Thursday afternoon Parolado session
Sandra Goos – The value of children’s book characters
In The House of Aristotle (Netherlands), young children encounter enlarged 3D versions of illustrations. Illustrations of well-known characters are printed on cardboard to the size of young children and become 3 dimensional life scale versions of their hero’s. Children able to freely interact with them: they can tell, depict and play out stories in a social setting. They replay their own thoughts and dreams and those of their friends. Hereby they are introduced to the world of art at a very young age.
Museum-school collaboration in Singapore
Singapore place where people and cultures meet and the Asian Civilisations Museum’s collection reflects this. The museum team’s goal is not only to engage both children and parents in the museum, but also to create engagement between children and their parents.
In one of their latest programmes they partnered with a primary school to design a learning day at the museum using Design Thinking methodology for the pupils and parents. A group of children and their parents were actively involved in the creation of a programme that caters for school groups.
A young teenager and her mother have shared their experiences and told the Hands-on audience what they gained from the experience. The girl explains that she learned a lot content wise, but the programme also helped her learn to speak for an audience and engage with other (groups of) children on various communication levels. Her mother explained how she has learned how museums can play an important role in the development of her children and how she has connected with her daughter in a whole new way though this programme.
Bert Nagel – Simple Science for kids
De Ontdekhoek (Eng: The Discovery Corner) (Netherlands) tries to find the best match between kids, exhibits and the learning process. De Ontdekhoek is a workspace in which children can undertake a range of activities by themselves. Kids go about the tasks without any help. It is important to De Ontdekhoek that everybody feels welcome, regardless of gender, nationality, language, home situation or school results. Thinking, doing and improving. Children are approached as equals. “Trust them and see that they are capable of more than you think.”
Viktoria Munck – Family Saturdays at Dunker Kulturhus
Throughout the years, the Family Saturdays at Dunker Kulturhus (Denmark) have undergone several changes in order to grow out into a better-organized programme. The goal was to have more families visiting the Kulturhus. Moreover, the museum team wanted the families to have an experience together instead of focusing on the children alone. One of the first changes included longer opening hours, the opportunities for drop in visits (no lines, no waiting), no maximum number of visitors and making sure there was always enough working material for everyone. In the next year, the focus was put on learning. The newly appointed staff had more education experience. This lead to a more clear connection between the programme of the Family Saturdays and exhibition. Additionally, guided tours were introduced. Later on team planning improved. Planning days and evaluation days were introduced and a system was acquired so that information was more readily available to all who was part of organizing the Family Saturdays.
Eunmi Yi – Touch and learn in a storytelling exhibition
The National Folk Museum of Korea developed a storytelling exhibition that includes real objects and a lot of different media. The exhibition was aimed to invoke communication between family members. It included workshops especially to this end. The exhibition tells the story of a Korean daughter who tries to help and understand her blind father. The exhibition includes the experience of traditional folklore and a room in which visitors can experience what it’s like to be blind. Visitors are invited to write down their emotions and feedback. The comments proved that the exhibition was not only hands-on, but also a minds- and hearts-on exhibition.
Mari Wickerts – Hands-on in field archaeology
The Museum of Gotheborg (Sweden) invites kids to be actively involved in the research of the past of the area they live in: hands-on archaeology in the field.
Schools are able to participate for free. The museum conducts archaeology on one of the islands near Goteborg. Kids are taught various aspects of digging and then get to dig in a site that lays bare an actual Iron Age long house.
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Denisa Brejchova – Wild Garden – Imagine and play
The West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen (Chech Republic) brought a book written and illustrated by mister Trnka to live in one of their latest exhibitions. Mister Trnka played a big role in Chech culture, mostly because of his famous book illustrations. Children nowadays are not very familiar with the legacy of mister Trnka, however. The museum team asked itself how to introduce a book that is not known their our young visitors; a fantastical story about a special garden which houses various kinds of animals. They decided to make a 3D garden, in style of the fantastic paintings that Trnka was so well known for. Children were made part of the story, by immersing them in the experience: they got to dress up like the characters, using various props such as aprons, paper hats etc. In the garden they played an interactive game together. The climax was at they end, when the garden got dark and other kinds of animals became visible through special lighting techniques. It was a dark and mysterious setting that was thoroughly enjoyed by the children.
Katia Danieli and Samuela Caliari – Babult experiences. A new way to discover science
MUSE (Italy) is a new science centre that focuses on very early learning; from a few months onwards visitors are welcome. The museum aims to be active, reactive and relational. Babies, other young visitors and their caregivers get in touch with all kinds of materials in unexpected settings. The museum addresses the five senses and also a sixth sense: intuition. People learn with their peers; there are no guides. Aesthetics play a big role in the museum. It is viewed as a method of taking care of people.
MUBA – Past & Future
MUBA did not have a building of its own and used different exhibition spaces up to a few years ago. Two years they acquired a home; an impressive Italian piece of architecture that is art in itself. Here, they provide playful and hands-on exhibitions, laboratories and events that connected to cultural events in the city. The movie that ± shows in her presentation gives an overview the wide diversity in activities that visitors took part in over the last two years.
Jeremy Sutton – Kids & Arts & iPads!
Mister Sutton uses iPads to draw from direct observation, including art. Where iPads may have the reputation of detaching children from their environment ± claims it could work the other way around too. Kids are relating with the world through electrical devices; why not use that? In his classes, kids view 3-dimensional object and then draw them. Looking at it, interpreting it and engaging with it, engender a level of focus that is rather extraordinary.