oh, and it's important that it's your staff doing it too - but I'll get to that in a minute.
1. Kids LOVE it. And I mean LOVE. Most children who would otherwise not sit still to engage with anything remotely museum-y (is there such a thing?) will happily sit quietly for ten minutes and let someone doodle on their face with a paintbrush.
2. Parents love it too. Mostly because of #1 - they love that their kids get to sit quietly for a few minutes. I'm sure they love the animal impressions that come after you've finished just as much, too.
3. Most importantly: it gives you a captive audience. Whilst the child is sitting there, at the mercy of your artistic talent, you can ask them all the questions you wish you could ask every visitor. Are you having a good day? What's your favourite thing you've seen or done? Is there something you're looking forward to later? Have you been here before? Everything you ever wanted to know. And their parents are right there too, ready to be quizzed. Have you ever had a better chance to do some on-the-spot evaluation?
Bearing that in mind, because I'm sure I've just convinced you all to slot some facepainting into your programmes for next year, here's a few things you need to think about before you get out your "facepainting here today" sign.
1. Buy good paints. I can't stress how important it is not to give your visitors an allergic reaction with cheap face paints. Invest in a decent brand, like Snazaroo. It's honestly worth it; not only are good paints easier to paint with than the ones you might pick up from the poundstore, but you'll get some instant respect from any visitors who have painted faces before just for having a good brand on the table.
2. Find someone with some artistic talent to do the painting. It's not fair to say that everyone can be a face painter. Having said that, though, just because you've not done it before doesn't mean you'll be terrible; there are some excellent books out there which have some great simple designs in. If you're only confident doing a tiger, a butterfly and a dog then that's fine. Just make sure you make that clear on the signs that that's what you're offering.
3. Consider your event and your audience. Nature events are a great time to get out the facepaints because it's so easy to find loads of great inspiration for face paint designs in the animal kingdom. But that's not your only option; I've done painting for "princesses" and "fairies" at a magical event before, just by offering small stars or glittery swirls. Small children often won't sit still long enough for a full face so if you know you're going to get a lot of little ones then think about what cheek or arm designs you could do.
4. Facepainting doesn't have to cost the Earth. Parents are very grateful when you can offer it for free, or even for a small charge such as £1 for a full face. If you're not confident in your abilities just yet, offer it for free. You can always start charging at events later in the year when you feel you have improved.
5. Facepainting is time consuming. Make sure you plan enough time into your day for it. If you're expecting a lot of visitors then don't expect your facepainting staff member to have time to do anything else that day.
I've been facepainting for about five or six years now, so if you've got any other questions about it then just ask, as always I'm happy to answer.
Monday, 1 August 2011
When I grow up I want to be... Results!
Well, I promised them and here they are. In total, I surveyed 175 children between the ages of 3 and 16. Really, it's not enough to get any conclusive results (says my GCSE in Statistics) but it's certainly enough to start seeing some interesting things coming out.
To summarise the trends that came out of the data, then...
The most popular careers for girls under the age of 9 are vets, dancers and hairdressers. I also hit upon some of the classics you might expect from the under tens; princesses, queens, famous people and 'just like my Mum'. 10-12 year old girls surprisingly (but pleasantly so) favour being scientists over anything else, including forensic scientists, zoologists and marine biologists. Also popular are artists and fashion designers. 13-16 year olds are more interested in care jobs; social worker, nurse and midwife scored highly, as did physical training jobs such as PE teacher, sports coach and physical therapist.
Popular careers for boys under the age of 9 are soliders, firemen, policemen and footballers. There were some gems here too; pirate, millionaire and Santa were my favourites. The 10-12 age group did well for engineers and mechanics, as well as policemen and firemen. This group seemed to have the widest range of desired careers, with everything from chefs and carpenters to astronauts and archaeologists. 13-16 year old boys were rather under-represented in my sample group, but the ones I did have favoured teachers and soldiers as their preferred careers.
If the results are anything to go by, it seems that the under 12s have the most imaginative ideas about their future careers. By the time they get to 13/14, they've started to think more realistically about their futures, and abandon the princesses and pirates in favour of social workers and soldiers.
If you're interested in this and would like the raw data for anything you're doing please let me know and I'll be happy to share. It's something I'm going to keep working on so if you know any children under 16 and can help out by contributing what they'd like to be when they grow up, please do. All I need is gender, age and career choice. I'm particularly short of boys 13-16, but I'm happy for more data regardless of which category they fit into.
To summarise the trends that came out of the data, then...
The most popular careers for girls under the age of 9 are vets, dancers and hairdressers. I also hit upon some of the classics you might expect from the under tens; princesses, queens, famous people and 'just like my Mum'. 10-12 year old girls surprisingly (but pleasantly so) favour being scientists over anything else, including forensic scientists, zoologists and marine biologists. Also popular are artists and fashion designers. 13-16 year olds are more interested in care jobs; social worker, nurse and midwife scored highly, as did physical training jobs such as PE teacher, sports coach and physical therapist.
Popular careers for boys under the age of 9 are soliders, firemen, policemen and footballers. There were some gems here too; pirate, millionaire and Santa were my favourites. The 10-12 age group did well for engineers and mechanics, as well as policemen and firemen. This group seemed to have the widest range of desired careers, with everything from chefs and carpenters to astronauts and archaeologists. 13-16 year old boys were rather under-represented in my sample group, but the ones I did have favoured teachers and soldiers as their preferred careers.
If the results are anything to go by, it seems that the under 12s have the most imaginative ideas about their future careers. By the time they get to 13/14, they've started to think more realistically about their futures, and abandon the princesses and pirates in favour of social workers and soldiers.
If you're interested in this and would like the raw data for anything you're doing please let me know and I'll be happy to share. It's something I'm going to keep working on so if you know any children under 16 and can help out by contributing what they'd like to be when they grow up, please do. All I need is gender, age and career choice. I'm particularly short of boys 13-16, but I'm happy for more data regardless of which category they fit into.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Curators of the Future: Summary
It's been a fun day at the careers fair today. I've done a lot of talking about museums and a lot of teaching kids how to use a hobby horse. And enjoying the looks on their faces when I introduced them to the smell of carbolic soap.
"That's what history smells like, kids."
This is just a short summary whilst it's fresh in my head. If anyone else out there gets asked to do a careers fair for young people, hopefully this will be helpful for you.
Things that went well
We took museum objects to play show-and-tell with, and they went down very well. From the hobby horses to the washboard, the objects were a great talking point for all the kids from the real little ones all the way up to the 14 year olds. Watching 14 year olds ride hobby horses around a sports hall is at once hilarious and slightly terrifying.
Some kids are clearly there to get as many leaflets as they can possibly manage, so I was glad of the shortened version of the events programme that I'd printed out. The small papers on the web resources went down well too.
Things I'd do differently
We took two boxes of craft materials to make things with the younger children and didn't end up using any of it. They came around in groups of eight or ten and only stayed a couple of minutes, so making anything at all was rather impractical.
Some of the other stalls had stickers, badges, bags and other freebies. Big things are obviously not in the budget for small museums, but a few hundred button badges would have gone down a storm and wouldn't have cost all that much.
Things I overheard
Being a museum, I guess we have a lot of stereotypes that people associate with us. I heard one boy say in a rather derisive tone "a museum? What sort of a job would you have at a museum?".
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. We had a few people who specifically wanted to know about museum working; a few historians and a couple of archaeologists and one palaeontologist.
When I grow up I want to be...
I've asked a lot of children today what they want to be when they grow up. When I've got all the data tabulated I'll share (and of course I'm still hoping for more contributions from everyone out there!) but for now here are my favourites from today's fair;
Boy, 13yrs - "I'm not sure. I always used to say I wanted to be a Teletubby."
Girl, 7yrs - "I want to be lots of things. I want to be a dancer and a singer and a film maker and a pilot."
Boy, 12yrs - "I want to be Doctor Who, but I don't think he exists, so I guess a policeman instead."
"That's what history smells like, kids."
This is just a short summary whilst it's fresh in my head. If anyone else out there gets asked to do a careers fair for young people, hopefully this will be helpful for you.
Things that went well
We took museum objects to play show-and-tell with, and they went down very well. From the hobby horses to the washboard, the objects were a great talking point for all the kids from the real little ones all the way up to the 14 year olds. Watching 14 year olds ride hobby horses around a sports hall is at once hilarious and slightly terrifying.
Some kids are clearly there to get as many leaflets as they can possibly manage, so I was glad of the shortened version of the events programme that I'd printed out. The small papers on the web resources went down well too.
Things I'd do differently
We took two boxes of craft materials to make things with the younger children and didn't end up using any of it. They came around in groups of eight or ten and only stayed a couple of minutes, so making anything at all was rather impractical.
Some of the other stalls had stickers, badges, bags and other freebies. Big things are obviously not in the budget for small museums, but a few hundred button badges would have gone down a storm and wouldn't have cost all that much.
Things I overheard
Being a museum, I guess we have a lot of stereotypes that people associate with us. I heard one boy say in a rather derisive tone "a museum? What sort of a job would you have at a museum?".
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. We had a few people who specifically wanted to know about museum working; a few historians and a couple of archaeologists and one palaeontologist.
When I grow up I want to be...
I've asked a lot of children today what they want to be when they grow up. When I've got all the data tabulated I'll share (and of course I'm still hoping for more contributions from everyone out there!) but for now here are my favourites from today's fair;
Boy, 13yrs - "I'm not sure. I always used to say I wanted to be a Teletubby."
Girl, 7yrs - "I want to be lots of things. I want to be a dancer and a singer and a film maker and a pilot."
Boy, 12yrs - "I want to be Doctor Who, but I don't think he exists, so I guess a policeman instead."
Monday, 27 June 2011
When I grow up I want to be...
Tomorrow I'm at the 'inspired to work' careers fair, where I'll be talking to just under 2000 young people about the jobs that they could do in the future. It'll be a great chance to tell kids as young as six and seven about what we do in museums. Hopefully I might even inspire a few towards a career in heritage if I'm really lucky.
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails
I was reminded this evening by a post on twitter just how much gender stereotyping by corporations bothers me. And no, funnily enough this had nothing to do with the Apprentice, though from what I gather from the odd tweet I saw it might as well have been.
What particularly bothers me is the categorisation of fairly mainstream consumables, like toys, magazines, books and so on, into "girls things" and "boys things".
Such as, for instance, Tesco.
I'm a girl. Can't I like Doctor Who and Kung Fu Panda and Pokemon now?
But they're by no means the only ones. The Entertainer split their toys into "girls" and "boys" sections. What saddens me most about their segregation is that there doesn't seem to be anything allowed into the girly side that isn't pink, and all the science experiment kits and electronic puzzles reside exclusively in the blue boys' zone. What message does this send to aspiring young female scientists? Is it any wonder we have universities struggling to attract women to science and engineering degrees?
Having said that, it's always nice to see that there are plenty of rational people out there in the world who denounce such stereotyping and do their best to encourage the positive idea that boys and girls can share interests. I dislike being negative, so I'll end with a link to a wonderfully uplifting story about the power of the internet in breaking down gender-based stereotypes. It's about a young girl named Katie who got teased for taking her Star Wars lunchbox into school, which inspired an internet campaign.
And what has this got to do with museums, anyway? Well, I think gender stereotyping is clearly so rife in modern society that we should be cautious that we don't find ourselves getting swept up in the tide. Just because Tesco thinks that it's ok shouldn't mean that it is. By all means, offer a princess tiara making and a knight crown making session. But if you have a young girl who wants to be a knight, or even a boy who wants to be a fairy (and I've had both) then don't discourage it. Let them find their own interests; we should be here to help children learn and explore, not to discourage them.
What particularly bothers me is the categorisation of fairly mainstream consumables, like toys, magazines, books and so on, into "girls things" and "boys things".
Such as, for instance, Tesco.
But they're by no means the only ones. The Entertainer split their toys into "girls" and "boys" sections. What saddens me most about their segregation is that there doesn't seem to be anything allowed into the girly side that isn't pink, and all the science experiment kits and electronic puzzles reside exclusively in the blue boys' zone. What message does this send to aspiring young female scientists? Is it any wonder we have universities struggling to attract women to science and engineering degrees?
Having said that, it's always nice to see that there are plenty of rational people out there in the world who denounce such stereotyping and do their best to encourage the positive idea that boys and girls can share interests. I dislike being negative, so I'll end with a link to a wonderfully uplifting story about the power of the internet in breaking down gender-based stereotypes. It's about a young girl named Katie who got teased for taking her Star Wars lunchbox into school, which inspired an internet campaign.
And what has this got to do with museums, anyway? Well, I think gender stereotyping is clearly so rife in modern society that we should be cautious that we don't find ourselves getting swept up in the tide. Just because Tesco thinks that it's ok shouldn't mean that it is. By all means, offer a princess tiara making and a knight crown making session. But if you have a young girl who wants to be a knight, or even a boy who wants to be a fairy (and I've had both) then don't discourage it. Let them find their own interests; we should be here to help children learn and explore, not to discourage them.
Monday, 13 June 2011
When Rain Stops Play
It's beginning to look like we might be in for another fantastic British summer of liquid sunshine. Working in the open air as I do, I'm used to the unpredictability of the English weather. Activity plans always include a contingency for wet weather, which isn't always "the dry weather programme in waterproofs", though admittedly that does often seem to be the case.
Wherever possible, I try to go ahead with some version of the original plan no matter how foul the weather gets. I've run events in the snow, and torrential downpours, and howling wind. I think it's always more satisfying when the people who do make the effort to come out to visit me in all that horrible weather have a fantastic time regardless. I've found that there is no rain so heavy that it can drown the fun of making hats, swords and anything shaped like a TARDIS.
I have learnt a few things about wet weather planning that I thought I'd share for the benefit of others in anticipation for a rainy summer.
Don't let your craft get soggy
Even if you're inside, if the humidity is high enough then it'll dampen any papercraft you've got planned. Damp paper doesn't have the same crispness of dry paper, so bear that in mind if you're planning headbands or anything else where the paper needs to stand upright. It also reacts differently to colouring pens and so on when it's damp; felt pens will absorb better but with less crisp lines and wax crayons and pencil crayons won't colour so easily.
Maybe it'll pass...
We're all optimists at heart. Even when it's been raining non-stop for the last week, you'll still find that people will dwell longer in the inside, dry spaces, hoping that it might stop bucketing it down outside in a minute. If you'd usually expect a family to do one or two activities, you should expect them to do three in rainy weather. If the children are enjoying themselves then the adults will be only too happy to allow them to stay and carry on in the hopes of avoiding more showers.
It only rains on the adults
For some reason, wet weather bothers adults a lot more than it bothers kids. If the parents are happy to let them, you'll often find most kids don't really mind running around in light rain. Some don't even mind heavy rain. Just make sure that if you do you're running around on ground that isn't likely to get too slippery. If you can provide a nice warm room for them to dry off in afterwards then all the better.
If anyone else has wet-weather hints and tips, I'm always eager to hear them. After all, there's never a shortage of rainy days!
Wherever possible, I try to go ahead with some version of the original plan no matter how foul the weather gets. I've run events in the snow, and torrential downpours, and howling wind. I think it's always more satisfying when the people who do make the effort to come out to visit me in all that horrible weather have a fantastic time regardless. I've found that there is no rain so heavy that it can drown the fun of making hats, swords and anything shaped like a TARDIS.
I have learnt a few things about wet weather planning that I thought I'd share for the benefit of others in anticipation for a rainy summer.
Don't let your craft get soggy
Even if you're inside, if the humidity is high enough then it'll dampen any papercraft you've got planned. Damp paper doesn't have the same crispness of dry paper, so bear that in mind if you're planning headbands or anything else where the paper needs to stand upright. It also reacts differently to colouring pens and so on when it's damp; felt pens will absorb better but with less crisp lines and wax crayons and pencil crayons won't colour so easily.
Maybe it'll pass...
We're all optimists at heart. Even when it's been raining non-stop for the last week, you'll still find that people will dwell longer in the inside, dry spaces, hoping that it might stop bucketing it down outside in a minute. If you'd usually expect a family to do one or two activities, you should expect them to do three in rainy weather. If the children are enjoying themselves then the adults will be only too happy to allow them to stay and carry on in the hopes of avoiding more showers.
It only rains on the adults
For some reason, wet weather bothers adults a lot more than it bothers kids. If the parents are happy to let them, you'll often find most kids don't really mind running around in light rain. Some don't even mind heavy rain. Just make sure that if you do you're running around on ground that isn't likely to get too slippery. If you can provide a nice warm room for them to dry off in afterwards then all the better.
If anyone else has wet-weather hints and tips, I'm always eager to hear them. After all, there's never a shortage of rainy days!
Friday, 10 June 2011
Curators of the Future
I'm off to a local careers event in a couple of weeks. I'm very much looking forward to it, because rather than your average hall full of university students I'm going to be talking to kids as young as first school age (6/7/8) about all the things that make working in a museum pretty darn cool.
I've been having a lot of fun today and yesterday thinking about the best ways to present what we do, since I know I'm representing the first contact most of these children will have had with thoughts of working in the heritage sector. So, y'know, no pressure or anything. I love doing what I do, and I'd hate to give any child the impression that working in museums is anything less than the off-the-wall, constantly changing, always slighty-unusual experience that I truly believe it is. After all, as I said to someone today; in what other workplace could you legitimately and seriously say "we couldn't use the room, it was full of tea cosies"? Well, other than in a tea cosy factory, maybe. Or a prolific knitter's house.
Hypothetical workplaces aside, I think I've come up with some fun tasks to give the idea of working in a museum; some dressing up clothes, some collections items, some replica items, some make-and-take craft... what's not to love?
Oh, and did I mention I'm thinking of bringing a pirate with me?
So yes, it should be fun. I'd love some feedback from you out there. Was there anything you wish you'd known about working in museums when you were a child? I've still got time to put in extra bits and bobs (but probably not any more pirates).
Thanks!
I've been having a lot of fun today and yesterday thinking about the best ways to present what we do, since I know I'm representing the first contact most of these children will have had with thoughts of working in the heritage sector. So, y'know, no pressure or anything. I love doing what I do, and I'd hate to give any child the impression that working in museums is anything less than the off-the-wall, constantly changing, always slighty-unusual experience that I truly believe it is. After all, as I said to someone today; in what other workplace could you legitimately and seriously say "we couldn't use the room, it was full of tea cosies"? Well, other than in a tea cosy factory, maybe. Or a prolific knitter's house.
Hypothetical workplaces aside, I think I've come up with some fun tasks to give the idea of working in a museum; some dressing up clothes, some collections items, some replica items, some make-and-take craft... what's not to love?
Oh, and did I mention I'm thinking of bringing a pirate with me?
So yes, it should be fun. I'd love some feedback from you out there. Was there anything you wish you'd known about working in museums when you were a child? I've still got time to put in extra bits and bobs (but probably not any more pirates).
Thanks!
Saturday, 21 May 2011
The Real Deal
I was on a bit of a busman's holiday today. Or maybe more like a busman's day off; since it was a weekend where I didn't need to be in my own museum I went and found another one to look around.
Whilst wandering around, I overheard a child defiantly tell his mother "but this isn't real. It's fake" to which she replied "It's got to be real. We're in a museum."
I wasn't sure whether I should be heartened or worried by this point of view. On the one hand, I was pleased to hear someone of the opinion that a museum is truthful and honest and presents the world as it is. On the other, I was somewhat concerned that perhaps people do just assume that everything in museums is 'real', and that perhaps we need to be a bit more obvious (not to mention careful) when we do include replicas and best-guesses.
It also reminded me that no matter how hard you try people don't read what you put in front of them; it was clear in the museum's introductory exhibition and in their guide map that some of the things on show were replicas or reconstructions.
But that's by the by.
What does everyone else think? Is this opinion of 'everything in a museum is real' as widespread as I think it might be? And should I be pleased or worried about it?
Whilst wandering around, I overheard a child defiantly tell his mother "but this isn't real. It's fake" to which she replied "It's got to be real. We're in a museum."
I wasn't sure whether I should be heartened or worried by this point of view. On the one hand, I was pleased to hear someone of the opinion that a museum is truthful and honest and presents the world as it is. On the other, I was somewhat concerned that perhaps people do just assume that everything in museums is 'real', and that perhaps we need to be a bit more obvious (not to mention careful) when we do include replicas and best-guesses.
It also reminded me that no matter how hard you try people don't read what you put in front of them; it was clear in the museum's introductory exhibition and in their guide map that some of the things on show were replicas or reconstructions.
But that's by the by.
What does everyone else think? Is this opinion of 'everything in a museum is real' as widespread as I think it might be? And should I be pleased or worried about it?
Friday, 20 May 2011
Back to Nature
I've been exploring the wildlife in and around the pond at the museum this evening with a group of Scouts, and it's reminded me of the profound impact that the natural world can have on everyone, kids and adults included.
I think that those of us who work in natural settings often take them for granted, and it's easy to forget that actually most people who live in towns never get the chance to be up close and personal with a water boatman or a pond snail. Newts are ten a penny to me, and though I do like them I'm never surprised to see one. For families from the city, though, even a duck is a foreign species to a lot of them, let alone a moorhen.
Kids always get rambunctious in the outdoors, especially when it's after hours and they're the only ones on site. But the focussing power of a tray full of water fleas and bloodworms was quite startlingly effective. Not even the draw of playing lightsabers with the fishing nets was greater than the total engrossment of staring at a damselfly nymph for the first time.
I guess it comes back to the fact that nine times out of ten the simplest things are the best. And a story about bloodsucking water worms probably didn't hurt, either.
I think that those of us who work in natural settings often take them for granted, and it's easy to forget that actually most people who live in towns never get the chance to be up close and personal with a water boatman or a pond snail. Newts are ten a penny to me, and though I do like them I'm never surprised to see one. For families from the city, though, even a duck is a foreign species to a lot of them, let alone a moorhen.
Kids always get rambunctious in the outdoors, especially when it's after hours and they're the only ones on site. But the focussing power of a tray full of water fleas and bloodworms was quite startlingly effective. Not even the draw of playing lightsabers with the fishing nets was greater than the total engrossment of staring at a damselfly nymph for the first time.
I guess it comes back to the fact that nine times out of ten the simplest things are the best. And a story about bloodsucking water worms probably didn't hurt, either.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
A guide to trails
It came to my attention through the GEM email list that apparently there are a lot of people out there who want some advice, or maybe just examples of good practice, for writing trails for their venues. It also seemed that there was little training on the matter, and little out there to read about it.
This seems a great missed opportunity to me; are there any museums or natural sites or anything like that out there these days that don't have trails for children and/or adults?
I put together an awful lot of trails, and I've learnt a lot about them in the years I've been writing them. So, I thought I'd put together some free general advice about them, from my point of view. I'd also like to highlight some great examples that I've seen around and about, but I'll do that in some separate posts.
So, here goes. I hope it's helpful!
Trails: Some Hints and Tips
In no particular order...
Be clear about your aims
- Before you start writing anything, you should decide what you want to achieve with your trail. Are you trying to highlight certain items in your collection? Promote numeracy skills? Stimulate creativity? Teach people about the Victorians? You'll probably find that your trail manages to do more than one thing when you've finished, but it's important before you start anything that you know what one key thing you really want it to do.
Themes are fantastic
- No matter what you want your trail to do, coming up with ways to do it always seems easier if your trail has a theme. Sometimes, this might be governed by an event or exhibition that you have on at the time. Other times, you could pick a theme based on the time of the year (Christmas, Easter, Summer) or on something completely random (pirates, fairies, animals).
What media you will use?
- Knowing how your final trail will be produced should influence your design. If it's going to be photocopied to be given out, then you don't really want it to be full of colourful pictures; they won't copy properly and it'll just look amateurish. Equally, if you're producing something that'll be professionally printed, you really want to make the most of colours and images. Think about size too; you'll need text to be readable, so if it's a small booklet that might limit the amount that you can write in it.
Think about your audience
- It's not enough to just say 'this is a trail for children'. Is it going to be done by one child at a time, or a family together? Is it going to be done by toddlers, or 5-7 year olds, or 12 year olds, or teenagers? Or all of the above? It's not just the content that you'll need to think of here, but also the presentation, and the tasks that you ask them to do. Very young children love to spot things and tick them off lists. Older children will quickly get bored of that, and probably need something a little more varied and goal-orientated to keep them interested.
How long will your trail be?
- Trails don't have to be long to be effective. Especially with younger children, four or five points might be enough for them to have had a good time, learnt something, and not yet got bored. Even with older children, nine or ten points is usually enough. Generally, the more you're asking visitors to do at each trail point, the less points you need on the trail. Think more about the overall time you're expecting visitors to spend on the trail.
Tasks and activities
- Spotting things and ticking them off and following clues from point to point doesn't have to be all there is to trails. Counting is a good step up from just noticing, and gets children to engage a little more deeply. You could ask questions about information on panels, or get children to draw pictures of things they see, either copying from real life or from their imagination. Multiple choice questions are always well received. Sometimes you can provide relevant activities, such as providing semaphore flags to have a go at sending a message with, or asking them to decode a message written in knots on a piece of string. Whatever your theme is, think creatively about associated tasks and activities for it.
How else can you engage your audience?
- It doesn't have to be all about the things you write on a sheet. There are some excellent 'explorer' trails I've seen where families get a whole bag full of exciting toys to play with. Use the binoculars to look at something, or the magnifying glass. Measure something with the ruler... and so on. But if you haven't got the budget for props, that doesn't mean you're limited to writing answers. Get visitors to touch things, to say what they can smell, or to close their eyes and listen.
I hope that's been a helpful overview! I'll pick out some good examples from places I've been and things I've done in other posts.
This seems a great missed opportunity to me; are there any museums or natural sites or anything like that out there these days that don't have trails for children and/or adults?
I put together an awful lot of trails, and I've learnt a lot about them in the years I've been writing them. So, I thought I'd put together some free general advice about them, from my point of view. I'd also like to highlight some great examples that I've seen around and about, but I'll do that in some separate posts.
So, here goes. I hope it's helpful!
Trails: Some Hints and Tips
In no particular order...
Be clear about your aims
- Before you start writing anything, you should decide what you want to achieve with your trail. Are you trying to highlight certain items in your collection? Promote numeracy skills? Stimulate creativity? Teach people about the Victorians? You'll probably find that your trail manages to do more than one thing when you've finished, but it's important before you start anything that you know what one key thing you really want it to do.
Themes are fantastic
- No matter what you want your trail to do, coming up with ways to do it always seems easier if your trail has a theme. Sometimes, this might be governed by an event or exhibition that you have on at the time. Other times, you could pick a theme based on the time of the year (Christmas, Easter, Summer) or on something completely random (pirates, fairies, animals).
What media you will use?
- Knowing how your final trail will be produced should influence your design. If it's going to be photocopied to be given out, then you don't really want it to be full of colourful pictures; they won't copy properly and it'll just look amateurish. Equally, if you're producing something that'll be professionally printed, you really want to make the most of colours and images. Think about size too; you'll need text to be readable, so if it's a small booklet that might limit the amount that you can write in it.
Think about your audience
- It's not enough to just say 'this is a trail for children'. Is it going to be done by one child at a time, or a family together? Is it going to be done by toddlers, or 5-7 year olds, or 12 year olds, or teenagers? Or all of the above? It's not just the content that you'll need to think of here, but also the presentation, and the tasks that you ask them to do. Very young children love to spot things and tick them off lists. Older children will quickly get bored of that, and probably need something a little more varied and goal-orientated to keep them interested.
How long will your trail be?
- Trails don't have to be long to be effective. Especially with younger children, four or five points might be enough for them to have had a good time, learnt something, and not yet got bored. Even with older children, nine or ten points is usually enough. Generally, the more you're asking visitors to do at each trail point, the less points you need on the trail. Think more about the overall time you're expecting visitors to spend on the trail.
Tasks and activities
- Spotting things and ticking them off and following clues from point to point doesn't have to be all there is to trails. Counting is a good step up from just noticing, and gets children to engage a little more deeply. You could ask questions about information on panels, or get children to draw pictures of things they see, either copying from real life or from their imagination. Multiple choice questions are always well received. Sometimes you can provide relevant activities, such as providing semaphore flags to have a go at sending a message with, or asking them to decode a message written in knots on a piece of string. Whatever your theme is, think creatively about associated tasks and activities for it.
How else can you engage your audience?
- It doesn't have to be all about the things you write on a sheet. There are some excellent 'explorer' trails I've seen where families get a whole bag full of exciting toys to play with. Use the binoculars to look at something, or the magnifying glass. Measure something with the ruler... and so on. But if you haven't got the budget for props, that doesn't mean you're limited to writing answers. Get visitors to touch things, to say what they can smell, or to close their eyes and listen.
I hope that's been a helpful overview! I'll pick out some good examples from places I've been and things I've done in other posts.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Ten things you can do with a piece of paper
I'm of the firm opinion that you can make pretty much anything out of paper, given enough time and rolls of sellotape. Over the years, we've tried to do just that at our events and activity days, always coming up with new uses for the scrap paper that would otherwise get thrown away.
Of course, the best thing about paper? It's recyclable! So once you're finished crafting, you can just pop into into the recycle bin.
So, I thought today I'd share ten things you can make with a piece of paper (or two or three). These are just some of the most fun or the most useful; I'd love to hear what papery creations other people have made!
Especially for today, I've even included some pictures of some of these papery crafts. I think they're all pretty self explanatory really, but if you want any making instructions for anything just drop me a line and I'll be happy to share!
1. A paper aeroplaneIt doesn't matter how old you are, a paper aeroplane is always a winner. As you'll see from the picture here, we've made some pretty big paper aeroplanes, some just as large as the children we made them with! These uber-planes don't fly all that well, to be honest, but the kids absolutely love them anyway.
2. Hats
You can make pretty much any type of hat you like from a sheet or two of paper. The usual suspects for us include witch and wizard hats, pirate hats and princess hats, but the only limit is usually the child's imagination (which you'll know is pretty limit-less).
3. Masks
We've made masks on pretty much every theme you can think of. Animals, transport, and yes, aliens. The great thing about masks is that they're so simple, and yet you can spend hours and hours getting it just how you want it. When I say "you", let's pretend we mean the children and not the staff, ok?
4. Paper towersThese are great fun for a construction-based event, and best run as a team activity. I love how competitive parents and grandparents get when they're trying to see who can build the biggest tower.
5. Snowflakes
Great for winter or weather events, and they make fantastic Christmas decorations. The look on a child's face the very first time they see one opened up is priceless.
6. Musical instruments
We've made horns, wobble boards (thanks Rolf), shakers, drums, rainmakers and more from rolls and balls of paper. It's surprising how much extra noise children can make with a few sheets of paper, really.
7. Phoenix Feathers
Or indeed, any feathers at all. The phoenix himself is made of cardboard cut to shape and stuck together, then covered in toilet paper and spray painted red. He's a fantastic model, and over a year later he's still hanging in the store cupboard.
8. Secret message envelopes
These are great fun. We make them from greaseproof paper because it comes on a roll which is nice and convenient, but you could make them from normal paper too. A couple of folds in the right places and you have an envelope with a secret compartment! What could be better for a budding spy?
9. Models
Because paper is so fantastically easy to fold, you can make nets of pretty much any shape out of them. We built an entire village onto a hand-drawn paper map to demonstrate the ideas of town planning, including buildings which families made out of rectangles and triangular prisms. We had some remarkably inventive building designs; as well as the the mini museum you can see below we had houses, supermarkets, a school, a church and a cathedral.
10. A bin!
Yes, we've made bins out of paper before. These are excellent if you know you're doing a paper craft that has a lot of paper off cuts. Just make sure that you don't put any non-paper in the bin, and you can put the entire thing straight into the recycling when you're done. How's that for efficient?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)