All in a day's play

Kidspace Children’s Museum, California.

2011-12-18T13:49:00.001Z

Kidspace children's museum in California

Kidspaceis a children’s museum in Pasadena, California. Its aims and goals arevery similar to Eureka!'s as it is structured around a learning through play philosophy, and aims to “inspire learning through self-directed,interactive experiences and play in the arts, sciences and humanities thatenrich children, families and the community”.

I wasin the USA recently with Rebecca,one of the other Enablers here at Eureka!,and decided to go and pay the people at Kidspace a little visit. Children’smuseums are extremely popular in America, with at least twenty-nine of them in Californiaalone so, no matter where we were, we would have had no problem in finding one,but it just so happened that Kidspace was only a fifteen minute drive fromwhere we were staying. We rang up, explained that we were members of the Eureka! team, and wereinvited for a tour around the museum. Awesome.

Kidspacecaters for children aged 0 to 9 years old and, although Kidspace is a lotsmaller than Eureka!,there is still a lot for children to do. We didn’t get a chance to play on allof the exhibits, but even with our time limitations it took us a good two hoursto make our way around the five galleries .

The Kidspace galleries are:

The Early Childhood Learning Centre

EarlyChildhood Learning Centre – A gallery where children aged 0-4 years can play, dance,sing, read at their own pace, and where child-adult interaction is encouraged.
CentralCourtyard – One of the few places in the museum where parents are allowed tosit and relax, the courtyard offers children water fountains and an outdoordig-it build-it area.
TheDigging Deeper Gallery – As one of the main galleries, Digging Deeper offerschildren the chance to get up close and explore nature. Digging Deeper also hasreal insects on show, fossils to unearth (see the video on the right!), and an amazing Nature Exchange (whichI’ll talk about later).
WisteriaCourtyard – An actual child-sized road for children to peddle trikes aroundwhilst learning the meaning of everyday road symbols.
TheGardens – The gardens has a lot to offer. Vegetable gardens, a climbing wall,waterwheel and water cycle exhibit. All the different plants offer a huge rangeof colours and smells, and the winding paths make everything feel that littlebit more magical.

Bugsy's Diner in Digging Deeper

Justlike Eureka!,Kidspace uses its surrounding environment to its advantage. Being situated at the foot ofthe Pasadena hills, and in the grounds of the Arroyo Seco Park, Kidspace issurrounded by lots and lots of nature. There is a giant park at the front and agiant forest to the rear and, because of this, a lot of the exhibits aredesigned around nature. The main gallery, Digging Deeper, offers a lot in theway of this. We were able to come face-to-face with scorpions, a baby goliathspider (which absolutely terrified me), and even bumble bees. We even got towatch a show all about how bees communicate through different ‘dances’, whichwere re-enacted by one of the Educators, who are similar to our Enablers hereat Eureka!

The Nature Exchange

Onething I must talk about though is the Nature Exchange. As a way of gettingchildren engaged with the world around them, and as an introduction to trading,collecting and making observations I thought that this was brill. Children areencouraged to learn while exploring, so if the children discover anything theyfind particularly interesting they can either collect it, or make a note of itby drawing a picture or writing a description. The children can take theirfindings to one of the Educators at the Nature Exchange, who will award thechild points for their discovery. Over time the child can accumulate pointswhich they can then trade in at the Nature Exchange for ‘nature based’ rewards- things like small shells for a few points, and large pine cones for a lot ofpoints. Not only this, but the children are encouraged to keep makingdiscoveries away from Kidspace, whichthey then bring with them when they return, so in this way the learning neverstops. I really did like this a lot.

Some of the items traded in at the Nature Exchange

Thereis so much to talk about that I can’t possibly fit it all into one post, but youcan always visit the Kidspace website if you want to have a closer look at whatthey offer.

Eureka! and Kidspace are bothchildren’s museums, and they both offer a learning experience for children thatis built around play and discovery, however they are both very different in howthey offer this. I think it has a lot to do with the environment in which themuseum is set. Anyway, that’s just a little bit about our trip to KidspaceChildren’s Museum in Pasadena, California. It’s really awesomeand we had a brilliant morning there, so if you’re ever in the area you shouldcheck it out.

BenjaminGuilfoyle

EarlyYears Enabler

Clowning 101 – The Eureka! way

2011-11-29T14:57:00.001Z

Play is at the heart of everything that we do here at Eureka!, and one of the ways we thought we could bring even more play into the workplace and museum generally was through clowning - Not your average face paint, big shoes and pie in the face clowning, but by bringing the ideologies and techniques behind the performance into our day-to-day museum duties. So Clown Training 101 was devised and, with a handful of enablers, the Eureka! Clowning team was born. We began by looking at Victorian clowns from the travelling circuses up to modern day stereotypical clowns, and their archetypes and lives. We then took some of the elements of clowning and created our own ways of clowning.

What makes a Eureka! clown

Our clowns are childlike in their attention to things: everything is new and amazing - they explore every object to its full extent. They are imaginative and creative - everything can be anything to a clown - a shoe is a telephone, a scarf is a bridge, and even a flute is a stethoscope.

They are repetitive. They will try things out again and again, often to fail, over and over again; no matter how many times they see that banana skin, they will always slip on it.

Clowning is the most emotionally honest form of performance; they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Clowns laugh, cry, show their joy and despair through their very emotional facial expressions.

And, most importantly, a clown is a direct link to the audience. During a performance they break the fourth wall by acknowledging the audience, showing things to them and even getting audience members involved in their antics.

Jill, Tasha and Ross discover something shocking!

Wearing the red nose

After our research and a few warm-up exercises we were given our red clowning noses. We were not to take these off as they were the prop that marked us as clowns.

Clowns are very silly - they are the subject of ridicule, and if we wished to be clowns we had to be silly. This was quite daunting for some of the group as they did not want to look like fools in front of their team leaders, colleagues and friends. In an attempt to break down everybody's inhibitions we were told to pick a space in the theatre. The music started, and we had to take to the stage as clowns, looking at the audience and fully exploring the stage (ignoring the other clowns at first). A variety of strange props were thrown into the spaces such as hats, wigs, instruments and toys. We had to work with these props, using them as something they weren't actually made for, which must have been quite a sight for the team leaders watching - grown adults wearing red noses, with wigs as shoes and recorders used as a splint for a poorly finger! We then had to interact with the other clowns, making up little scenarios, whilst looking at and involving the audience, emphasising our emotions and facial expressions.

Becky looks on in horror as Darren & Claire are stuck on the other side of the gorge!

All restraint, inhibition and hesitation was now long gone and everyone was buzzing. We all had the techniques nailed and were in a great mood - making jokes, laughing along with everyone and offering ideas and suggestions to each other. As a final performance we were split into three teams of three, each given a scenario and asked to devise a performance: at first just improvising with the music, then structuring a beginning, middle and end. The three scenarios were:

There is a massive gorge that the clowns want to cross, but there is no bridge.
One clown is having a picnic when the other two appear, then one fly appears, followed by a swarm of insects attacking the clowns.
One clown has an illness, and eventually the other two catch it.

Becca, Dan and Abi notice the first of many flies to come and ruin their picnic

I was in group number 2, the picnic group. After a few run-throughs we decided that one clown should have the picnic all to himself, then the other two came but he would not share his picnic. The flies gradually appeared, one at a time, and the clowns began slapping themselves and each other in an attempt to get rid of the flies, which resulted in the picnic getting trodden on. Realising that the picnic had been ruined, the two clowns left the original clown alone with the remains of his picnic. By using a bit of slapstick, looking at the audience and exaggerating expressions we created a funny and successful 5 minute performance.

Bringing clowning into every day

After all three groups had performed we settled down and began to think about how we could incorporate the clowning ideas into museum life, such as:

Using audience participation and acknowledgement during our science shows and workshops.
Exaggerating our expressions and actions to make things more exciting to watch.
Bring some of the playfulness into our time in the galleries - act as if everything is new to us, therefore more exciting for us and the children there who really are experiencing objects for the first time.
Devising a clowning show which we enablers can perform on an Up To You hour or as an event for the public, where we can get families involved in creating their own clowning show based on everything we learnt during the training. This would be different from our existing 'Clowning Around' workshop, which is aimed at more traditional clowning with big costumes, facepaint and using props such as fake weights and rubber chickens.

The Eureka! Clowning School's first graduates!

Our Clowning session has really given everyone involved such a boost to our ways of working, giving us new ideas and increased confidence in performing. We have loads of ideas about new things we can do in the galleries and ways to interact with kids - even the simplest of ideas such as putting on our red noses is full of potential for a better visitor experience.

Come and join us for a bit of Clowning Around in January 2012.

Becca McAusland

Enabler and Exhibitions Assistant

Welcoming Brownies, Cubs and Beavers to Eureka!

2011-11-24T15:01:00.001Z

This November we’ve had a busy month with a number of special events for uniformed groups.

Over the first two weekends of November we welcomed 868 Brownies, Beavers, Cubs and their leaders to the museum to take part in the first ever Eureka! Badge Days. In previous years we’ve run badge days based on such themes as astronomy and circus skills but thought that this time we’d see if we could come up with something based around the themes explored in Eureka!

The Eureka! badge
The design of the badge (pictured) was inspired by the man behind the Eureka! name - Archimedes himself and the special one-day events were created to allow children to explore as much of the museum as possible, inspiring them to discover and learn through play.

Chew to the Poo
The highlight of the sessions was definitely our science show ‘From the Chew to the Poo’ which explores the ins and outs of our digestive system by following the journey of a banana and peanut butter sandwich from the moment it is eaten till the moment it is… …well you can guess the rest!

It was certainly a challenge coming up with a programme that really sums up the essence of the museum but I hope we managed it. We’ve had some great feedback from leaders so far and with one or two tweaks I think we’ll definitely be planning to do more Eureka! Badge days in the future.

A Night at the Museum

The other big event this month was our Sleepover on Friday 18th November. We haven’t held a sleepover here since March 2008, so many of the staff have never experienced spending the night in the museum and were just as excited as the children! It was great fun and all the children and group leaders really got into the spirit of the evening. The night can best be summed up by Stephanie Armitage of 3rd Yeadon Brownies who wrote…

"Eureka! hosted a brilliant sleepover which was attended by around 100 Brownies, Scouts and their leaders to celebrate Universal Children's Day.

The evening was packed with fun including clowning around, a splash workshop which was a fun, water-based science session (see the giant bubbles photos) and having the museum to ourselves to explore all evening. Arriving just after 6pm, we were looked after by the Eureka! team until midnight when it was lights out time!

The girls and leaders had a brilliant time. The Eureka! staff were great fun & had organised an excellent evening of scientific fun. After supper everyone joined in with a selection of songs including the Meatball Song and Crazy Moose. It was great bedding down in the floor in the 'Sound Section' of the museum. The clunks and creaks of the building cooling down didn't seem to stop the girls getting to sleep. They were exhausted after such an action packed evening so even Brown Owl's snoring didn't disturb them. Other leaders and their groups were dotted around the building. The Eureka! staff slept upstairs in their offices!"

We’re holding two more sleepovers in 2012 on Friday 16th March and Friday 18th May, and we still have spaces available on both. These all night extravaganzas are open to schools as well as uniformed groups and are suitable for children aged 8-11yrs. For more information please email Jenny Parker.

You can view soe more photos from the sleepover in our Facebook Photo Album.

For further information about Girlguiding and how to join please visit the Girlguiding UK Website.

Jenny Parker, Eureka! Play and Learning Co-ordinator

Volunteering at Eureka!

2011-11-11T11:36:00.001Z

Over the summer I volunteered at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum in Halifax. When I first started volunteering I hardly interacted with the children at all, but now I feel more than capable of meeting and engaging with children.

I have enjoyed volunteering very much, especially meeting children of different ages and from different backgrounds. I found working in the gift shop enjoyable, and learned all about the different aspects of the job from stock take, the paperwork required to make a gift shop run, keeping the shop fully stocked at all times, pricing, and customer interaction. I have also loved working with all the different exhibits, and have found that it has helped me to gain more confidence, particularly to interact with children and their parents.

The Eureka! Shop

I have done so much but, for me, my biggest successes are that I am more confident in myself and I have learned many transferable skills, from making action plans to improving my interpersonal skills, to name but a few. I also feel that my biggest achievement has been being able to work as a part of a team as, again, it has helped boost my confidence both with children and with the Eureka! staff.

I also feel that I can use these experiences in the future to help me with my autism. I have loved working at Eureka! as I found the environment calming and safe. I hope that the time I have spent at Eureka! and the experiences that I have gained will help me progress along the career path that is right for me. All the staff have been extremely friendly and helpful.

Eureka! is a fun and friendly place to work, and I highly recommend this experience to anybody else thinking about volunteering.

Michael Harris, Eureka! volunteer

Graveyard Walks

2011-10-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

Graverobber, telling spooky
Halloween tales at Eureka!

Hi there everybody - I just arrived from Victorian Halifax to do a few graveyard walks. I’m a grave robber, or resurrectionist as I prefer to call myself. I was asked to take some children around and tell them some ghost stories as part of Eureka!'s Spooktacular Halloween week and I was happy to oblige (for a few gold coins, of course).

My graveyard was haunted by a ghostly 900 year old monk, a ghostly horse and carriage driver, two headless corpses (one in chains and one playing the bagpipes) and another restless spirit shot full of holes (I call him the Holey Spirit!).

I particularly enjoyed telling my tales, as every one of them is a true story – tales of unexpected and grisly deaths that happened right here in Halifax; in sight of Eureka!, most of them!

The children helped me exorcise the restless spirits by reading their names to me, off their tombstones, so I could command them to move on. Well, I wouldn’t be doing this job if I could read and write, would I? I rewarded them with gold coins from the Cragg Vale Coiners’ hoard - they were very tasty I hear.

The graveyard is much more peaceful now so I can carry on my good work of supplying local hospitals with bodies for the doctors to dissect to increase their knowledge and move on the cause of medical science. So don’t call me a criminal; I’m a hero I am!

Banishing ghosts on a graveyard walk

You can take part in our Spooktacular Halloween event until 30 October...

Loose parts is AWESOME!

2011-09-29T16:43:00.000+01:00

Wait… what? You don’t know what loose parts is? Well, let me bring you up to speed. The term ‘loose parts’ is just another way of saying ‘junk modelling’, and it’s a really cool, simple, fun activity that anyone can do.

Loose parts activities encourage open-ended learning, and are great tools to use with children of all ages and abilities, as it engages the imagination and helps to unlock creativity. Children love having the freedom to make and do whatever they want, so that’s what I try to give them.

I dedicated all of Sunday 25 September to loose parts, loading up the Imagination Space here at Eureka! with a whole host of bits and bobs that would otherwise have been thrown away. Big bits, little bits, plastics and fabrics, old boxes and tyres, scraps of fabric, garden canes and loads, loads more. We had a real treasure trove of junk just waiting to be made into something amazing. I also gave the children the opportunity to try their hand at designing by having a designer’s area where the children could plan their creation before attempting to make it. Boy, did we make some awesome stuff!

Creativity and FUN! at loose parts day, 25 Sept 2011

We had all sorts of amazing creations: monsters, robots, dolls and animals, right through to spaceships, trains, musical instruments, and bows and arrows. The photos here capture just a few of the amazing creations that we made. Even some of the Enablers came to join in the fun!

Loose parts day was a really big hit, and everyone who took part said that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves, both adults and children alike. Best of all, the children could take home everything that they had made - and why shouldn’t they? All the materials were things that we didn’t need, and the children spent a lot of time turning those unwanted objects into something so much better than what they were originally made for!

We had a lot of fun on loose parts day, and would hate for anybody to miss out being part of such a great opportunity to be creative, so come along and join in if you can. We’ll be holding our next loose parts day on Sunday 4 December. If you’d like to make something as cool as the creations in the pictures, why not come on down to Eureka! and join in the fun? Come along to use your imagination, be creative and make something fantastic!

Ben Guilfoyle
Specialist Play Enabler

Playing into the Future

2011-07-15T16:36:00.000+01:00

The International Play Association (IPA) is a nongovernmental organization formed in the 1960’s whose sole aim is to ‘protect, preserve and promote the child’s right to play’, or Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The IPA believes that play is ‘vital to develop the potential of all children’. ‘Play is a means of learning to live, not a mere passing of time’.

So, last week I lived in the lovely city of Cardiff in Wales where I represented Eureka! at the IPA World Conference. Now, I’ve never really been to a conference before, not for a full week anyway, so I didn’t really know what to expect and it was all a little bit daunting.

The conference was held in Cardiff City Hall and it was huge. There must have been about 600 people attending from all over the world who all seemed to know each other somehow, and me, in the middle, alone, not knowing what to do… yeah…

But IPA had a secret weapon for this very situation. They had free coffee (or tea) and cake, and let me tell you, coffee and cake is a great ice breaker, and even more so when it’s free :)

So I made some friends and we headed to the opening ceremony where we heard speeches from the First Minister of Wales and the IPA World President. The rest of the day, and indeed the week, were up to us. There were loads of seminars being given by play work practitioners from all over the world, some of which I’d heard of, and others that I’d not.

Children helping with demonstrations at the IPA Conference

I’d been a good boy and already decided which seminars I was going to attend before going, so another free coffee (and cake) later and I was in my first seminar. This was pretty much the pattern for the rest of the week, seminar, coffee, seminar, coffee etc…

Now if I wanted to keep writing for ages I’d go into details on each of the seminars, who the speaker was and what point they were making and what I brought back with me to Eureka!, but that would be incredibly boring, so I’ll just kind of do a summing up of what I figured were the most important points (for me anyway) of the week.

So I guess these are the two most important things:

1. Children need to experience risk during their play. I remember when I was a child, I was always climbing trees, making rope swings, making dens etc… I was always seeing if I could reach the next branch up, or swinging higher, and constantly pushing myself to beat what I’d achieved before. So I might have fallen once or twice but who cared, I learnt to be careful. More and more children today are losing the element of risk in their play. If there is no risk involved, then the child won’t learn what it means to take a risk, to fail, and to succeed in that risk. We can’t forever be cushioning everything. Children need to graze their knees every once in a while. We need to promote risk management, not risk aversion, and realize the benefits of risk taking.

Children climbing a tree at the IPA Conference

2. Children need to experience nature. More and more children are not getting to experience nature. I sat in on a couple of seminars about ‘Forest Schools’. A Forest School is an area of forest where children are invited to spend one day a week exploring the forest. All with adult supervision, the children can make things using real tools, cook their own food over an open fire, explore, climb, balance and really do whatever they want to. Now, I know that not everywhere has access to a Forest School, but that doesn’t mean that we should shy away from incorporating an element of nature in to play. In my opinion, children are now being brought up in a world of plastic; action figures, video games, plastic play equipment etc… Why don’t we ditch the plastic and use some wood for a change?

I could go on but I think you get the gist. I’ve learned much more than just this, but I can’t really blog about it all. It would take ages.

Anyways, on the last day we all went to a Play Festival accompanied by one of the local schools. There were tree climbing, rope swings, water fights, crafts, singing and more.

Ben Guilfoyle is the Specialist Play Enabler

Eureka! I have found a job!

2011-06-23T13:50:00.002+01:00

In May 2010 I had been actively seeking work for months with no luck, I came across a government programme, The Future Jobs Fund, offering paid work experience with organisations for 6months. The Future Jobs Fund was the beginning of one of the best experiences of my life. I applied for a post with Eureka! The National Children’s Museum as an Administration Assistant. I had never envisaged myself working in a business environment but the opportunity had presented itself and I decided to take it on.

If I could put into words how I feel about working for Eureka!, I would be selling Eureka! short. Working at Eureka!, has been an amazing experience which can only be described in its simplest form as breathtaking. When I started working for Eureka! I did not really know what to expect. I can safely say all my initial inhibitions were quickly displaced. As an A-level graduate with little experience in an office/business environment and feeling a little naïve, I thought I would be out of place. The reality was completely to the contrary and within a week I felt as if I had been working at Eureka!, for the greater part of the year.

Although I had joined the Marketing and Development Team at Eureka!, there was an informal environment and the atmosphere was in line with the playful ethos of the museum. Being in the Corporate Office was slightly daunting as the team is highly efficient and professional yet everyone is friendly and easy to approach, so it created a great productive atmosphere to work in. Not only am I privileged to be working with some of the brightest minds in the industry, but at the same time I’ve been inspired to go above and beyond my best. Working at Eureka! has been amazing, no one day goes by that is the same. You can be working on a corporate event with blue chip clients wanting an informal environment for some genuine team building, or doing a workshop with children excited to learn about poo. In the galleries I enjoyed seeing children’s faces light up in excitement at speaking to Scoot the Robot, and I was challenged doing research for fundraising and marketing campaigns, everyday is different and almost always exciting.

David running the Wacky Races session as part of Playday 2010

I have learnt a great deal at Eureka! over the past year from life skills to comprehensive business skills that I hope will put me in good stead for my future career. I am also currently waiting for confirmation that I have passed my NVQ Level 3 Diploma In Business and Administration. I am more confident and my interpersonal skills have significantly improved from my time here.! From being a shy young man trying to find his career path, to being a professional orientated individual with a promising future ahead. I owe a lot to the team at Eureka! as I embark on the next stage of my life, I take on board everything I have learnt and all the experience I have gained in my role. After over a year of working at Eureka! (my contract was extended after the Future Jobs Fund placement) I am currently preparing to start work with the UN on anti-poverty initiatives and human right issues in Third World countries. As I leave I will always remember the playful ethos of Eureka! particularly the essence of play, "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

David Dube is the Administration Assistant at Eureka! The National Children's Museum and will be leaving at the end of the month to work with the UN.

Five Practice Tasks to Help Improve Your Child’s Hand Eye Coordination

2011-06-09T13:42:00.002+01:00

As an ex-professional tennis player, I have years of tennis playing and coaching experience. When my daughter reached two I started to recognise that games we played were not only fun but helped develop hand-eye co-ordination and many other skills. I soon realised that this was something that many other parents would appreciate and started to develop Tennis Tots.

The Tennis Tots curriculum helps improve agility, balance and coordination in young children as well as devising educational based lessons; which allow children to learn numeracy, colour recognition and language skills whilst building their confidence along the way.

Parents play a crucial role in both the introduction to sports and earlier stages of a child’s development. Children from the ages of 2-5 years can be introduced to many fun games and skills to help improve their Hand-Eye Coordination; the ability of the eyes to guide the hands in movements.

Why is it so important for your child to develop this skill?
•    In school, visual-motor integration, which is a vital skill for handwriting, grows out of a good hand-eye coordination base. The eyes need to guide the hand in forming the letter shapes and making sure they stay within the lines of the page.
•    In gross motor games, hand-eye co-ordination can help your child to catch a ball and hit a ball with a bat or racket
•    Eye tracking skills, which are vital for reading, can also develop through the gross motor games used for hand-eye coordination.
Here is a list of tennis based activities from the Tennis Tots curriculum that you can use at home with your children to help develop your child’s hand-eye coordination. All of these activities are used within the Tennis Tots programme and can benefit children from age 18 months-8 years of age in a number of ways. They are also a great chance for you to spend some fun time with your child doing something that is both active and educational.

Balloon Tap Up
Try to keep a balloon up in the air by tapping it up with both hands or by using a racket. Children can try using one hand or two hands depending on their ability and parents can tap the balloon alternately with their child to make it more fun. This exercise is great for developing each child's hand eye coordination and helps to improve tracking skills at an early age. Try to count the number of hits you get and improve on your score each day.

Catch and Bounce Catch
Practice throwing a big ball (no bigger than a football) underarm so that the children can catch it without a bounce. Try to kneel down so that you are at eye level with the children when you throw the ball. This will help the children track the flight of the ball more easily. Try to count to ten catches before progressing the exercise to throwing the ball with a bounce before catching it. Practice saying "Bounce and then Catch" so that the children get used to the rhythm of the ball bouncing and then catching it. For a more challenging exercise you can throw the ball to the right hand side and the left hand side and see if the children can move and catch the ball after one or two bounces. If the children can handle this get them to say split and do a split step before you throw the ball. This will help them be ready to receive the ball. Counting the number of catches you do allows the children to develop their numeracy skills along the way. You could count from 1-10 or count backwards from 10-1 or even start at 20 and progress from there depending on the age and developmental stage of your child.

Fetch
Practice rolling a tennis ball through your child’s legs with them facing away from you. As soon as the ball comes into vision they chase it and pick it up with either their left hand or right hand depending on the instruction. Try progressing this exercise by asking the children to sidestep back like a crab or jump back with their feet together like a Kangaroo.

Rollerball
Sit down on the floor opposite your child with legs apart. Practice rolling a big ball (no bigger than a football) between your legs and counting the number of rolls you can do. Encourage your child to stop the ball with two hands by putting the palms of their hands on the top of the ball before pushing it back.
For older children who find this task easy try getting them to stand on a marker and roll a ball to either their left side or right side. When the ball comes, encourage your child to move and stop the ball with either their right or left hand, depending on where the ball was rolled and then encourage them to roll it back with that hand before sidestepping back to their marker to repeat the task. This is an excellent activity to develop perception skills as well as developing hand eye coordination and balance whilst helping children learn about the left and right sides of the body.

Floor Tennis
Practice rolling a big ball with a 17 inch or a 19inch racket along the floor standing about 5 ft from each other. Encourage your child to trap the ball with the racket and then roll it back to you. Try counting to ten rolls and then start again.
For older children this exercise can be done using left and right hands and will involve more movement. Starting on a marker, try rolling the ball to either side try rolling it away from your child encouraging them to move and trap the ball with their racket either with their left or right hands. Once the ball has been trapped, children should attempt to roll the ball back from a sideways on position before recovering back to a marker with a side step.

Try doing this exercise three times per week for five minutes each time and it will really help your child improve their hand-eye coordination skills as well as improving their overall development in a number of areas.

Matt will be at Eureka! on Sunday 12 June giving Tennis Tots half hour taster sessions. To watch a video of some of these exercises and to learn more about the Tennis Tots programme watch the video below:

Matt McTurk is the creator of Tennis Tots, an educational based Tennis Programme aimed at boys and girls from 2-5 years of age which runs across Yorkshire. For more information about the Tennis Tots programme visit our website. If you are new to Tennis Tots you can book a free trial by calling 07725339257 or email us.

We’re going on a bear hunt…we’re going to catch a big one…

2011-06-02T16:44:00.003+01:00

We all know and love the classic ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen, which is why we chose it to be the theme of our 2011 Early Years Fiesta. The Early Years Fiesta is an event catering solely for pre-booked Early Years groups in the first week of May during SATs week. This year was such a fantastic success with record bookings, that ‘Early Years Week’ became ‘Early Years Three Weeks’. The feedback we have received so far has all been extremely positive, showing that this event was enjoyed by all.

This story, by its very nature, lends itself well to the outdoors, so we decided that it would be fantastic to make use of our newest outdoor exhibition, ‘The Wonder Walk’. Through this adventure the children were guided by two of our Eureka! explorers, where they overcame the obstacles that the story threw at them on their quest to find the Bear. We used the willow structures for the ‘long wavy grass’, water trays for the ‘splishy splashy river’, ‘icky sticky mud’, trees and branches for the ‘deep dark forest’, and artificial snow for the ‘swirling whirling snow storm’, the overall effect was fantastic!

Looking for the Bear

Even though we love the Bear Hunt story we could not resist putting our own Eureka! spin on it and so added a new magical element to the story. This was in the form of a kind Eureka! Fairy who had left some of her fairy dust for the children. The children were asked to take a pinch of this glittery dust and to think of their favourite animal, then sprinkle the dust in the air to become that animal (with their imaginations switched on of course). We had allsorts of animals emerging, turning the Eureka! park in to a unique menagerie of animals. This ranged from bears and tigers to dinosaurs and unicorns galloping and flying around the Wonder Walk. However, this fairy dust is notorious for wearing off quickly and all too soon we were all human once again, carrying on with our journey to find the bear- who as it turned out, like everything at Eureka! was very friendly too.

Finding the bear

The weather was not always on our side but we had a fantastic time ‘Swishy Swashing’, ‘stumble triping’ and ‘Squish Squashing’ our way through the Wonder Walk.

The Eureka! version of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ is open to the public until 3 June (tomorrow). Let us know what you thought of it and which other stories you would like us to add a bit of Eureka! magic to.

Penny Dargan-Makin is the Early Years Specialist Enabler at Eureka!

Are the choices children make when playing nature or nurture?

2011-05-26T15:46:00.002+01:00

Last week I was asked to speak on Radio York about whether boys and girls toys are different because of the way children want to play or the way they are nurtured. Well, my first comment was, what is a boys toy and what is a girls toy?

Having worked with young children for over 20 years and being a mother I do think there is a element of nature to the games children play but I also believe that there is a very strong influence from society. From as young as 2 children are able to recognise differences in gender and already begin to allocate roles to those genders.

If you walk into many large toyshops and supermarkets today you will come across pink aisles/areas full of toys that enable girls to act out caring roles. Then you have the other areas with action toys and scientific equipment marketed at boys. Watch adverts on children’s TV and you’ll see girls caring, boys being adventurous, parents in stereotypic gender roles. By aiming products at a specific gender they do reinforce the expected gender role, imprinting expectations of a domestic role for girls whilst their male counterparts are being equipped for much more diverse occupations. One large retailer said “When it comes to things like illustrations on product packaging, we are very much at the mercy of our suppliers” Is this acceptable or a copout?

A boy does some cooking in the Living and Working Together gallery

At Eureka!, as in all children’s museums, we recognise the need to use the foremost years of a child’s life to set the foundations of equality and enable them to respect and value diversity. We ensure we provide positive images of people of both genders reflecting daily life, we create spaces where all children should feel welcome.

Does it matter? The news is full of good news about how well girls are doing in education, getting more jobs in previously male dominated sectors and a recent study has revealed that when it comes to work and family, men and women are more alike than different. This finding conflicts with a widely held assumption that male identity is rooted in work whereas women place a higher priority on personal/family life.

Nature? Nurture? It doesn’t matter? What are your thoughts?

Rebecca Johnson is Play and Learning Director at Eureka!

Baby-Led Weaning

2011-05-20T14:58:00.001+01:00

When any child starts at the Nursery we take some time to talk to parents and understand the child’s habits and routines. When we spoke to Leni’s Mum on her initial pre-visit we were intrigued to hear that Leni was going through the process of Baby-Led Weaning. We had heard of the technique but had never come across anyone who actually used the method.

As this was completely different to our training and experience we were initially worried that Leni would choke but her mum re-assured us and provided literature for us to understand the process properly. The most valuable resource being Gill Rapley’s book ‘Baby-Led Weaning’. To us the theory completely makes sense - if babies are in control of what goes into their mouths they can control the volume of food in their mouths and are less likely to choke. Babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have developed the ability to chew and they do not develop the ability to chew, until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. So by forcing food into a child’s mouth at a pace that they aren’t comfortable with, you could cause choking, which Baby-Led Weaning avoids.

Leni is given her food in a bowl, and broken into pieces, which she will either put on a spoon herself, or she will select the food with her hands and put it to her mouth. There is no need to cut pieces up too much as the bigger they are the better they are to grip.

She chooses what she will eat, decides what foods she does and doesn’t like and also decides how much she eats. Leni can’t talk yet, so she generally uses non-verbal communication to let us know when she wants more- using facial expressions, pouting, bodily actions or sometimes verbally by shouting.

Most children of Leni’s age will drink using a bottle or a non spill cup like a tippy cup, but Leni drinks her milk and water from an open top cup. She places her hands on either side and tips it up for herself, only needing help to steady the cup – which she is needing less help to do so.

Through a combination of research and trial and error Leni’s Mum was able to give us at the nursery, some great foundations to work with. At meal times Leni should be:

Sat in an upright position
Offered foods that stick out of her hand
The only person who puts food in her own mouth
In control of her eating pace- don’t hurry her
Left to decide how much she eats- don’t force her to eat if she doesn’t want to, leave her to eat what she wants and that is enough
Don’t leave her on her own with food
Handed her spoon pre-loaded for her to feed herself if serving sloppy food eg soup

Through trying this process out in our setting we have a deeper insight into the process of Baby-Led Weaning. Leni enjoys all her meals and has a great appetite whilst making choices for herself, we have even tried the process with the other children, and it has had a positive impact for all concerned.

The literature that we have read suggests that overall Baby-Led Weaning children will inevitably be less picky eaters, have advanced fine motor skills and develop good table manners faster. Let us know what you think of Baby-Led Weaning by posting a comment here or pop by to our nursery open day on Saturday 21 May between 10.30 and 2.30 for a chat.

Kelly Marris, is an Early Year’s Practitioner at the Eureka! Nursery and is Head of the Baby Room

Taking first steps into theatre with ‘From here … to there’

2011-05-12T10:30:00.017+01:00

There is a big push now among children’s theatre companies to produce shows for the youngest of children. There is a recognition that many parents bring younger siblings along to see shows that are made for slightly older children and that their younger siblings still get an enormous amount from the experience.

So, how about making a show specifically for them, and if we do, what should an early year’s show look like? If we look to our European neighbours: Denmark, Austria, France, Italy, and Belgium to name but a few, there is a wealth of experience in theatre for early years to draw upon.

When researching ‘From here … to there’, I took part in an international exchange project with La Baracca in Italy and Toihaus in Austria. It was a great learning journey, and in many ways, ‘From here …to there’ is the outcome of that journey.
Before starting we wanted to observe young children. What interests them, how do they negotiate play, how long can they sit and watch, etc… We found, like many others, that when you get the material right they can sit and watch far longer than we may think. So many times parents have come to me afterwards and said, “I’ve never seen my 2 year old sit still for so long.” So what makes the content so relevant and engaging for young children?
There are a few things that I consider to be fundamentally important and I’ve listed them below:

• Play – a playful spirit in the performers and in the creation process helps to connect immediately with very young children.

• Games – recognisable games that young children respond to intuitively ie. Peek a boo

• Visual Language - Considering carefully the props and materials used and using them in visual and imaginative ways.

• Words: Keeping spoken language to a minimum and playing with sounds & rhythms.

• Familiar rituals/routines – Building on events that are familiar to young children, ie. brushing teeth / eating / getting dressed, and then heightening the routine to make it theatrical and for it to become something else…

• Genuine emotions: young children are motivation seekers! They want to know why we do everything we do. So there is a real need for the actors to be emotionally genuine and to respond in a true way to the events in the performance.

As part of the creation process for ‘From here…to there’, we spent two weeks researching & developing the show with children from 2 – 4 years in a nursery setting. We looked specifically at the dynamics of play and how young children move from independent play and playing alongside each other to playing which involves sharing and negotiating. For a two or three year old this tends to be full of conflict and resolution - great content to put into a theatre show! It was hugely rewarding to try out some of our ideas with children and in some cases to have them show us that we had got it wrong! Making theatre for the very young is a very humbling experience!

As a company we also encourage young children to interact with our work. After the performance there is plenty of time to get hands on. We let the children play with the boxes and materials from the show so that they can build their own towers and bridges. It gives them a chance to respond instinctively to what they have seen in the best way that children know how – through play!

The show is now touring across the UK and is coming to Eureka! this weekend, so you can see for yourselves if we have got it right, or even better bring your little ones and let them see if this theatre for early years is truly for them.

This blog is written by Natasha Holmes (Artistic Director of Tell Tale Hearts)

The photos by Gavin Joynt (children from Playmates nursery, Deighton, Huddersfield)

‘From here … to there’ – was funded by Arts Council England Lottery, Lawrence Batley Theatre and the international exchange project was co-ordinated by Earlyarts

TELL TALE HEARTS are a professional children’s theatre company who are now raising the profile of theatre for Early Years Children. They have been making theatre exclusively for children since 2004. In that time the company has toured its work internationally and become established as one of the most respected companies in the UK making work for early years.

FROM HERE TO THERE is a partnership production between the Lawrence Batley Theatre and Tell Tale Hearts, it premiered at the LBT in 2010 and now is touring nationally during 2011. Tell Tale Hearts are a resident company at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

History, Entertainment and Liking the Hiking!- The new Eureka! h.e.a.l.t.h. walk.

2011-05-06T14:41:00.001+01:00

Were you aware that walking a mile uses practically the same amount of calories as running a mile? Did you know that inactivity has the same effect on the heart as smoking twenty cigarettes a day? Go on, google it if you don't believe me! I didn't know until I went on a course to become a qualified walk leader with the ‘Walk It’ scheme; where I found out about the amazing health benefits of walking.

Let me take you back to the beginning. One morning a couple of months ago we were told about an idea to develop a mile long walk, using Eureka!’s learning through play ethos,centred on Eureka! for one of the activities during the ‘Healthy Halifax’ weekends in May. I thought it sounded like a great idea and put my name forward to be considered as a walk leader. I immediately started doing a bit of research and got quite excited about the project. I was delighted when I found out I was one of the chosen three. The other two were Kevin Field and Michelle Holroyd; both equally delighted and enthusiastic.

We all went on a training course at Mixenden outdoor centre and learnt a lot of the important stuff such as how to do risk assessments and fill in the paperwork. We talked about barriers and motivation and did a short walk ourselves. We all came away determined to try and get more people walking. Our idea was to come up with a session that would be so full of fun and fascinating facts that people wouldn’t even realise they had walked a mile by the end of it.

I began by concentrating on the local history of the buildings and structures visible from the perimeter of the Eureka! site (The perimeter, coincidentally, being around about a mile!). I couldn’t believe the things I was finding out about places I have been walking past for years. Cluniac Monks, criminals, archbishops and ghosts – oh, and Gary Lineker! Gas explosions, ancient beacons, stalactites, church bells and chocolate; it’s all here.

Kevin and Michelle were, meanwhile, coming up with some great ideas for incorporating some nature detective activities for use on the walk and for the walker’s pack. We walked the perimeter and decided on the places we would be stopping for talks and activities; we even incorporated a couple of sing-alongs. Kevin put together a colourful route plan and Michelle even took herself off on a local walk all about ‘the dark side of Halifax’ and discovered a few new ghoulish facts!

Our development and preparation finished, we sent off our risk assessment and finally the day arrived to test our walk; so we invited any Eureka! staff who were interested to join us after work for our h.e.a.l.t.h. (History, Entertainment and Liking the Hiking!) walk. We ended up with fifteen people; a real cross section of staff. The walk was a great success with everyone joining in on the singing and marching and we didn’t lose anybody on the way, not even at the local pub (which is 600 to 800 years old, by the way, and has a ghost)..

We did learn one thing, however, “don’t carry a 2 litre bottle of diet cola around in your rucksack for an hour and then open it”. I guess you could say I came to a sticky end!

We will be trying out our h.e.a.l.t.h. walk on the public this weekend as part of the Healthy Halifax Family Fun Days so pop by on 7 – 8 or 21 – 22 May to have a go on our walk and please tell us what you think.

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Making mealtime count in the Nursery

2011-04-07T14:29:00.002+01:00

At the Eureka! Nursery, a child’s whole day is about learning through play. Meal times are no exception, where the pre-school children really develop with the positive approach we take to include them in meal times. We have done some really exciting mealtimes for the children, to introduce them to new foods or experiences. An example of this was with the World Cup, where every day they had a new food from a different country. There was everything from South African ‘bobotie’, to Brazilian ‘feijoada’ and of course good old bangers and mash when England played!

Eating for England during the World Cup!

However, learning isn’t just about new and novel experiences, although they’re really fun for all of us. We learn a lot through every day experiences, and at the Nursery we work hard to make sure that there are plenty of opportunities, from assisting setting places for dinner to learning to eat with a knife and fork—however messy that might be.

Each day in the Nursery, children take turns being the day’s superstar. With their ‘key person’ (a member of staff who has responsibility for monitoring the child’s development and providing them with in-depth personal support), they help to assemble the meals delivered from the Eureka! Café, lay tables and serve both meals and snacks. Today, it was Freya’s turn. She told me ‘I’m helping to give dinner out today, I’m the superstar’.

The other children are still involved too. Sam was waiting patiently for his dinner, but he still let Freya know ‘We need two more dinners over here please!’ Through these activities, they’re continually developing their personal, social and emotional skills and it’s a great confidence booster as children are so excited about having a role to play. Sam did a great job of demonstrating how these activities help children take ownership: not only was he applying knowledge by calculating how many dinners were left to serve, but he also had the confidence and self-esteem to articulate this to Freya and her key person.

Tea on this particular day was sandwiches. Another positive of having all of our children eat together and get involved in the mealtime process is they’re able to become more aware of each other, through speaking and sharing, and by learning to identify differences. Understanding dietary differences, due to allergies or cultural and religious beliefs is another key outcome for our children. Sam and Kai were putting together their sandwiches, and as Sam put a slice of ham on his bread he looked at Kai and said: ‘You have to have cheese Kai, cause you’re vegetarian, aren’t you?’

Having your child involved in food preparation gives them ownership and encourages independence

They’re also aware of healthy eating practices—something very important these days! Oliver was quick to point this out, telling Molly: ‘You have to eat your carrots Molly, because you want to get big and strong, like my daddy! And my daddy goes to the gym too’. What was really lovely was that it was Oliver and his friend Molly having a conversation. He wasn’t ‘telling’ her, he was sharing the knowledge he’s gained at home and in the nursery.

There’s so much to learn from a simple meal time, as we know very well here at the Nursery. For us though, one of the most important reasons for getting the children involved with dinner is that they’re having the chance to take pleasure in who they are and what they can do. They’re learning about their identity and abilities, and that in turn helps them in how they share and learn with others.

Meal times are a great way to get involved with your child’s learning. Here are a few easy things you can do at home!

Learn more about different cultures through your meals. Even something as simple as having a Chinese takeaway and eating with chopsticks can introduce new ways of eating.
Let your child help with meal preparation, and eat with cutlery just like the grown ups. Not only do they have ownership in what they’re eating, but any opportunities to develop complex physical skills (like those used for grating, chopping and peeling).
The table settings might not be perfect, but setting out the dishes and spoons develops understanding of maths, and helps with spatial awareness.Ask questions and encourage a discussion at dinner.
When you’ve just learned something, you want to share it… and a child is no different! Linking experiences helps children to develop a positive sense of community and expand their vocabulary.

Do you have any ways that you get your child learning at mealtimes? What works well for you?

Clare Dean is an Early Years Professional in the Eureka! Nursery.

Joining the Play Revolution

2011-04-01T14:03:00.001+01:00

A common misconception about Eureka! is that we are a commercial visitor attraction …many people simply don’t know we are a non-profit charity. This is something we hope to tackle in the coming months, as we give you, our visitors, a lot more information about the work we do in the museum and beyond in our outreach programmes.

As an educational charity we receive no government funding. Our museum and activities are funded by our admission fees, fundraising and commercial activities like our shop and cafe. Therefore, every single voluntary donation makes an incredible difference.

Our next major project is the development of our new flagship exhibition Me and My World. This will replace the much loved Me and My Body gallery, but don’t worry – we will make sure we retain and update some of your favourite exhibits! The new exhibition will cost a grand total of £2.9m of which we have already raised £2.1m, so we are well on our way to reaching this total but there is still a lot of work to do.

As one of the thousands of people that read our blog every year, we hope you can do one simple thing to help out. Quite simply, we need 5 minutes of your time. Eureka! has registered on the Co-operative Revolution campaign where you can vote for your favourite revolution. Eureka! of course is leading the play revolution so simply follow the link provided and register your vote. The most popular revolution in each region will be awarded £5,000 and if all our readers take a few minutes to do this, we’re in with a good chance!

It won’t cost you a penny, and will help us achieve our vision of an exhibition which will inspire a whole new group of children who, like their parents before them, will look back on days spent at Eureka! as some of the most magical learning moments of their childhood.

You can register and vote online on the Co-operative Revolution website.

Kate Goldring is the Fundraising Manager at Eureka! The National Children's Museum.

Serious play

2011-03-24T14:45:00.000Z

I could begin this blog by saying: ‘Here at Eureka we take training our staff very seriously’, because we do. But ‘serious’ suggests lectures, assessments, boredom and other things that are, well, serious! This was certainly not the case when it came to our ‘It’s Up To You’ training this month. Creative, spontaneous and hilarious are more like it.

Creative staff training helps inspire our Enablers when delivering programmes.

We were training our staff for something called the ‘It’s Up To You’ Hour. The idea was trialled last year and gave our Enablers a whole hour during the day in which they could do whatever they liked; tell a story, run a juggling workshop, take musical instruments into the galleries or other things of that nature. We found that our staff had many hidden talents which emerged through this initiative and the ‘Its Up To You Hour’ generated some of the best customer feedback we received in years. So we decided to re-launch the idea this year, timed with the hiring of a whole new batch of Enablers.

For the training we collected a vast number of resources; costumes, storybooks, props, and other diverse items. We then put the Enablers into groups and gave them the freedom to devise a full days worth of events using what we had in the room or anything they could find from the museum.

Complete freedom, however, can be intimidating, so we gave each group a simple scenario detailing how many visitors were in the museum and what the weather was like on the day they were planning for. This helped to inspire some of the events and made the enablers think about whether a particular event is suitable for varying visitor numbers.

‘We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create or dream’

The quote from child psychiatrist and author Robert Coles sums up or philosophy when executing the session. Creating a stimulating environment where the staff felt free to do what they wanted worked far better than having a structured training schedule as it gave them room to ‘Create and Dream’, though our hours were far from empty.

There was no shortage of ideas; staff devised a range of different activities, from manic games involving water balloons to quiet and calm origami folding. In this setting the Enablers were empowered to show off their many talents as musicians, magicians or historians.

Fun was had by all and this fun atmosphere will be directly passed onto our visitors who can expect varied spontaneous events and activities in our galleries in the future (particularly on weekends and quiet afternoons)!

So as we see training is a very important part of being an Enabler at Eureka, but I still wouldn’t say that ‘At Eureka we take training our staff very seriously’; I would rather say that ‘At Eureka we take training our staff very playfully’.

Ben Healey is a Team Leader at Eureka! The National Children's Museum

Over the rainbow with Early Years activities

2011-03-10T13:58:00.001Z

Half terms at Eureka! are fantastically themed filled events and this latest one was no exception. Our theme for this particular February half term was the classic film ‘The Wizard of Oz’; the influence of which resonated throughout the full museum. As the Early Years enabler it was my job to make sure that this was also key feature of the under-fives’ area, the Creativity Space. So when it came to deciding on what aspect of the Wizard of Oz to concentrate on I began by breaking the story down to its basic components and found the amazing array of colour featured within. I found that I was also fascinated by the colour used in the film and how they highlighted this burst of colour by beginning with black and white film and then over the rainbow to the wonderfully highlighted, technicolour Land of Oz.

Ready for rainbows in the classroom, as one of our Enablers plays with the light box.

As an Early Year professional I know that colour is greatly important early on in the Early Years Foundation Stage and that, by the age of 3, some children will be able to identify and match up colours. Researchers have found that toddlers are able to learn the names of colours but not an understanding of the relationship between the colours. By the time children are three years old they have mastered the basic colours and correlations between them. However, at this age colourations, shades and neighbouring colours are often still confusing and mistakes are easily made. As learning about colours can be lots of fun I took this as a fantastic opportunity to enhance the opportunities for learning about colours at Eureka! and to express the importance of colour with our ‘over the rainbow’ focus.

Whether we realise it or not colour plays such an integral part of our lives. As babies we begin to associate colours to moods and feelings and throughout our childhood we build upon this. Pink is often associated with a comforting feeling as this is the colour we might have experienced whilst in the womb. Even when we grow older we can attribute other emotional connotations to colours.

Colour is everywhere; all around us this magnificent planet contains all the colours of the rainbow. When we break colour down into it’s simplest form colour is simply light interacting with receptors in our eyes to ‘show’ us the primary colour spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet; the true rainbow. For The Wizard of Oz our little ‘munchkins’ experienced a different colour each day of the week in accordance to this true rainbow. Within the classroom there was colour everywhere! The light box had coloured sand. The . water tray held coloured gooey ‘Gelli baff’, which is a product that turns children’s bath water into jelly like goo and then back again. The children could paper mache a section of the rainbow, and were also able to choose from an array of materials to create their own masterpieces; all of these were changed daily in accordance with the colour of the day. Along with each colour of the day I also featured their shades of colours, such as light and dark and pastel and vivid colours in order to highlight that each colour is not singular but has an array of variations across the colour wheel.

It was fantastic to see the children respond in such a positive way to this theme and to the colours within the Creativity Space. I even noticed the impact of some colour days over others; ;on the red and yellow days where people seemed more vivacious than on the more subdued green and blue days. Whatever the reasons for this we all had a wonderful time; this was a well received event and I loved every minute of the week.

During the week, I particularly enjoyed the day where I worked with my favourite colour, blue. What’s your favourite colour? What do you like about it?

Penny Dargan-Makin is the Early Years Specialist Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum.

Making ‘cents’ of Money Matters

2011-02-17T10:41:00.000Z

Our new workshop started this week. It’s called ‘Money Matters’ and is very topical when you consider the recent calls for financial education to be made compulsory in schools. Here are a few facts, taken from the Personal Finance Education Group website, that point towards why starting financial education young is important.

•    7 years is the average for children to begin receiving pocket money.
•    8 years is the average age for UK children to get their first mobile phone.
•    10 years is the average age that children begin to purchase items online.

And…

•    Over 75% of 7-11 year olds are already saving for the future.
•    42% of children prefer to store their money in a money box.
•    93% of teachers and parents think that personal finance education should be taught in schools.

So, we think we’re on the right track. As Billy Graham once said: ‘If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life’.

The Money Matters workshop takes place in the Eureka! Bank and our ‘Imagination Space’ room and involves: exploration, investigation, discussions, games and (of course!) role-play. It will hopefully help develop in the children a good attitude towards saving and financial responsibility.

On one particular morning last month, I was dressed very smartly in shirt, tie and jacket with my ‘Bank Manager’ badge hung from my lapel. Enabler Darren was my cashier and also looked the part in another smart shirt, tie and badge. We had great fun in the bank as the children (7-9 years old) filled in withdrawal forms with Darren to get their Eureka! Bank notes and phoned me in my office to ask pertinent questions such as ‘Why should I keep my money in your bank?’ and ‘Is it fun being a bank manager?’

Money matters here in the Eureka! Bank!

They explored the bank vault with its huge thick doors and different alarm systems. They discovered all the security features that make it so difficult to forge a banknote. They even sat in a million pound chair and contemplated what they would do if they had that much money!

Keeping the Bank Vault safe and secure!

Back in the Imagination Space we had the children counting up giant laminated coins, working out interest payments on their calculators and joining in with a game that was a mixture of ‘Play Your Cards Right’ and ‘The Price is Right’. The children responded brilliantly to the tasks and the discussions. It was heartening to hear their reasons for not spending all their money:
•    “Because you won’t be able to keep your promises if you’ve promised to take somebody on a day out”
•    “Because you won’t be able to buy your mum a birthday present”.

They were also very enthusiastic about giving their money away to charities:
•    “Because it’s good to help other people who are poor”

By the end of the workshop the class had accrued over £400 in Eureka! Banknotes. We sent them home with the task of deciding as a class how they would spend, save and give away that money if it were real. It’s a great way to make sure the lessons of saving and spending wisely continue after their visit to Eureka! and I look forward to hearing from them and finding out what they decide.

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum. If she received £400 she would:
•    Treat herelf to a couple of DVDs.
•    Treat her family to a nice meal out.
•    Give £50 to Comic Relief (because that’s her favourite charity).
•    Save the rest of it towards her next holiday.

Hello Halicat!

2011-02-10T12:24:00.000Z

At the Eureka! Nursery last week there were lots of excited children in our pre-school waiting for a very special visitor: Halicat!

A little background, since the mascot from the Halifax Rugby League Football Club doesn’t stop by Eureka! every day. Following the lead from the children’s interest in colours the nursery’s preschoolers have been choosing a colour a week. We have been encouraging the children to bring in objects from home for their show and tell sessions. Last week was blue, and one of the children, Alex, decided he wanted to bring Halicat, who wears a blue and white striped shirt. Alex’s mum works at the Halifax RLFC, and between her office and our nursery we knew there was no question: how could we not make it happen?

Alex brought many Halifax RL artifacts during the week, leading up to the main event and on the Friday morning it was announced that Halicat was coming. We discussed it with the children to prepare them for the visitor. The children were excited, but also concerned about how Halicat would be able to come into the nursery and be safe. Together we all carried out a risk assessment for Halicat. The questions included:

How will he know where he’s going?
Will he get wet in the rain?
If he is so big, what if he doesn’t fit through the door?

We went through all of their questions and assured them that everything would be just right for Halicat’s visit. Just in case, one of the children, Oliver, decided to make sure that a big umbrella was ready at the door for Sandra, our Head of Nursery, to carry out to Halicat if it started raining.

Although the children knew Halicat would come after their dinners they were continuously checking my watch to see if the little hand was at one and the big hand at six. Sam asked me if they could use key worker group time to make presents for Halicat. I thought this was a fantastic idea because it would help them develop colour awareness and give the children ownership of the project. The children wanted to make blue and white scarves, headbands and bracelets, using their colour awareness effectively as they made links between their artworks and the Halifax rugby team’s colours. Everyone had a different way of making their decorations; some made white and blue stripes with rollers, some did finger printing, hand printing, there were so many excellent techniques to try that before we knew it, their dinner was ready.

The dinner period turned into a conversation about what Halicat might eat. Lucas thought chips and Sam thought cat food. After lunch, we sat down on the carpet. The children had put on their scarves and garments; at this point they were so proud of what they had made, they were no longer presents for Halicat, but something for them to show to him what they had achieved. When the security buzzer rang at the Nursery’s front door, Oliver made sure I carried out the safety checks, and all of the children were jumping with excitement.

Children playing with Halicat

It was funny how quiet and nervous the room become when Halicat walked in, but the shy silence was quickly broken by Lucas, who asked ‘Are you Halicat?’, and Halicat nodded.

The questions came on strong after that, and from Alex’s mum they learned that Halicat lives in Shay Stadium, and comes out when the rugby team are playing. This was a good cue for us to encourage the children to communicate about their experiences and family members. Thea said her dad plays rugby, Oliver said his dad was ‘really strong’ and Sam told us he had been downloading photos of Halicat to his dad’s mobile phone!
Halicat prompted another positive learning experience for Ruby. She asked if she could bring out her cat, a very special toy who goes everywhere with her. Ruby came back with her cat and explained confidently to Halicat and the entire group why her cat is different and the same. She told us about the differences in colour; hers is pink, but they both have black whiskers. She identified the size difference, and that Halicat had on big boots and her cat did not.

After a lot of discussion and cuddles, Halicat gave hi-fives to everyone and they all posed for a photo. He even did a little dance before returning home to Shay Stadium.

Posing for the camera.

The fun, holistic learning experience is still ongoing. The children have regularly revisited their photos of Halicat, and dress up with the different accessories they made. I often hear interesting conversation too as they play together, ‘put your scarf on, it’s rugby today’. What used to be a Chinese dragon has now been made into a ‘Hali-dragon’ by wrapping blue and white material around its head, on suggestion from the preschoolers.

Some children are now saying they will visit Halicat regularly on match days, which is exciting because it could be a new experience for the whole family. For those who aren’t going their not missing out, as Alex will give a regular update for us all. As he said: ‘I see him on Sundays, he’s my best friend!’

Clare Dean is an Early Years Professional at the Eureka! Nursery

An exciting start to 2011

2011-02-03T12:05:00.001Z

2011 has started here at Eureka!, and if the past month if anything to go by it's going to be a busy year.

We started the year with Wallace and Gromit Invention Sessions as part of our Winter 2011 Ingenious Inventions activities, and with a month to go it seems like our visitors are as excited about the sessions as we are.

Our new 2011 leaflets arrived. Have you seen them yet? We love the bright yellow colour, but more importantly, pick one up on your next visit so you know all about the big events for 2011.

In January we also officially launched a new exhibit, the Hydrogen Fuel Pump and the hydrogen fuel powered car in the Garage in the Living and Working Together gallery. The exhibit was supported by Air Products, who brought HydroJen, the hydrogen power ambassador to the launch. The Mayor of Halifax, representatives from Air Products and Eureka! and children on a school visit were all on hand for the launch.

HydroJen and children with the Hydrogen Fuel Pump

Although it wasn't a Eureka! event, we also hosted the Northern Rail Cup launch for Rugby League Football here at the museum in January. On a week day in January it is usually quiet in the museum, so it was quite exciting to have so many rugby players, coaches and journalists in and around Eureka!.

Now that February is here, we're in full swing getting ready for half-term. Some of our Enablers have been hard at work on the Emerald City Challenge, a Wizard of Oz themed obstacle course in the Eureka! Theatre that will be on during half-term. Others are hard at work practicing the different science tricks they'll be showing off around the museum, or getting ready to go into character as Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

February half term at Eureka! runs from Monday 21 - Friday 25 February when we are open from 10am - 5pm. Since many schools are getting out at different times this month, we are also open on Monday 14, 21 and 28 February, if you want to get playing!

Don't forget that the Wallace and Gromit Invention Sessions will be running every weekend until 28 February. If you have children over the age of 7, this is a great chance to get a hands-on mechanical project that the whole family can do together, using the exclusive kits inspired by the BBC series Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention and created by Aardman Animation!

Have you been out for an Invention Session or had a play with the hydrogen fuel pump yet?

A day of inventor’s training with Wallace and Gromit

2011-01-20T13:49:00.000Z

The BBC and Aardman Animations Ltd (the people who make Wallace and Gromit) came up with an idea for some ‘Invention Sessions’ based on one of Wallace’s own inventions, ‘the run-about steam chair’ shown in Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention to excite and inspire young inventors all over the country. After taking the sessions on the road to various shopping centres across the country they have now passed the baton on to a handful of science and discovery centres to continue what they began. Eureka! was chosen to be one of those centres – how exciting for us!

It was especially exciting for me and my colleague Jennie as we were the ones who got to go down to BBC television centre in London to meet Wallace and Gromit and learn all they had to teach us about delivering the sessions. Well, actually, we didn’t meet Wallace and Gromit but we did meet a very nice man called Nick who turned us all in to children and delivered a session especially for us. (Wallace and Gromit were looking on in the guise of giant cardboard cut outs).

It’s fun being a child; those of you who have read my blogs before will realise that it is a very easy transition for me. We explored a bit of science and technology, played an amusing game and made silly noises and generally got to know more about the run-about chair. It was fun! There were a dozen other people from places as far apart as At Bristol and W5 in Belfast. They were equally good at being children; it must be something about the job we do.

Later on we all had a go at building our own run-about chair, powered by a battery. The instructions are really clear but I still managed to put one piece on upside down; oops! It’s very easy to take put things right, tho’ so I soon had it working properly. I felt really proud of myself. Jennie also managed to build her chair successfully, as did all the other ‘children’.

Jill in London with her Runabout Steam Chair

After lunch we had a go at adapting the session to use at our own centres. Jennie and I thought of loads of things at Eureka! we could use as examples; even Archimedes and his bath.

It was a very long day; we had to catch the 6.30am train from Halifax and didn’t get back until 8.45pm. However, we both came back full of enthusiasm and ready to train up other enablers to bring the sessions to life.

The session are for children aged seven and above and every child that comes to one of the sessions will get a run-about chair kit to take home with them, courtesy of the BBC. They are limited edition and are sooooooo cool. I’m really looking forward to the sessions and especially giving out the kits at the end. It’s like being Santa - and it isn’t even Christmas!

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Ringing in the ‘Noon Year’

2011-01-13T12:17:00.000Z

Welcome to 2011! It’s a brand-spanking-shiny New Year that I’m sure is going to be full of all sorts of surprises and adventures!

So what were you doing on New Years Eve? I have no doubt that most of you went to some sort of party with all of your friends and families. If you’ve been to Eureka! before, and I’m sure that most of you have, you should know that us Enablers love nothing more than to have a good party, and for New Year’s eve 2010, that’s exactly what we did: we threw a party.

Now because Eureka! isn’t open at midnight for the ‘real’ New Year, we decided to call ours a ‘Noon’ Years Eve party, and celebrated at exactly 12 noon when Archimedes took his midday bath. We invited all of our friends to join in with the festivities and my word, did they come.

The Town Square in the Living and Working Together gallery was jam packed with boys, girls, mums, dads, and grandparents all waiting to welcome the New Year in. Both Enabler Gillian and I were leading the big countdown to 2011 and with the help of everyone who came along it went with a real bang! Hundreds of balloons fell from the balcony, children jumped on bubble wrap to imitate fireworks, and party poppers were fired. It was brilliant fun.

Enjoying a bubble wrap stomp!

But the fun didn’t stop there, oh no. Immediately following the celebrations in the Town Square, I was joined by Enabler Becky and we threw a disco in the theatre where all our visitors could make there very own funky New Years hats, let their hair down and have a good old boogie.

Now, you might not have been able to join us this year at Eureka!, but is there some special way that you celebrate the New Year?

If you did come down to join us, or if you had a party of your own, we hope that you had just as much fun as we did. So from all of us here at Eureka!: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ben Guilfoyle is an Outreach Enabler at Eureka! The National Children's Museum

A festive farce from Twinkle and Jingle

2010-12-17T11:54:00.000Z

It’s that time of year again when Santa’s Workshop sets up in the Eureka! Theatre. Inside our resident elves, Twinkle and Jingle, make the last few preparations before the big day. But (as always) something goes horribly wrong and the elves need a helping hand from some children in order to save Christmas.

This year’s play, 'Santa's Magical Toyshop' is not the first adventure that our elves have been involved in. Last year they found themselves in a similar mess for our 2009 Christmas show. I wrote last year’s show, and again volunteered to write the ‘difficult sequel’. I was determined to write a different script which contained new elements; it was important to me that the show was not the same as before and merely dressed differently. I also wanted to make sure that the 2010 play did not deviate too far from the framework we established the previous year as it proved very successful. As a result the activities the children (and adults) take part in during Santa’s Magical Toyshop are vastly different to last year but the dynamic interactions and banter between the two characters has remained constant.

Enablers turning the Theatre into Santa's Workshop!

The interactive quality of the show has been increased since last year, and requires many children from the audience to join the elves onstage and physically help them to complete their important jobs before Santa wakes up.

Where younger children will respond to the interaction of the performance, older children and adults will appreciate the humour in the guise of Twinkle and Jingle’s frantic dialogue. Jingle, the overworked and underpaid ‘line manager’ elf clashes with his docile yet kind-hearted worker, Twinkle. There are many one-liners within their interaction specifically aimed at an older audience that will amuse them while not confusing the young ones.

Writing for an interactive show differs in many ways to writing for the stage. A key difference is that you cannot be too narrow; that is, there must be room for the performers to improvise should anything go wrong including: the children not giving an expected answer or a toddler wandering onstage and starting to dismantle the set. The performers must be more fluid and be ready to change the contents of the show in response to the situations that occur, which is not possible if they have strict dialogue patterns or subtle punch-lines.

One of the main things that attract people to the show is, of course, the opportunity to meet Santa. All children can speak with Santa at the end of the show and get a photo with him should they wish. But the staging is beneficial for children who are intimidated by Santa as they have support, from all other children in the audience, a gentle introduction to him, and the choice to either go to see Santa up close or just watch him from afar. So due to way it is staged no children have to miss out on the Christmas experience.

It’s fantastic to see a project through to the end and due to everyone involved the finished production is hilarious, heart-warming and full of Christmas magic.

Ben Healey is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Sledging

2010-12-09T14:01:00.002Z

Wow, what a lot of snow! Can you believe it? And all before Christmas too!

If you’re anything like us here at Eureka! then I’m sure you’ve had a great time playing out in the snow on the days off from school and work. We might not have had a stretch of days off from work, but we did make time to go play in the snow. Across the Eureka! Park we made snow angels, threw loads of snow balls and, of course, went sledging.

Traditionally, people would use wooden sledges called toboggans, but these days you’re most likely to find sledges made of plastic. The great thing about sledging though is that anyone can do it, with almost anything! We didn’t have a sledge of our own, but all it took was some imagination and creativity to put together our own ‘sledging devices’ out of cardboard and plastic.

Now, if you ask me, I’m most likely to say the bigger the hill, the better the sledging. It’s just because I like to get the sledge going as fast as possible. For safety’s sake, make sure you should only sledge on a hill that you feel safe with, and before you start sledging take a look around. Can you see what is at the bottom? Are there any humps and bumps that might throw you off your sledge? It’s always good to make a thorough check. At Eureka! the hill we used had a nice, long slope, and we were able to go quite far and fast!

There’s a lot more to sledging that just sliding down by yourself. Why not take your grown-ups along for the ride? Or see if you can fit another person on your sledge. You might even try lying on your front and sledging, or if you have two sledges, racing against someone to the bottom to see who has the faster sledge.

There are so many different games you can play, and it’s completely up to you! So go on, get out there to play and discover as many different ways of sledging as you can. You might even show them off the next time you come to Eureka!.

And hey, if you don’t think that sledging is for you, then you can’t beat building a snow fort and having a good old snowball fight with your friends!

What’s your favourite way to have fun in the snow?

Ben Guifoyle is an Outreach Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Making a 'Big Give' for Eureka!

2010-12-02T10:57:00.001Z

As a charity, fundraising at Eureka! is always busy, as we develop and fund new outreach programmes for schools and the local community or raise money to improve the museum itself. But 2010 has been a particularly interesting and varied year, not least of which because we’ve been working to raise 2.9 million pounds!

The majority of our efforts this year have been spent fundraising for the new flagship gallery, Me and My World. Me and My World will be the reinvention of the existing Me and My Body Gallery, one of our most famous and beloved galleries. With the financial climate as it is currently it has been really difficult at times to make any headway, but now we are in a really good position, having raised £1.7m towards our final target of £2.9m. With the gallery set to be launched in 2012, we still have a long way to go, but the progress has been good.

Artist's conception of exhibits in Me and My World

Our most recent adventure in fundraising for Me and My World is something totally new for Eureka!. We have been selected to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. This is an online fundraising idea that aims to get our visitors and supporters donating online. All donations made between 6th December and 10th December will then be doubled. This felt incredibly daunting at first as we have not tried to fundraise in this way before and we were unsure how it would be received, so we have been working hard to make sure that we get it right.

First of all we had to secure a £5,000 pledge to act as some of the match funding. Eureka! is in the fortunate position that our Chair of Trustees wanted to make this pledge which made things much easier for us. We could then set about talking to other trustees and ex-trustees to seek their support during the fundraising week in December. This exercise was also successful and we have secured pledges to donate on the 6th December totalling £5,500!

Our next step will be to send out e-mails to all our visitors and business contacts to seek their support. It’s hard to gauge how much people will want to support our campaign, but we won’t know until we try. With Eureka!’s success as a visitor attraction many people will not recognise our role as an educational charity which makes it even harder to ask for support in reaching our £20,000 target.

We hope that everyone who has visited Eureka! (including me back in 1992 when I was ten with my brother Dan and my Auntie Carol) and had an amazing experience talking to Scoot, learning about Archimedes and most importantly playing in Marks and Spencer’s will see the value in making sure the museum is renewed and refreshed for the next generation of children.

The Big Give will be taking place from 10am on December 6th 2010 and donations will be doubled up until December 10th. You can donate by visiting the Eureka! Big Give website or learn more about what we have been up to on our website or by contacting the Fundraising Team.

Kate Goldring is the Fundraising Manager for Eureka! The National Children's Museum

Pirate Training Day

2010-11-25T12:00:00.001Z

Yargh! Shiver me timbers and hoist the main sail! Light the cannons and climb the rigging! I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if Eureka! didn't hold a plank walking shivaree of a corporate event.

As much as I’d like to, I’m not going to write this whole post in pirate style. I will however write about how I spent most of my day as a pirate at the beginning of November. And believe me, I enjoyed it very much.

On 1 November, Eureka! opened its doors to staff members from a local primary school, coming to take part in one of our fun-filled corporate team building days. This was the first corporate event I had done at Eureka!, and we were trying out a new piratical, shipwreck board game-style activity that I had been working on with our Business Development Manager. It was a completely new game, and I was a little bit nervous.

Team building here starts with a few ice-breakers, and it’s ‘getting to know you’ for everyone on the course and us Enablers who are helping out for the day. This group was big enough we could split them into two groups. One group, with Enabler Jennie, got to put their engineering heads on and try their hands a spot of car building. The second group came with me as I transformed myself into my pirating alter-ego, ‘The Captain’, complete with foam cutlass. Yargh!

As ‘The Captain’ I quickly put my ‘new recruits’ through an intense spot of pirate training to sort out the scurvy and the sea sick before the terrors of the seven seas! I can happily report that all new recruits successfully graduated the training camp and earned themselves a place aboard my ship, the ‘Slippery Eel’.

It was then time to put the new game to the test. The Slippery Eel had been hit and was sinking. With only one life raft, the ‘crew’ had to decide which items to rescue from the sinking ship and take with them to a desert island where they would have to survive until rescue. Each item had pros and cons, an amount of space it would take up in the life raft, and a certain point value that only I knew. When each team had decided what they would be taking with them, I gave them the point sheet, and whoever had the most points would win the game. Sounds complicated I know, but believe me its not, and it was incredibly fun, and quite a success. I then put their teamwork skills to the test by getting them to build a catapult to protect themselves whilst on the ‘desert island’.

Exploring the galleries on a corporate event!

After a quick swap round of groups and repeating the pirate games, the teams then took to exploring the galleries and answering questions about them in the ‘Gallery Challenge’.
For my first corporate event, I was really happy that the whole day was, in my opinion, a great success.

Ben Guilfoyle is an Outreach Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

For more information about corporate events and teambuilding at Eureka! please visit the Corporate Events section of our website.

From start to finish on the new Nursery play area

2010-11-18T11:59:00.000Z

Part of my role here at Eureka! as the Exhibition Manager is to manage projects around the museum. Over the past few months I have been working on the new outdoor play area for the Eureka! Nursery. It replaces the old play area in front of the 1855 Building, on the grass of the Eureka! Park.

While my role calls for me to design exhibits inside the gallery, for this project, we have been fortunate enough to be able to employ the skills of a landscape designer, who was able to help bring our concept for the Nursery play area, as a natural play area to life.

As my background is in design, I was able to work closely with the designer to ensure we got a design that fulfilled all of our requirements. In order to get to the stage of issuing a brief, there were several stages we needed to go through first of all!

Before we were even able to hire our landscape designer, we had to apply for planning permission. This is because the proposed site was adjacent to our 1855 grade three listed building. As project manager, I was responsible for submitting this application. It can take several months for a decision to be reached, but thankfully our application was successful and we were able to proceed.

Once our application had been granted I held internal meetings with the rest of the Eureka! team which included our Director of Play and Learning, and the Nursery Manager and communicated the project requirements to the designer. Before writing a brief for what we wanted to see in the play area, I went on research trips to visit other successful nursery play areas .

The brief had to include examples, to give the designer guidance on what we wanted to see. I produced some design sheets based on my findings, and other research I had done. It was also important that the brief recognised the practical considerations, such as fencing, entrance and exit gates to the play area and making sure it was sizeable enough to hold an entire group from the Nursery.

Based on our content, we gave a brief to the designer, who was then able to present several design concepts to us. We chose a final design picking bits that we liked from each design, which has resulted in the creation of a natural play area that we set out to achieve. The new play area will is very natural, using timber, sand and stone, in all sorts of colours, sizes and textures. A unique mosaic water feature encourages interaction, with children able to affect the water flow. A mini nature trail runs along one edge of the site, and come the Spring will be filled with different wild flowers, herbs and interesting shrubs like bamboo, and will encourage children to use all of their senses to explore their new outdoor habitat.

The design plan submitted for the Nursery play area

My favourite feature is the large, permanent timber story chair, which will be used for story time outside. I really like the idea of the new area having different uses, whether it is for play, exploration or story time.

Our designer then worked the concept drawings up into detailed plans, and, delivered them to a firm of contractors to start work on the play area. While I wasn’t laying sod or installing the tunnel, as project manager part of my job was to co ordinate deliveries and make sure things turned up on time! One of my main responsibilities was also to make sure that the site remained safe, as we want to ensure that even during construction, our visitors have a great experience at Eureka!.

It is always exciting seeing a project progress from start to completion. Project management is a challenging role, and at times quite stressful – especially when faced with adverse weather conditions. Despite this, I really enjoy my varied role here, as I get to meet and work with lots of different people, and no day is ever the same!

Amanda Phillips is the Exhibition Manager at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Walking the plank with Scurvy Sam

2010-11-04T12:04:00.000Z

Life as an Enabler is full of challenges, and not all of them from the children we work with! Take outreach: you might not know that almost every day during the term times, one of us is out giving a workshop or programme at local schools. One recent visit was to Leeds, with my partner in the day's workshop, Enabler Michelle, where we gave the ‘Scurvy Sam’ workshop at Ingram Road School.

It was a two-workshop day, and we had just arrived from Todmorden, no thanks to our GPS. After lunch, we found our reliable van would no longer lock! Off we went though, there was a workshop to deliver!

Thirty-five children, aged nine to 11 were waiting to experience Scurvy Sam, delivered by Dr Lind, the 18th century naval surgeon who actually discovered the cause of Scurvy and Captain Sam, feared and respected pirate of the high seas. (That’s still Michelle and I, by the way). The ‘Scurvy Sam’ outreach is funded by the ‘Big Lottery Awards for All’ who are keen to put out a positive message to children about health.

Our stage was a hessian-cloth covered table with a huge pirate flag for Dr. Lind to hide on when he’s not on deck with Captain Sam. We put out a large treasure chest, covered in fishing nets and assorted sea-life, for the Captain sits to tell her story. To really complete the shipboard experience, there were assorted lanterns, fishing baskets and the aforementioned anchor and lifebelt strewn around for extra atmosphere.

Enabler Tasha with a heap 'o pirate treasure

Once we were set up I went to change into my pirate outfit; shirt, jewellery, jacket, fancy headgear and a great pair of buckled black boots I’d recently purchased from a local charity shop – perfect for Captain Sam. I walked back into the hall and nearly slid straight onto my behind! Fancy high-heeled boots and shiny school hall floors are not a perfect combination!

To describe the workshop in a nutshell; Captain Sam and her crew have been coming down with some '’orrible bodily conditions' and need to get better in time for her wedding in a month. They have captured Dr. Lind, who believes they are suffering from the scurvy; among other things. The children’s task is to diagnose the pirate’s symptoms, find out which vitamins and/or minerals they are lacking and what foods they need to eat to get better. They then examine the pirate’s diet – looking at ‘Ye Olde Plate that tells you how to eat well’ and remembering what they discovered in their research. Having come to the conclusion that it is the pirate’s diet that is the cause of all their problems, they then devise a new diet that will cure all the pirate’s and keep them fit and healthy.

The whole thing is a rollickingly good adventure; with very active pirate training (climb the rigging, fire the cannon and man the lifeboats for example) and, of course, a bit of song and dance for everybody to join in with. We take Dr Lind’s clinical trials and put them to the tune of ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor’ – changing the words to:

What shall we do with a pirate sailor?(x3)
When he’s got the scurvy?

And the verses give the clinical trials and their results, e.g.

Gargle with sulphuric acid. (x3)
That just makes your throat sore!

(Incidentally, the real Dr. Lind is widely believed to have conducted the first ever clinical trials)

The song is accompanied by a hilarious pirate dance; which we knew would be a big hit because in training we were all practically crying with laughter when we learned it! The children did love it, and you’ll be pleased to know I did manage to stay on my feet, despite the fancy footwear!

Children getting 'hands on' at a Scurvy Sam workshop!

Near the end of the workshop the children, in four groups, had devised a day’s worth of food and drink from the range of food on offer.

Breakfast – corn flakes & milk, wholemeal toast with low fat spread and jam and fresh orange juice
Lunch       - baked potato & beans, crisps and cola
Dinner     - pasta Bolognese with salad and broccoli, water and a slice of cake
Snacks    - grapes, orange segments and carrot sticks

When we put the groups together they decided there was a bit too much sugar so the ‘lunch’ group immediately volunteered to change their cola for a strawberry smoothie. I thought overall it was a pretty successful menu.

The last part of the workshop involves us turning the children into a giant bar of chocolate … to show the relative percentages of sugar, fat, protein and flavourings contained in one! I do amuse myself sometimes imagining what a parent might think, when they ask their child what they did at school today, if they reply –

'I was turned into a bar of chocolate by a pirate and an 18th century naval surgeon!'

After all the clearing away we set off to the car park with all our props to see if the van was still there - thankfully it was. Our satnav was still acting up, and she finally gave up the ghost, but luckily, we knew where we were and had a straightforward journey back to Eureka!

As always, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, despite the technical problems.

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

How to make a Jack-o-lantern

2010-10-26T10:50:00.001+01:00

Grab your coats, scarves and hats because autumn is finally here. With the chilly weather comes Halloween, one of the spookiest nights of the year. On the 31st of October the graveyards will come alive and the little ghosts and ghouls will all be out getting their ‘haunt on’.

All across the country, boys and girls will be finding their capes, fangs, and broomsticks and taking part in lots of different Halloween based activities. Some people will have a spooky Halloween party, and others will go ‘trick or treating’ around their neighbourhood. But for us here at Eureka! there is one Halloween activity that we like best of all, with the spookiest fruit to be found: the pumpkin!

Now you might think the pumpkin is a vegetable, but because it has seeds inside of it, like other hard shelled squash it’s actually a fruit. You see it mostly around Halloween, and it can be used for many different things. Boil, bake, steam, roast, mash or even put it in a pie! And, the best part about the pumpkin is you can have a fun art project and also get in one of your ‘five-a-day’.

Here at Eureka! we love to have a good pumpkin carving, and making our very own ‘Jack-o-lanterns’. Although the first Jack-o-lanterns in Ireland were made with turnips and swedes, most are now made with pumpkins and making your own is both easy and lots of fun!

Here are some tips on how to make your very own Jack-o-lantern!

Please remember that all of the carving must be done by an adult, as the skin of a pumpkin is very tough.

Find yourself a really big pumpkin. You can find them in most supermarkets around Halloween.
Take your pumpkin home and give it a good wash.
Using a carving knife, or a pumpkin carving set, carve a ‘lid’ into the top of your pumpkin. Do not throw away the lid, as you will need it later!
Using your hands, scoop out all of the seeds and hollow out the inside of the pumpkin. Why not roast some of the seeds to see how they taste?
Use a black marker pen to draw your design on to the outside of your pumpkin.
When you have your design just right, carefully cut out the pattern to make the scary face.
Then place a small candle inside the pumpkin.
Get an adult to light the candle and place the lid back on top of the pumpkin.
Finally, place your pumpkin in a window looking out on to the street, and give everybody a fright!

Top tip: If you don’t want to carve the pumpkin you can also paint the outside with a scary face or decoration!

Enjoy your pumpkin carving and Happy Halloween!

Ben Guilfoyle is an Outreach Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

The Adventures of Captain Wheelio Bear

2010-10-01T13:00:00.001+01:00

Taking inspiration from the CBeebies show ‘Barnaby Bear’ several members of the Eureka! Enabler team created Eureka’s own version: ‘Captain Wheelio-Bear’. Wheelio is a small bear on wheels usually found in the Creativity Space Classroom; that is, when he’s not jet-setting off around the world of course!

Members of the Eureka! team take Wheelio with them whenever they go off on their own adventures, whether they’re gone long for a holiday or just taking Wheelio with them for a fun day out.

In the year that Wheelio has spent here at Eureka! he has: visited Snowdonia, Prague (where he wheeled across Charles Bridge), spent a Christmas at home with one of our Enablers, celebrated New Year’s 2009 in Disneyland Paris, taken a cruise from New York to Canada, and just this month he came back from a second American cruise. He is certainly a well travelled bear!

Wheelio Bear in Times Square!

In the Creativity Space Classroom at Eureka! he even has his own wall display called ‘The Adventures of Wheelio-Bear’, which shows our visitors all of Wheelio’s worldly adventures and some of his thoughts on where he has been.

This little bear has definitely captured the hearts of the Eureka! team, many of whom can be seen walking around the museum wheeling Wheelio behind them! He has also become a hit with many of our visitors, who often share in a cuddle with him whilst visiting in the Creativity Space.

Next time you’re visiting us at Eureka! please let us know if you’ve been out and seen Wheelio Bear. Here at the museum we love to hear about his adventures.

Penny Dargan is the Early Years Specialist Enabler at Eureka!

Early days with the Eureka! Team

2010-09-23T15:38:00.001+01:00

If you’re reading this, then I’m sure that you’ve been to Eureka!, but if you haven’t then let me tell you about how I’ve just started experiencing it as a new Enabler working in the museum.

Eureka! is an amazing place. I’ve never worked with a group of people who are so ludicrously happy. When I started at Eureka!, it was already August and the summer holidays were already in full swing. Just tonnes of families, including hundreds of children, would queue up every day to come and visit us in the museum.

Enjoying the sunshine on the E! Beach and Park this summer.

I’ll be honest, the energetic atmosphere that Eureka! has, has been slightly daunting. Even for me, having left university with a Performing Arts degree! I thought I’d be used to dealing with masses of people and upbeat environments. As awesome as everything looked, it was all totally alien to me. I really had thrown myself into the deep end! But in retrospect I guess there was no other way of doing it.

I’ll never forget the first day that I was introduced to Scoot, yes, Scoot the robot. The way he manages to engage with the children about all the things they have seen and done on their visits to Eureka! is truly fascinating. The children’s faces light up as he shares his knowledge of the world and answers their questions. He once told me that he had auditioned to be in Star Wars, but came to work at Eureka! after he had been beaten to the part by R2-D2.

It’s all a bit surreal. I mean, one minute I might be the manager of a bank or helping children talk to Scoot, the next I might be accompanying a giant gnome or playing parachute games in the Eureka! park.

At Eureka! we try and run lots of different workshops that will fuel the imagination and draw out the creativity of the children that visit us. Now, I have done a few of these workshops and activities and believe me I have loved doing them all, but for me, my favourite (so far) has got to be the Carnival workshop.

Wow! It was awesome fun! First, we learned all about carnivals, and learn how to march and chant to our very own carnival beat. Then we got messy making funky carnival hats and shakers! We followed that up by going on a carnival parade of our own around the Eureka! Town Square and onto the Wonder Walk.

As the newbie to the Eureka! Enabler team, I couldn’t really ask for more. Everyone is super friendly and very welcoming as a team. I’ve already done too many things to write about in one post, and I know that there are going to be many more experiences for me to write about in the future. Okay, so I’ve only been here over the summer and I’m not a Eureka! veteran just yet, but believe me, I’m getting there!

Ben Guilfoyle is an Outreach Enabler at Eureka! The National Children's Museum

Playing with science: summer educational shows at Eureka!

2010-09-16T12:13:00.002+01:00

With a successful summer just finished, I wanted to write a bit about the educational experiences we’ve provided schools during the summer term. It’s a time you might think is a bit more relaxing as everyone looks forward to the holidays, but here at Eureka! play and learning doesn’t stop. During the summer term, we offer schools the chance to experience science shows as part of an educational visit to the museum. Developed entirely in-house by our Learning Team, science shows are a great way of teaching scientific concepts to a large number of children in a fun and interesting way.

Feeling some forces during a science show.

Over the years we have developed a long list of interactive, drama-based workshops covering all areas of the curriculum, but the science show format with its ‘show and tell’ lecture presentation style marked a new venture for us when we embarked on our first show back in 2007 called ‘Splash!’ Aimed at Key Stages 1 and 2 this show looks at all things water related - where it comes from, some of its properties, fun things you can do with water and the importance of saving it.

Presented by our resident science duo Fizz and Flash, Splash! is a great show for a mixed age audience. Even though early KS1 pupils may not fully understand all of the concepts, they still find it visually stimulating and we’ve even performed the show in small rural schools where the audience age range has been from reception to Year 6! Highlights of the show include making water disappear, a water conservation version of Play Your Cards Right and the giant bubble finale where a lucky member of the audience gets to step into a giant bubble!

Fizz and Flash demonstrating the giant bubble in Town Square.

In 2008 we developed a new show based on forces called ‘Feel the Force’. Aimed at Key Stage 2, this time Fizz and Flash are joined by Ted the astronaut bear and explore the different types of forces, demonstrating what they are and why they are so important.

Forces can be a difficult topic to teach so this show aims to turn a relatively dull subject into a memorable learning experience with lots of hands-on demonstrations and audience participation.

The latest addition to our science show repertoire was developed in 2009. We wanted to write a show with a human body theme and felt that focusing on the digestive system would give us lots of interesting concepts to explore so we came up with ‘From the Chew to the Poo!’ for Key Stage 2 pupils.

This show follows the fascinating journey of a banana and peanut butter sandwich from the moment it is eaten to the moment it leaves the body as waste. Through a series of interactive activities children find out how saliva in the mouth breaks down food in order for it to be swallowed, how our bodies retain the vitamins and minerals our bodies need and more amusingly how it gets rid of what we don’t need.

This is definitely the yuckiest of our three shows and I’m sure our Enablers didn’t think they’d be making ‘poo’ on a daily basis when they came to work at Eureka! but it’s a topic that most kids find hugely fascinating and we get some fantastic comments and pictures from schools following their visit.

It’s definitely been a challenge writing and developing these three shows but thankfully they’ve all proved to be successful additions to our school’s programme. So much so that they also form part of our Outreach provision where schools can book for our Enablers to come and deliver a show in their school.

We’re developing a totally new show now for 2011 which will have a chemistry theme and probably lots of fizzes and bangs - hopefully though we won’t blow ourselves up in the process!

Jenny Parker is the Play and Learning Coordinator at Eureka! The National Children's Museum.

On ‘Tour’ with Mission: Active Future

2010-09-09T12:04:00.001+01:00

There’s so much to Enabler’s job, and not all of it is in the museum. Take last month. Along with two other Enablers, Sarah and Alistair, we were chosen to help bring Mission: Active Future out to Cross Flatts Park in Leeds as part of a Breeze on Tour event from 17 – 18 August. Thanks to funding from the Leeds Community Foundation, we ran eight free half hour sessions each day between 12 pm and 5 pm.

Mission: Active Future is a huge expanding trailer fitted out like a funky children’s gym, with activities such as steppers, bikes and rowing machines. The activities exercise the body and the brain, so there are computer games about health and fitness and tactile activities such as building up the bones and muscles of an arm.

At the start of each session we show the children a DVD from ‘Activ8’; a group of 8 cartoon children from the future. (The future is a bleak one with, among other things, overgrown tennis courts and football players unable to finish a game because they are so out of breath). The children are challenged to change that future by adopting a healthy lifestyle now – starting with the challenges on the trailer.

We help with a fun warm up, and explain all 15 exhibits before setting the children off on a circuit. They have a minute for each activity, so one of us is in charge of the stop watch and calling time. I like to add some variety, so I don’t just stick with ‘time to move on’. The sessions are short, so we leave enough time for the children to cool down and enter into a poster giveaway competition, which encourages the entire family to complete a further eight weeks of healthy activities.

Although Mission: Active Future is aimed at children from 6-11 years old we had some very cute 4 year old brothers and sisters joining in with some of the simpler activities – and one very enthusiastic have-a-go dad! It proved to be very popular with all the participants; we even had some of the children from the previous day having another go. It was summed up by one very polite little boy who came up to me afterwards and said: ‘Thank you miss; that was very fun’.

Once again though, we were multitasking. We arrived early Thursday morning to a lovely blue sky and friendly looking white clouds. After setting everything up, a photographer arrived. An enabler’s job is never short of variety; that morning we were going to be models in a photoshoot! It was a real giggle, posing for shots over the next hour. We applauded Mark, the driver from Marshalls, whose truck brought M:AF to Leeds. We leaned, tilted and above all, smiled, smiled smiled! I never realised that smiling could be such hard work, but to be fair there was a great deal of genuine laughter going around.

The Eureka! Team at Cross Flatts Park with Mission: Active Future

We left the park each day at about 5:45 pm, exhausted but with the feeling of a job well done. I know from feedback we’ve received from previous sessions, with both schools and general public, that Mission: Active Future and the Activ8 characters can have a really positive influence on children’s activity levels and, most important, in the words of one child, it’s VERY FUN! (And anything that gets children interested in a healthy lifestyle has to be good).

Overall it was an amazing event: the park was full of activities of all kinds. There were giant inflatables, including a ‘gladiators’ type course and an inflatable football pitch! There was paint balling, a climbing wall, a huge ‘Breeze has got talent’ marquee – and, of course, us.

I’m sure our Activ8 would like to see the kind of future envisioned by Thomas Edison when he said: ‘The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but instead will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease’.

Visit the Mission: Active Future website to find out more and to meet the Active8.

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum.

Who slayed our dragon?

2010-08-19T10:15:00.002+01:00

Sharp eyed visitors to Eureka! may have noticed something’s changed this week: our Chinese dragon, who guards the fire exit from Me and My Body has been beheaded!

Before you ask, security hasn’t detained any wandering St. Georges. Instead it’s an explanation that’s a bit less magical. He’s quite an old dragon, you see, who has been here since the museum opened. Just over 18 years of weather and wear have taken its toll and early last weekend the metal supports which held him up finally collapsed. His scales were removed and he was taken in state to a new resting place in our Loading Bay, where he is awaiting appraisal. You can see the damaged support below, 18 years of wear on the metal has made it very crumbly.

My what big teeth you have!

Until the dragon’s head returns, I thought I would share some fun facts about him.

The dragon was designed to cover the fire escape stairs that lead down from a balcony off of Me and My Body.
Our dragon doesn’t actually have a name; as a creature of imagination it’s only fair that we let you, the visitor, make him come alive for yourself.
Our dragon has been the inspiration for workshops and events for as long as the museum has been open: he’s seen Chinese lion and dragon dancers and has been the face of our ‘Dragon’s Mouth’ school workshops.
The dragon is now something of a celebrity. Even the Dragon's Den liked the idea of him and filmed him at the end of one of their roadtests. Maybe that's what went to his head!

Dragon & friends back in 1993 for the 'Dragon's Mouth' workshop

But you know, our dragon’s disappearance may have another explanation, especially since Eureka! is such a magical place. Being August, and a rather drought-filled one at that (in spite of weather appearing to the contrary!) it’s important to keep health and safety concerns in mind, especially when dealing with animals known for their flammable nature. So, with a few cosmetic repairs required already, we thought this was the perfect time to schedule our dragon’s annual maintenance for fire breathing capacity. After all, a healthy dragon is a happy dragon, and happy dragons aren’t naughty people-crispers.

Playing with a purpose for Playday 2010

2010-08-04T11:52:00.001+01:00

Today at Eureka! we are celebrating Playday, the national event where communities around the UK host events that champion and support children’s right to play. In the process of preparing for our events, I read the research released this week by Play England to support the 2010 Playday campaign.

Taking time out for some sandcastle building during last year's Playday!

Play England found there is a profound loss of community spirit in Britain, which in turn is leading to children no longer being able to play outside. I have to wonder what has led to this lack of togetherness, and is it really the only reason why children don’t play outdoors any more?

In 2005 I returned to the UK after four years of living and working abroad. Bringing a six-year-old and a one-year-old back to the UK I became acutely aware of the lack of children on our streets. I noticed the ever-growing perception that children are ‘in danger’ if out of the sight of a parent, and we experienced the lack of play provision in many areas.

As I have written before, the evidence to support our multiple fears is not there. There have not been increases in child abductions and murders, compared to 20 or 30 years back, but there has been an increase in media coverage.

Playday 2010’s campaign theme is ‘Our Place’. Play England’s research states almost half of adults surveyed think it’s unsafe for children to play without supervision. However when 73% of children want to play outside more where they live, isn’t it our role as adults to enable this play in our home environments rather than install fear? I believe it is up to us to take note of these facts and figures, and to support the reinvigoration of community spirit by positively reinforcing the value of play.

It’s also encouraging to learn that the new ministerial Childhood and Families Task Force, chaired by the Prime Minister, has made Playful communities one of its priority areas – this is great news and I look forward to reading their conclusions, which are expected at the end of the year.

Taking time out to play today is just one in a series of steps to change our communities for the better. For Playday, I will be around the museum getting messy, crafty and active. We’re celebrating the right of all children to play, will you?

Rebecca Johnson is Play and Learning Director for Eureka! The National Children's Museum.

Archie's First Bath

2010-07-09T12:59:00.001+01:00

Eureka! is turning 18 on 9 July 2010, and through the year we've been celebrating around the museum with our visitors, and revisiting memories behind-the-scenes.

The official opening of Eureka! was set to be a very exciting event, with all the supporters and members of the public ready to come through, and HRH Prince Charles, who had been key to getting the museum located in Halifax, arriving here just to open our doors. It was down to the wire though, with several of us Technicians staying well into the night putting the finishing touches on the paint job in ‘Me and My Body’.

It was all the extra security that gives me my strongest memory of the day. It started the night before when the museum was closed down so that the Prince’s security guards could do a full sweep. Closed down, except for us still painting in the galleries that is! They had dogs come through and sniff for explosives. The dogs were very thorough, one dog popped his nose in my paint can, but they didn’t find anything unless you count a snout full of paint.

I had one of the most important jobs on opening day: standing on the balcony, I watched for when the museum’s designer gestured up at the sculpture of Archimedes in his bath. As soon as all the guests looked up, I had to press a button from the balcony to give Archie (as he’s affectionately known here) his first bath.

As you might know, Archimedes is an important figure for Eureka!. He’s where we get our name, in fact. He’s set to a clock to take a bath every half hour during museum opening times, and he’s been doing so since 9 July 1992, give or take a few days off around Christmas. We hadn’t yet set him to the clock on opening day though, since we wanted to coordinate our inaugural show.

Archie arriving at Eureka! 18 years ago.

Everything went without a hitch, and the moment for the grand descent came. The designer pointed upwards, the crowd’s eyes followed, and I’m interrupted by a firm tap on the shoulder as one of Prince Charles’ bodyguards steps behind me, thinking perhaps that I’m there ready to detonate a bomb instead!

We showed him pretty quickly that it wasn’t the case; the only harm to anyone might be if Archie displaced a little too much water, and just as quick we lowered Archimedes into his bath and opened Eureka! for an entire generation of children to enjoy.

18 years and still cool as a cucumber!

‘Bazza’ Barraclough is a Technician at Eureka!. He has worked at Eureka! from before its opening and looks forward to receiving his gold watch soon!

Fire and children's play: a discussion

2010-06-18T13:40:00.009+01:00

Last week at Eureka! we hosted Yorkshire Play’s open meeting discussing ‘Playing with Fire’, after their DVD of the same name. We had an exciting programme of events, which included viewing the DVD, watching children from the Eureka! Nursery take part in a fire-based play activity and participated in a discussion about the risks and benefits of using fire as a part of children’s play.

Fire is a controversial subject. At the meeting it was agreed by all that making fires is a deep-seated need for many children. But it’s not clear what the best way is to fill that need while also balancing safety concerns for children and the people around them.

I believe that the best thing is to channel that need through exposure to the pleasures and risks of fire in a controlled manner, which is done in many play settings and uniform groups, enabling us to educate children about fire in an age-appropriate way.

We were lucky enough to have a break in the rain so that a group of children from the Nursery could demonstrate just how fire can be used in a play setting. Outside the museum, we watched as the children and Cindy, a PlayScape facilitator did a risk assessment of the area to make sure it was free of sticks and brush which could be set alight. They placed sand and stones to make a boundary that they all agreed not to step over unless they were invited, and they talked about being burned and what to do in case of an accident. Then, they were able to make a fire and cook marshmallows and toast; the only hiccups were when one of the children didn’t like bread!

Making toast over a campfire.

Clare Dean, Eureka! Nursery Early Years Professional, said the children got a good sense of the safety issues as well as seeing that fire can be fun, useful and not just dangerous.

We then spent an hour discussing some of the controversial issues surrounding fireplay, utilising the expert panel. The panel included a member of the Fire and Rescue Service, a child who engages in fireplay and practitioners/trainers who promote fire play. The differing viewpoints and the response from the audience has caused me to reflect. As a parent and a playful learning professional I am often torn about fire play, and in fact, many types of activities that we now consider to contain risk.

Research indicates that parents today are much more fearful and protective than they were 30 or 40 years ago. I want to let my children have the same freedom I experienced but I can’t help but worry. I know there is no evidence to support our fears, there are no increases in child abduction or child murders just more media coverage, and in fact there has been a 75% reduction of children killed on the roads between 1976 and 2006. Peter Cornell from RoSPA stated: 'We need to ask whether it is better for a child to break a wrist falling out of a tree, or to get a repetitive strain wrist injury at a young age from using a computer or video games console'.

When children spend time connecting with nature, getting dirty, getting cut by thorns, building fires they are learning important lessons for life and gaining a stong sense of safety outdoors. It is this knowledge that influenced my decision to be procative in providing experinces for my own children and their friends, I’m lucky enough to have a fire pit in my garden where I regulalry have groups of up to 10 children building and cooking on fires. They now have a clear understanding of the risks asssociated with fire, they have knowledge of what to use as kindling, what and when to add to make a good fire to cook on and the importance of using fallen wood so as not to interfere with the eco system. They also know not to leave the food on too long or else it get burned! When I see the kids in the school playground they always want to know when they can come again or recall stories from the evening before. I hope that, as well as the lessons learned, these are memories for life.

As a panel member, Kofi Johnson, 10 years old, was able to voice how important experience was for his learning and development. He said that he learns more about the health and safety aspects, and risks of using fire by doing and seeing, rather than being told.

The panel discussion touched on many different aspects of using fire in play, and sparked an active back and forth in the audience on topics such as:

•    Why does it appear to be more acceptable for uniform groups to use fire than it is for the play sector?

•    Is it the terminology we use in the play sector that influences people’s perspectives?

•    How do we encourage teachers to see the benefits of fireplay in schools?

We also learned some interesting facts about fire and its societal implications, which raised their own questions.

Peter Lamb, Hull City Council, reported that since the introduction of designated social gateway centres, places where fires are lit and youth and young people are allowed to gather around them, there has been a reduction in vandalism to play equipment.

Gayle Elvidge from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service commented that the number of deliberately set fires they are called out to are reducing year on year. Do you think this could be because more children are exposed to structured sessions?

It was a constructive session but many of the questions remain unanswered; we’d love to hear your point of view and look out for footage and audio of the debate online soon.

Rebecca Johnson is the Director of Play and Learning at Eureka!

Searching for a story (Part III)

2010-06-08T11:54:00.002+01:00

This is the last in our three-part storybook trail around the Eureka! galleries. You can also read Part I or Part II.

When Puffin Books released its handbook of the 70 best books for children, to celebrate their 70th anniversary of publishing children’s books this year, we were all excited in the Play and Learning department to see if our favourites had made it in. While I was looking through the list for The Tiger Who Came for Tea by Judith Kerr, I couldn’t believe how many different places at Eureka! reflected the different books.

With that in mind I’ve come up with a small trail that you can use to continue your learning after a visit to Eureka!—or use to get ready for a trip through the galleries!

This week we’re following the trail through Living and Working Together.

The Jolly Postman is by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. He follows his route through the neighbourhood, delivering the letters to all manner of fantastic fairy tale characters. Would you like to be a jolly postman? You’ll have to put on your post delivery clothes, and collect your packages from the post office. Once you’re ready there are so many places and people around the gallery waiting for their post!

Lauren Child’s retelling of The Princess and the Pea is our final place on the trail, and what better way to end a long day than in a nice comfy bedroom. Count the mattresses, are they enough for a picky princess? Do you think you could feel a single pea

To find out more (and download the list so you can read all of these books for yourself), visit Happy Birthday Puffin!

Jenny Goodall is the Bookings Administrator at Eureka!

Searching for a story (Part II)

2010-06-03T11:54:00.000+01:00

This is the second in our three-part storybook trail around the Eureka! galleries. Part I is available here.

When Puffin Books released its handbook of the 70 best books for children, to celebrate their 70th anniversary of publishing children’s books this year, we were all excited in the Play and Learning department to see if our favourites had made it in. While I was looking through the list for The Tiger Who Came for Tea by Judith Kerr, I couldn’t believe how many different places at Eureka! reflected the different books.

With that in mind I’ve come up with a small trail that you can use to continue your learning after a visit to Eureka!—or use to get ready for a trip through the galleries!

This week we’re following the trail through Our Global Garden and SoundGarden. We'll start in Our Global Garden where there are two whole floors to explore!

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? is by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carl, a famous children’s author in his own right. Martin and Carl’s polar bear hears all sorts of sounds during his day. Our polar bear is named Nanuq. Can you find him?

Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola series makes another appearance with Look After Your Planet. The book is all about recycling, one of the simplest ways that we can all make a difference in taking care of our world. Wander through the gallery, can you find a recycling centre?

SoundGarden is one of our special galleries for under-fives where they can discover and learn at their own pace in a vivid and warm environment.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl is a classic book that introduces younger children to the world of reading in much the same way through its gentle and vibrant illustrations. In SoundGarden it’s easy to experience life from a caterpillar’s point of view. Look around and find the butterflies, there's even one you can paint! If you were a very hungry caterpillar, what kind of butterfly would you be when you grew up?

Next time I’ll finish the trail with Living and Working Together, but don't forget you can still read Part I!

To find out more (and download the list so you can read all of these books for yourself), visit Happy Birthday Puffin!.

Jenny Goodall is the Bookings Administrator at Eureka!

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen

2010-05-28T11:32:00.002+01:00

This weekend kicks off our half-term Pirates Ahoy adventure. We’ve put together a whole slew of high-seas hijinks for our visitors; Pirate Training School with sing-along sea shanteys, a treasure map through the galleries and my favourite, a galleon play structure that will be ‘run aground’ outside on the Eureka! Beach for the young buccaneers to explore.

Of course, before we can set sail, we need to hoist the sails. At Eureka! that’s where our team of Technicians come in. While here in Marketing, or in Learning and Education, we’re great about coming up with the ideas and programming that makes a visit to Eureka! magical, without our ‘techies’ keeping the museum at ship-shape, we’d be lost.

And the galleon was no exception. Here’s a sneak peek while we do our health and safety checks and get it ready to set sail in the wild, wild world.

In the Loading Bay 'dockyards'.

The jolly boat ‘Eureka!’ ready for her maiden voyage.

Without our 'techies', we might have had to settle for something less ambitious!

Allison Tara Sundaram is the Marketing and PR Officer for Eureka! Her pirate name is Red Mary Bonney (what’s yours?).

Searching for a story (Part I)

2010-05-25T12:51:00.001+01:00

When Puffin Books released its handbook containing the 70 best books for children, to celebrate their 70th anniversary of publishing children’s books this year, we were all excited in the Play and Learning department to see if our favourites had made it in. While I was looking through the list for The Tiger Who Came for Tea by Judith Kerr, I couldn’t believe how many different places at Eureka! reflected the different books.

With that in mind I’ve come up with a small trail that you can use to continue your learning after a visit to Eureka!—or use to get ready for a trip through the galleries!

I’ll start with Me & My Body:

Janet and Allan Ahlberg wrote Funny Bones to introduce you to your skeleton. Why not see it up close and personal?

The Charlie and Lola series book, My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out by Lauren Child is all about baby teeth and the tooth fairy. If you want to play with a wobbly tooth (guaranteed to wobble and wobble and not ever never fall out), the Eureka! mouth is a good choice if your grown-up teeth haven’t come yet.

In Part II we’ll be looking at Our Global Garden and SoundGarden, and in Part III we’ll finish with Living and Working Together!

To find out more (and download the list so you can read all of these books for yourself), visit Happy Birthday Puffin.

Jenny Goodall is the Bookings Administrator at Eureka!

This is the way we brush our teeth

2010-05-18T12:45:00.001+01:00

How do you take care of your mouth? It might be avoiding eating lots of sugary foods and drinks, flossing every day, visiting the dentist, or brushing your teeth after meals. Most of us use a toothbrush to take care of our mouths. In other cultures throughout history they have used cleaning twigs made from plants like neem or cinnamon or even porcupine quills. Some cultures use chalk or bicarbonate of soda to make their mouths clean and their smiles bright.

And how do we take care of Eureka!’s very big Mouth in Me and My Body?

We use paint of course.*

Just another day at the museum.

*We would not otherwise recommend the use of paint to achieve a healthy smile, but it’s very hard to source a large enough tube of toothpaste for a six-foot-tall mouth.

Allison Tara Sundaram is the Marketing and PR Officer at Eureka!

And the winner is...

2010-05-05T10:01:00.002+01:00

It’s tough running an election, even if it isn’t on the same scale as oh, an imminent General Election. When we decided to declare Eureka! an independent ‘State of Play’ micronation as part of our 18th birthday celebrations, we knew we needed to take it seriously and give children the chance to vote and express how they want future leaders to shape the world. After all, play is serious work at Eureka!.

Now that we’ve closed our polls and tallied the votes to find the leader for the Eureka! independent ‘State of Play’ I’m feeling sympathetic for the poll workers who will be busy all day (and well into the night) this week—and I only had to count about 250 ballots. With the results in, the clear winner was Scoot, though with 43% of the votes it wasn’t a landslide. Orby came second with 34% and Gordon the Gnome had a strong third with 21% of the vote.

It wasn’t hard to decide which characters at Eureka! would stand as candidates. Orby helps everyone who visits the SoundSpace gallery to expand their senses. Gordon the Gnome helps children learn about the importance of green spaces everywhere in Our Global Garden. And Scoot? He’s one of our best-loved characters and one of the first places children go when they visit Me & My Body. He’s also quite the chatterbox, and while I know there was no electioneering, I’m sure all his visitors were reminded to vote.

We also made sure that our voters could express their opinions with their ballot. We asked them 'what would be the first thing you would change about the place you live in' if they were in charge. Reading the responses, and accompanying illustrations, was the best part of the whole process for me! Many children were concerned about the environment: they wanted an end to pollution, more recycling, and more places to play ('like Eureka' as one nine-year-old said).

There were two office favourites here in the offices. The first was from a four-year-old named Daniel. He wrote: 'I would have a magic wand and make bad people disappear and I would make chickens look lovely by putting bows in their feathers. I would make it summertime all year to enjoy the flowers.'

The second, from Polly, age 4, is this picture:

The past few years have seen quite a few elections with historic or notable results around the world. Our election may not be quite so historic, but it’s great for children to have a playful learning opportunity closer to home. If you’re interested in further exploring the electoral process and upcoming election with your child, here are a few websites we’ve found useful.

United Kingdom Parliament: General Elections Explained (PDF)
CBBC Newsround: General Election special
BBC Teacher’s Notes: Democracy

Allison Tara Sundaram is the Marketing & PR Officer at Eureka!

Bringing Reggio Emelia to Eureka! Early Years

2010-04-27T16:28:00.023+01:00

Eureka! is hosting Early Years Week from Tuesday 11 May to Friday 14 May. More information can be found on our Early Years section of the website.

As the Early Years Specialist Enabler at Eureka! I am always looking for new ways to strengthen our Early Years offerings in the nursery and museum. Last May, I experienced one of the big benefits of my position, when I had an amazing opportunity to visit and share our best practices with a bilingual school in Monza, Italy: ‘Play English’.

Pictures in the Play English atelier (Art Studio), May 2009

My visit to Play English was part of a two-year exchange programme the school had with the Eureka! Nursery. The Play English ethos draws heavily on the HighScope and Reggio Emelia philosophies. While I understood the philosophy, I wasn’t clear how the two approaches and the Early Years Foundation Stage would work together. That was where Play English came to my aid. Play English promotes a mode of learning that allows the child the freedom and independence to discover their own types of learning within a structured theme. Giving children this independence and the choice to learn in a comfortable and familiar manner has been seen to increase their confidence and improve life long learning.

‘Play English’ have a full time Art Specialist called the ‘Atelierista’, who works with small groups of children both in the classroom and in the art studio called the ‘Atelier’ where she develops and extends the children’s creativity as a language of expression. I spent time with the schools ‘Atelierista’ observing her sessions with children, her planning and had the opportunity to discuss her philosophies.

Working with the ‘Atelierista’ I discovered that children can have freedom of self discovery within a themed programme. I used this knowledge to design a programme for the Eureka! Nursery children. It was a huge success and inspired me to roll it out to a larger audience, so I developed the idea into this year’s Early Years Week programme ‘Light & Shadow’.

Light & Shadow allows children to explore the world of 2 and 3 dimensional objects and to see how light affects the world around them, developing their curiosity of cause and effect. During the week children will have the opportunity to explore with torches in the dark crevices of the Desert Discovery Gallery; there will be large sheets with images and shadows projected on them in various places in the museum. Children will be able to look at their own shadows created through natural light on the balcony and much, much more. With the use of both natural and artificial light they can discover the effects created and by using their own investigation techniques they can explore form, colour, density, pattern and shape, through both natural and artificial objects.

One important aspect that I took with me from my experience, is the way to help children with their own personal development through investigation, experiment, and problem solving. I believe that the concept of child-led play with open ended outcomes is essential to the personal learning development of children.

It is this freedom to let children be creative without set directions and instructions that allows the development of independence, control, confidence, and the ability to learn by their own mistakes and successes

Penny Dargan is an Early Years Specialist Enabler at Eureka!

Never too late for play time

2010-04-07T11:39:00.001+01:00

Just before Easter holidays started at Eureka! one of our local schools visited with their 7–11 year-old (Key Stage 2) pupils. They were from a village school in Cheshire so it was a smaller group, with only about thirty children in total.

Children pretend to be cashiers and customers
in the Bank, Sept. 2009.

Once inside the museum, it was hard to move the children on from the Town Square! They were having a whale of a time dressing up as postal workers and delivering parcels to the bank, the shop, the garage and the ‘Dig’, our miniature archaeological site. They went shopping, worked the tills and even stacked shelves in the miniature Marks and Spencers. At the bank some kids filled out withdrawal forms, handing them over to classmates in cashiers’ jackets, who then had to decide whether or not to give them a PIN. There were several keen mechanics in the garage, while the petrol pump attendants also worked very hard at their own jobs.

As we watched the children thoroughly enjoy themselves—and helped them use their Eureka! cash cards in our very special cash machine so that they could collect Eureka! bank notes with characters such as Scoot the Robot or Orby the Alien incorporated in the design —we had a chance to talk with the four teachers chaperoning the class. They said that, after observing the children’s obvious enthusiasm, they had made an unanimous decision to re-introduce role playing into their school’s Key Stage 2 curriculum.

This is exactly the reason I love working at Eureka! I believe 100% in our ‘learning through play’ philosophy and it always delights me when our ideas are taken up by other education professionals. I know, as does any parent, that all children are full of curiosity from the moment they are born and take enormous pleasure from learning. They begin questioning almost as soon as they can talk. Learning is fun – and good teachers, both formal and informal, should be doing their best to keep it that way. I’m extremely happy that at least one set of Key Stage 2 children will be finding that some of the fun they experienced here will be following them back to school.

Jill Ward is an Enabler at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum

Play is good for babies

2010-02-18T17:41:00.001Z

This week we learnt of the importance of play for babies. Sue Palmer explained in the Guardian that children need to play and to interact with other people in their early years and called for a campaign to raise awareness of these needs.

Of course children under five learn through play - it's their way of exploring the world around them. Here at Eureka! we encourage children to play right from birth and we offer many different experiences and learning opportunities that are linked to the early learning goals of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Our two galleries dedicated for the under fives offer all sorts of challenging opportunities for supported and spontaneous play. And both SoundGarden and Desert Discovery give parents lots of opportunties to engage with their children and help them progress in their learning.

The multi-sensory nature of both galleries make them accessible for children at all levels. Whether by watching in shy awe, listening with great interest, taking small risks, playing alone or playing together, they let children explore at their own pace, helping them to become competent learners, skilful communicators and overall healthy, happy kids.

Play and the museum

2010-02-10T12:57:00.004Z

The one indisputable fact about play is that it transcends time, geography and culture – children everywhere play and have played since the beginning of time. Children literally can’t stop themselves from playing because it’s as natural as eating and sleeping, and equally essential to healthy growth and development. But unlike eating and sleeping, play is the one thing that children like to do without encouragement from adults. In fact, research shows that children play even when it’s actively discouraged by adults.

But when it comes to museums, play is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Although things have certainly moved on, especially with Kids in Museums, there still exist many museums where children are not very welcome, and where they are the admonishments to be quiet and not to touch anything are, unfortunately, the memories they take away with them.

Of course children’s museums turn the world upside down in this respect and encourage lots of active, noisy engagement where playing and touching is absolutely required. More than anything else, it is the emphasis on play and the application of relevant academic theories of learning and child development (Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, Gardner), and methodologies of play-based learning that sets Eureka! and all children’s museums apart from other, more traditional museum approaches to children.

When children play they learn as well as have fun; they experiment, collaborate, test ideas, communicate and express their thoughts. And because they enjoy themselves, they are far more likely to remember what they’re learning. When children come to Eureka! they come to play. Their families and teachers bring them to Eureka! because they know that they will learn while they play – everyone is happy! At the end of any visit, children have had a fun day out without it feeling like “learning”. Parents and grandparents leave satisfied that they have done something “productive” for their offspring and not wasted away an afternoon in mindless activity. And teachers are confident that the curriculum links have helped them move forward to meet their targets.

Another important distinction from the traditional museum, of course, is that children’s museums do not have a collection and therefore do not attempt to exhibit or interpret objects of any description. Children’s museums were originally an offshoot from traditional museums, beginning with the Brooklyn Children’s Museum which opened in 1899. Over time, and most notably initiated by the work of Michael Spock at the Boston Children’s Museum in the 1960s, the principles of hands-on interactive exhibits and active, participative, discovery-based learning gained favour and the collection faded into the background and a new play-based approach to children’s learning evolved. This has defined children’s museums ever since and resulted in their growth as a worldwide phenomenon.

So, without the need to display and interpret, to use objects as the focal point, children's museums are free to explore childhood and to create learning opportunities for children from an unlimited range of perspectives and disciplines. We are able to put the child at the centre, giving them choice and control over their play and creativity and fostering independence, self-confidence, self-esteem.

This post is taken from a recent talk given by Eureka! CEO, Leigh-Anne Stradeski at the Rethinking Children/Childhood in the 21st Century on 4-5 February 2010 at Birkbeck University London. To hear more, listen to the talk and view presenation slides

Things you never knew about Eureka!

2010-02-03T11:38:00.004Z

We're getting ready to celebrate Eureka!'s 18th birthday later this year and are planning a number of exciting events and initiatives throughout 2010, including this month, the introduction of a new style admission ticket offering unlimited family fun for 12 whole months.

So, now seems a good time to share with you some unknown facts about the museum that may surprise you.

The word ‘Eureka!’ comes from the phrase coined by Archimedes, an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician. He famously cried ‘Eureka!’ - meaning 'I’ve got it!' - while making an important scientific discovery as he took a bath. The moment has been re-enacted at Eureka! every half hour since the museum opened, meaning that Archimedes has now taken a staggering 95,058 baths!
Since the museum opened in 1992, Eureka!’s dedicated staff have thrown over 2,000 birthday parties and delivered over 32,000 workshops to school groups.
Eureka!’s largest exhibit is…Eureka! itself! The inside of the building and all its working parts were left visible when it was first built, so that children can see exactly how modern buildings are put together.
Celebrities who’ve been spotted at Eureka! include Peter Kay, Jane Horrocks, Matthew Kelly, Lenny Henry, 80s Pop Legend Chesney Hawkes, former Prime Minister John Major and a host of soap stars including Emmerdale’s Zoe Tate and Mandy Dingle, and Coronation Street’s Martin Platt.
The path to Eureka! is a yellow brick road made up of hundreds of individual yellow bricks, many donated by local construction community Marshalls and the remainder sponsored by individuals and businesses in the local community.
The most photographed exhibit in Eureka! is the giant mouth in the Me & My Body gallery. A whole group of children can pose on its tongue at one time!
In January 1995, 36 children from Burtonwood County Primary School spent the night in the museum with their teacher and Eureka! staff after becoming snowed in during a class trip.
Eureka!’s Our Global Garden gallery introduced the world to the character Gordon the Garden Gnome, voiced by Alan Titchmarsh - who later found fame on CBeebies.
Eureka! sits on its very own ‘Discovery Road’, a name chosen by Eureka! staff to reflect the exciting experiences which lay at the end of it.
One of Eureka!’s exhibits, a digital world population counter, now stands at an estimated 7.08 BILLION people - meaning more than 25 million people have been born since the museum opened in 1992.

And on a more serious note…….

Eureka! is an educational charity so all our work is about making a positive contribution to children’s lives.
A 10-member Children’s Advisory Board, ‘Ideas United’ has input into all new galleries and programmes developed by Eureka!. This approach of consulting children who are seen as the ‘real experts’ has generated national interest and has been adopted by many other organisations around the world.
Over 100,000 children from disadvantaged communities have been able to experience Eureka! at no cost to themselves or their schools, through funding and initiatives set up by the charity.
All children in care visit Eureka! for free and all Calderdale schools visit Eureka! at half price.

Make time for a story

2010-01-29T09:34:00.002Z

On the eve of National Storytelling Week I thought I'd tell you about some of the storytelling we get up to at Eureka!.

Although we use traditional and well-loved stories a lot of the time, (my favourite being ‘The Gruffalo’), we also tell a different kind of story; a story without a book. I love this kind of story as it allows me, as the storyteller, to really become part of the story. The basic story is the same but every narrator tells it in his or her own way.

‘The glow-worm who couldn’t glow’ written by Ben Healy, one of the enablers here, is based around a set consisting of a tree, some grass, some rocks, a few flowerpots and a watering can. I was amused the other week, when I came to tell the story, by the reaction of one young boy. I had previously delivered a science busking session, which he had obviously attended. Apparently not being familiar with the concept of multi-tasking, he enquired of me in a voice filled with equal amounts of suspicion and confusion “Is this ‘a story’ or is it … ‘an experiment’?” (I still wonder what experiment he thought those particular pieces of equipment might have been used for!)

Children of all ages love the story of little babyglow, who can’t go to a party until she learns to glow and sets out to find the wise old millipede to find out how. She meets many friends along the way – and a very mean earthworm! The story has a nice moral (that friends make you happy and that if you’re mean you end up having no fun) but it is also filled with lots of little nuggets of information. Take the following extract for example:

Babyglow has got stuck in a spider’s web and the spider appears and asks in a menacing voice...

SPIDER: Are you my dinner?

BABYGLOW: Ooh! I hope not!

SPIDER: Well, let’s find out; do you have big boogly eyes?

BABYGLOW: No, my eyes are quite small.

SPIDER: Well, do you have 6 spindly little legs?

BABYGLOW: No, I don’t have any legs.

SPIDER: Do you have wings?

BABYGLOW: No, no wings at all.

SPIDER: Then you’re not my dinner, you’re not a fly.

BABYGLOW: Do you only eat flies?

SPIDER: Yes, lovely crunchy flies – but spiders are a bit short sighted so I couldn’t tell what you were.

So, that tiny extract tells us that spiders eat flies and are quite short sighted and also gives some of the typical characteristics of a fly. It’s surprising how much children can learn without realising, just by listening to a story. I think storytelling can be a great educational tool. I leave you with words credited to a Native American proverb:

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”

What stories do you like to tell your kids? Or what are your favourite stories from childhood?

Jill Ward is in the Front of House team at Eureka!

An alternative to despair

2010-01-22T12:52:00.002Z

During times of crisis we are reminded of the important and serious role play has in people's lives.

As people in Haiti recover from the recent earthquake, stories are emerging of the techniques used by survivors to assuage the panic and anguish they felt as they waited to be rescued. We found this moving article about a survivor who used his imagination to take him to a violin concert where he was the lead musician.

And Plan UK, a child-centred community development organisation, is working in Haiti right now, to give children valuable play opportunities, helping them gain a sense of normality among the chaos.

As Stuart Brown M.D., a contemporary American psychiatrist says

"Play allows us to develop alternatives to violence and despair; it helps us learn perseverance and gain optimism."

Image from Plan UK

Do adults really play?

2010-01-20T12:13:00.000Z

Last week Eureka! bore a striking resemblance to the Marie Celeste! The snow and ice kept most visitors safely in their homes and only a few intrepid souls turned up; there were times when the galleries were completely empty. I looked out at the snowy landscape and my attention was grabbed by a sight that proved that at least someone was having fun in the snow. There were two of them, running around throwing snowballs at each other and then they lay down in the snow and made ‘snow angels’. That’s the great thing about working at a children’s museum – children are so good at throwing themselves completely into play at any time. The even better thing is that you don’t need to be a child – the two people I was watching were both Eureka! staff.

I remember attending a training session where a play specialist made the statement that adults “don’t really play”. My immediate thought was “come and spend a bit of time here and see if you still believe that”. My opinion was reinforced a bit later when we were sent off into the galleries to do ‘a task’. It was night time so there were lots of dark nooks and crannies around. I can’t remember exactly what the task was but I do remember lots of laughter as the irresistible opportunity to hide and jump out at people was taken up by many of us non-children. In the words of Garry Landreth:

“Play is a fun, enjoyable activity that elevates our spirits and brightens our outlook on life. It expands self-expression, self-knowledge, self-actualization and self-efficacy. Play relieves feelings of stress and boredom, connects us to people in a positive way, stimulates creative thinking and exploration, regulates our emotions, and boosts our ego”

When I read that I realise that the staff here that interact with the children are lucky, as we are given lots of opportunity to play (most mornings we start the day with a game – even before any visitors arrive). So, in conclusion, it seems clear to me that not only can adults play but, in my opinion, they should. To come back to that quote from GB Shaw; which is displayed in our entrance foyer:

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

What is family friendly?

2010-01-18T12:40:00.005Z

We were really pleased to be recommended as a great example of a family day out at the launch of the 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto in London last week by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Talking at the launch on Friday 15 January, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: “Museums play a vital role in bringing learning to life for young people and Eureka! is a great example. All families, whatever their shape or size, should be able to enjoy the magic of museums and galleries together. Museums have come a long way to become as family friendly as possible, and Eureka!, displaying the world from a child’s perspective, shows just how to do it.”

Kids in Museums is an independent children’s charity which, over the last seven years, has brought together the opinions of parents and families to lobby the museum industry. Their manifesto asks museums to make a number of changes including displaying exhibits at heights accessible to children, becoming more interactive and hands on and providing activities for all the family to do together – things that we all know Eureka! has been doing since opening in 1992.

Have a read of their latest manifesto. Have they missed anything? What do you think museums should consider when catering for families and children?

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcsfgovuk/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T12:41:00.002Z

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a cold and snowy start to 2010 with lots of opportunities for outdoor play - we hope you're enjoying it! Members of staff at Eureka! have certainly been enjoying the snow, despite the disruptions; the image above shows Liz putting the finishing touches to a snowman.

How have you been playing in the snow?

To start the year here's a very seasonal poem about play in the snow by Winifred C. Marshall...

Little January

Tapped at my door today.

And said, "Put on your winter wraps,

And come outdoors to play."

Little January

Is always full of fun;

Today we coasted down the hill,

Until the set of sun.

Little January

Will stay a month with me

And we will have such jolly times-

Just come along and see.

Don't grow up to be an eggplant!

2009-12-23T11:06:00.000Z

Imagination is a wonderful thing and children have an almost unending capacity for using theirs, especially at this time of year. The following quote by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Language of the Night) is, thankfully, very true.

“I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”

In all my years working at Eureka! I am happy to report that I have never met a child who was destined to become an eggplant!

Some of the most heart warming and incredibly entertaining moments I have experienced at Eureka! have been when I have been sat in a darkened corridor providing ears and a voice for a talking dustbin. Talking to Scoot the Robot can be a magical experience for a child and one that they will remember forever. Sometimes it will bring them back to Eureka! again and again to renew their acquaintance with their robot friend. For the tiny tots Scoot is as real to them as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. As they grow and learn more about the world they begin to question and challenge Scoot.

Child: "You’re not real."

Scoot: "I am. You’re not imagining me. I’m right in front of you."

Child: "There’s somebody talking for you."

Scoot: "That’s a worrying thought. Is there somebody talking for you?"

Child: "No, I’m talking myself."

Scoot: "Can’t I talk for myself?"

Child: "No – somebody has to talk for you."

Scoot: "Golly, I’m glad they’re there to help me then; I love talking; I’m a bit of a chatterbox."

The conversation continues with the child happily chatting to a metal dustbin that they have established is not a real robot. Even the children who discover Scoot’s secret, once the problem is solved, will continue to chat to Scoot as before. Does that mean they are stupid? Certainly not; they are using their imaginations and, in the words of George Scialabba:

“Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.”

There are many children who consider Scoot a friend and thoroughly enjoy telling him their latest news and discovering things about a robot’s life. Robots don’t have families; that’s why they enjoy making new friends so much. Robots are made of metal so they don’t like the rain as it can make them go rusty. Robots don’t grow so it’s very difficult to guess how old they are. (Scoot was ‘born’ on the same day as Eureka!, 9 July 1992).

I finish with a final quote from Theodore Geisel; which explains why even I believe in Scoot the Robot – and is yet another reason I love my job.

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”

Jill Ward is an Enabler in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Play and make good cheer

2009-12-18T12:30:00.001Z

This is our last quote before Christmas so a festive saying is in order today. Thomas Tusser (1524-1580), a sixteenth century farmer and poet is known for an instructional poem entitled Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. As well as the well-known quote below, he is credited with coining the much-repeated proverb, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

"At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year."

Have a read of this article by Idler Tom Hodgkinson whose fantasy Christmas involves lots of time for play and possibly resembles the kind of holiday that Thomas Tusser would have recognised!

What games will you be playing with your family this holiday?

Children say the funniest things part 2

2009-12-16T09:36:00.000Z

Anyone who has ever interacted with children has undoubtedly been moved to tears of laughter at the things they say. As we've noticed here at Eureka!, children do say the funniest things!

This year's ‘Santa’s Magical Toyshop’, a special workshop just for Early Years groups has been no exception. ‘Santa’s Magical Toyshop’ is about two mischievous elves (Twinkle and Jingle) who have not got very far through Santa’s job list and so need the children’s help to complete the festive tasks before Santa’s returns.

Many of the Enablers at Eureka!, myself included, have been caught out laughing at some of the responses children give to Santa and his Elves alike. One such response was from a little boy who, when Santa asked ‘who would like a present?’, innocently declared:

“I’ve already got a present from a different Santa I saw last week!”

In another workshop Santa, on returning from his annual holidays with Mrs Clause, was met with the cries of one child shouting:

“…but where’s Mrs Clause gone?”

On leaving one particular workshop one child stated, whilst wagging his finger:

“Twinkle…you have been very mischievous today…you’ve got to be good”.

Such heart warming comments as these remind us all why we have chosen to work with children. Merry Christmas everyone!

Penny Dargan is in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Changing play

2009-12-11T14:35:00.004Z

This week we read an article from the BBC website about how children's freedom to play has sadly declined over the last 50 years due to a number of factors including stranger danger, changes in architectural design and the increase in cars on the roads.

We were reminded of this quote from contemporary American psychiatrist Stuart Brown, M.D. who says:

"Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for humor."

The accompanying TV series Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play is available on BBC iPlayer

A Good Play

2009-12-09T09:46:00.013Z

A Good Play

We built a ship upon the stairs
All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
And filled it full of sofa pillows
To go a-sailing on the billows.

We took a saw and several nails,
And water in the nursery pails;
And Tom said, “Let us also take
An apple and a slice of cake;”
Which was enough for Tom and me
To go a-sailing on, till tea.

We sailed along for days and days,

And had the very best of plays;

But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,

So there was no one left but me.

This poem by writer Robert Louis Stevenson, known for writing the children’s story Treasure Island, shows just how imaginative children are and how they can often entertain themselves for endless amounts of time using nothing but simple household objects.

As a young child I can clearly remember spending many a wet day creating dens out of duvets and chairs with my younger sister and then holding tea parties in our new creation!

Learning through play with Walt Disney

2009-12-04T13:19:00.001Z

We turn to Mickey Mouse creator, Walt Disney (1901-1966) today, who was born on 5 December 108 years ago. This quote embodies everything that Eureka! aims to be with its learning through play philosophy...

"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something, than educate people and hope they were entertained."

Dirt can be good for children

2009-12-02T11:44:00.002Z

‘Children should be allowed to get dirty’ according to scientists who have found being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal, reported recently in this article from the BBC

It goes on to say that researchers from the School of Medicine in California believe that normal bacteria which lives on the skin trigger a pathway that helps prevent inflammation when we get hurt. The bugs dampen down overactive immune responses that can cause cuts and grazes to swell. Many believe our obsession with cleanliness is to blame for the recent boom in allergies in developed countries:

Some experts are saying that the findings could provide an explanation for the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, which states that exposure to germs during early childhood primes the body against allergies.
The lobby group Parents Outloud said the work offered scientific support for its campaign to stop children being mollycoddled and over-sanitised.
A spokeswoman for Allergy UK said there was a growing body of evidence that exposure to germs was a good thing.

So what do you think? Should we be exchanging bubble baths for mud baths and are we in fact cleaning our hands, clothes, homes etc too much and ‘washing away’ all the fun of messy, outdoor play?

For parents, it can present a big dilemma. With literally 100s of adverts on TV and in newspapers and magazines telling us to kill every germ in sight, people do it, with the best intentions to ensure children have as healthy an environment as possible. Let’s think back though . . . how many of you scrambled through mud and squealed in equal delight and repulsion when you discovered a worm? Now be honest, how many of you wondered what it would feel or even, dare I say it, taste like? In my experience, slightly gritty with an earthy aftertaste – rather like the feel of spaghetti. The worm was cleaner when I put him back in the soil but I wasn’t and it felt great and here I am to tell the tale! Now I don’t recommend the activity generally but what I was doing, reflecting back, was engaging in imaginative, investigative and ultimately messy, dirty fantastic play and I was also discovering my world and taking risks (as well as finding out what a worm tasted like). And often returning to my mum with dirty grazed knees from falling over in stony soil, she would wipe away the blood and mud and send me off with a wagon wheel (which of course were much bigger back then!).

In fact aren’t we encouraging children to play outdoors even more now? Isn’t there also a huge campaign to get them out and about to grow their own vegetables in the garden – to dig, to sow, to plant, to harvest, to get out in all weathers and connect with the earth – I’d rather have a happy, stress-free muddy child than one who’s reluctant to get clothes dirty for fear of reprisal. Stick some old clothes on, that’s what I did.

So, as long as we remember the general rules of washing hands after the toilet and before touching and eating food, immune systems will balance themselves out, leaving children more time to discover their inner explorers, gardeners, botanists, zoologists, etc as they keep busy with playing and learning – the thing they do best!

Liz Smallman is Head of Learning at Eureka!

Rooted in play

2009-11-27T13:04:00.004Z

With Diwali celebrated earlier this month, Eid this weekend and Christmas approaching - Advent Sunday is also this weekend - here's a quote from Dutch historian Johan Huizing (1872-1945) reminding us about the role of play in our society:

"Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primeval soil of play."

Find out how to make your Advent Christingle on The Children's Society website

Playing with science

2009-11-25T12:43:00.002Z

The ‘enablers’ here at Eureka! are delighted to educate and, at the same time, entertain our visitors. We are also very keen to encourage, enthuse and excite the children (in fact many things beginning with ‘e’, it seems!). One of the ways we do this is by delivering science busking sessions. It’s amazing how people’s opinions of science change when they discover what fun it is to play with science. I always start my sessions with a question – “Who loves science?” I ask the question again at the end of the session and the response is always considerably more enthusiastic.

A 'science busking' session lasts about 20 minutes and consists of up to a dozen interactive demonstrations (of which we have a repertoire of about 40). For example, learning about density becomes magical when the children are introduced to ‘Bob the Pen Lid’, who has been trained to dive and float on command (providing you say the magic word –‘please’). When they spot the ‘trick’ and hear the explanation they are far from disappointed as I explain that science is actually better than magic. If Bob was magic I’d be the only person with a pen lid that obeys my commands; whereas, now that they all know the science, they can go home and make their own Bob and amaze their friends.

Most of the demonstrations are designed to be easily repeated at home in order to encourage children to try things out for themselves. I also tell a true story that shows that anybody can be a scientist – all you need to do is ask questions and try to find out the answer.

Sometimes we use a powder called Instasnow (a super absorbent polymer called sodium Polyacrylate) for one of the demonstrations. Water added to a scoopful in a child’s cupped hands produces a flurry of ‘snow’ cascading out of their hands and into a waiting bowl. We also do fabulous demonstration using milk, food colouring and washing-up liquid (see below). During one session a young boy, about six years old, asked “What would happen if you put that ‘magic’ powder into the milk and food colouring?” It was a good question, a scientist’s question, so what else could we do but put it to the test. We added a few scoops of Instasnow to the milk and it slowly soaked up the colourful milk, drawing it to the middle of the plate and making a colourful little snow ‘volcano crater’. We now do that demonstration ourselves – always giving credit to that six year old scientist who invented it.

Whenever I do those demos and tell that story I have to allow extra time at the end of the session because, invariably, I am inundated by a crowd of children asking “What if we put this in that?” and “Can we try mixing these together?” etc. It just goes to show that, given the opportunity, children are always incredibly eager to ‘play with science’.

Have a go at colour-changing milk at home

You'll need: milk (whole), a dinner plate, food colourings, washing up liquid and cotton buds.

Method

Pour enough milk onto the plate to completely cover the bottom
Add one drop of each of the different colours of food colouring to the milk. Keep the drops close together in the centre of the plate of milk
Use a clean cotton bud to ‘marble’ the milk
Repeat first two steps
Take another cotton bud, place a drop of washing up liquid on the end and touch the middle of the milk with it. Look at that burst of colour!

Explanation

Milk might seem to be a liquid but actually it is mostly water with lots of little droplets of fat and protein and stuff floating in it. These little bits of solids are attracted to each other and bond together as if they were all holding hands, making ‘walls’ that the food colouring can’t pass! You can use your cotton bud to move the colours around the ‘walls’ to make a marbling effect.

When you add soap it actually breaks the bonds that are holding the little fat and protein droplets in place and they zoom off in all directions; which bumps the food colours and makes them zing off to the edge of the plate, giving you a real 'wow!' moment.

Jill Ward is an Enabler in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Pudsey visits Eureka!

2009-11-20T09:34:00.002Z

It's BBC Children in Need today so we have a quote inspired by Pudsey's spots from Joan Almon, a contemporary American educator. Okay so they're not quite bubbles but you get the gist.

"Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child."

Eureka! is the Yorkshire host for the BBC Children in Need show tonight. Tune in for three live transmissions from the museum as fundraisers and their families explore the galleries, present their cheques to the BBC charity and meet the special bear himself.

This year’s Appeal, which was launched back in September, is asking people to ‘Do Something Different’ – a challenge inviting inventive fundraisers to do something outside of their usual routine to help raise much needed funds to help disadvantaged children and young people right here in the UK.

Last year, the British public helped Pudsey raise a record breaking £37.8 million. These funds are currently being used to significantly enhance the lives of thousands of disadvantaged youngsters across the UK, with 52 grants totaling £3,155,508 helping children in West Yorkshire.

Who needs toys?

2009-11-18T15:11:00.002Z

A well known cliche that it pays to be reminded of at this time of year: children invariably would rather play with the cardboard box than the expensive Christmas present inside!

Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) knew this back in the seventeenth century when he argued that children should play with minimal toys and playthings made from their everyday surroundings. Conversely it was Locke who helped to introduce the very concept of a 'toy' when he reasoned that children were different to adults and should be treated accordingly.

Dribble, pass and shoot!

2009-11-13T15:34:00.002Z

A quote today from someone who has had great sporting success through play!

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."

Michael Jordan

American basketball player

Money matters

2009-11-11T17:20:00.001Z

As we officially open the newly refurbished Halifax bank at Eureka!, it's a good time to remember that you are never too young (or too old!) to learn about money. Teaching children basic financial skills from an early age can help them become financially responsible in later life.

Children connect with money throughout their childhood, from watching their parents buy shopping at the supermarket, to earning pocket money by carrying out chores around the house, from making money for charity events at school, to selling homemade cakes. Children often use quite sophisticated thinking-strategies for making their 20p go as far as possible!

When we present children with fun learning situations which encourage them to practice and understand the processes of money, we are also helping them build immunity to potentially difficult situations in the future. So, teaching children the basics of money and the benefits of saving, for example, can have enormous benefits down the road.

In the newly refurbished play bank at Eureka! we’ve created play scenarios where children can practice and reinforce their knowledge and skills about money, enhancing their understanding while providing an environment where they can ask questions and tackle misconceptions.

Why not try this at home...

Set up a play shop which sells items found around the home – it could be toys, food, clothes or a mixture of things.
Use pretend or real money, create a ‘till’, decide how much each item costs and attach a price label.
Children can role-play being the customer or shop keeper.
If they're playing customer, why not give them a budget to work with – which items can they buy now and which would they need to save up for? At this point, you could even introduce two piggy banks which the children can use for their own pocket money – one for spending and one for saving.

Understanding money can take time, so providing plenty of opportunities for children to play with money and then relating it to real life contexts is a really valuable way to increase and broaden their experiences, skills and understanding – and it can be great fun too.

Liz Smallman is Head of Learning at Eureka!

When children pretend

2009-11-06T09:43:00.002Z

Today's quote comes from well-loved, American children’s TV host, Fred Rogers (1928-2003) who said:

"When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero."

And a grown-up can go to 'Santa School' to become... Father Christmas as we learn from today's BBC News!

These children in last year's Eureka! Grotto seem to definitely be using their imaginations as the museum becomes a magical, Arctic hideaway. Fortunately the staff at Eureka! have no need for 'Santa School' and are already fully trained in the art of play!

The seven different types of play

2009-11-04T15:58:00.005Z

Who knew there were so many ‘types’ of play!?

In my research at Eureka! I came across this really interesting article from The National Institute for Play (NIFP) in the USA. They’ve identified seven different types of play that we all engage in at different stages of our lives.

Attunement Play
This means a feeling of being "at one" with another being, and this picture taken in our Me and My Body gallery demonstrates it pretty well as a mother and daughter work comfortably together on one of our exhibits.

Body Play & Movement
Keeping active is very important to us here at the museum and there are always plenty of items to keep you moving as shown by this young girl who looks to be really enjoying herself as she plays in the Eureka! grounds.

Object Play
Object play is perhaps the most obvious and familiar form of play because it involves toys. Here at Eureka! there are plenty of opportunities for object play, including treasure baskets, a collection of natural and household objects presented in a round basket for babies to explore. The aim of the baskets is to provide a rich sensory experience for children, letting babies explore objects by themselves, using their five senses and giving an ideal outlet for their natural curiosity.

Social Play
Social play is the rough and tumble we probably all remember enjoying with our brothers and sisters, friends and family as young children. Social play is also found in the close relationship between friends. As the picture below shows, this kind of play is commonly found at Eureka! and these children are happily creating a sculpture in our giant sandpit.

Imaginative & Pretend Play
In the Living and Working Together gallery at Eureka!, imagination is essential with role play opportunities all over the place. Whether you are drawing money out from the play bank or filling up your car at the petrol pump, a child’s mind can create a world of their own in this pretend town square.

Storytelling-Narrative Play
I really like this photo as the little girl seems to be listening intently to the story that is being read aloud to her even though she is sat in one of the walkways of the museum!

Transformative-Integrative & Creative Play
This picture was taken on National Playday where children were given cardboard boxes and craft materials and left to their own devices. All the children were very creative and many transformed their boxes into houses such as the boy below.

Jenny Goodall is in the Play & Learning Team at Eureka!

A love of play

2009-10-30T11:00:00.041Z

Today's quote is from the well-known, French painter, Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

"Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play."

Matisse's collages, such as The Snail which he created in 1953 aged 84(!), are often used as inspiration for children's art and craft projects and you can see why with such vibrant colours.

Children say the funniest things

2009-10-28T11:11:00.001Z

One of the reasons I so enjoy being part of the workshop team at Eureka! is the sheer entertainment value arising from interacting with a group of young children. You never quite know what to expect and their responses continue to delight and surprise me. Children do, indeed, say the funniest things!

One of my favourite memories is from a ‘treasure’ workshop, which we ran one holiday for families. Once the treasure chest had been found at last and the pirate captain had been revealed as an imposter planning on keeping all the treasure for herself, the question arose as to how this un-pirate should be punished. Forget any preconceptions you may have about the sweet and gentle nature of children; cries of “kill her”, “chop her head off”, “stab her with your cutlass” and several other bloodthirsty suggestions were generally yelled enthusiastically at the first mate – who attempted to guide the children towards the less violent solution of making her walk the plank.

On this particular occasion I asked “what do pirates do to punish naughty people; what do they make them do?” One kind father decided to whisper the answer to his daughter but unfortunately she misheard. No doubt with her eyes fixed on the artificial trees and bushes behind the treasure chest she screamed out triumphantly with great gusto “make her water the plants!”

Now, wouldn’t it be nice if she’d been right? Bluebeard and Blackbeard and the like would have had far fewer deaths on their consciences - and their Busy Lizzies and Begonias would have flourished!

Children can also take questions very literally and supply you with very frank and honest answers. I took part in many ‘space’ workshops as Llij Orak, an alien from the planet Kaygool. In most workshops, at the point where Llij reveals she’s not from this planet and asks the children, “so, what am I?”, the united response of “an alien” is delivered in chorus. In one particularly fondly remembered workshop moment a small boy delivered his reply with great confidence, “a liar!” he suggested helpfully.

Sometimes the children are so keen to be picked to give the answer that they forget to listen. In one workshop I was trying to elicit a response from the children to the question, “what makes the toy truck start moving when I let go of it on the ramp?” Very few hands went up so I decided to give them a clue. “What is it that holds me down on the ground and stops me floating off into space?” There were now a lot more hands in the air so I picked one very eager young man whose hand had been waving enthusiastically from the start. “Wheels!” he cried confidently. I looked down immediately to check but no, I still had feet.

It’s not only workshops that provide examples of childhood comedy. One day I was feeling rather low as I walked into the mini post office and came upon a young boy dressed in his postman’s uniform, dragging a huge postbag full of parcels. “Are you doing a good job today Mr Postman?” I enquired; forcing a cheery smile onto my face. My smile deepened as he replied happily “yes, and then I’m going into there (pointing to the kitchen) to be a cooker”. The world was suddenly a better place as I remembered how lucky I am to work with the funniest people in the world.

Jill Ward is an Enabler in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Play keeps you fit

2009-10-23T10:50:00.005+01:00

Today's quote comes from Stuart Brown, M.D., a contemporary North American psychiatrist and founder of the USA's National Institute for Play in California:

"Play keeps us fit physically and mentally."

And this video clip demonstrates it pretty well - perhaps something we can hope to see inside Eureka! one day?

Exploring materials

2009-10-21T17:29:00.007+01:00

Over the past month, I’ve been working with children from the museum’s nursery, exploring materials in a series of specially created workshops designed for 2-5 year olds. I planned the workshop content in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the approaches of Reggio Emilia and High/Scope which promote children as active participants in their own learning.

Children were offered the chance to play with a wide array of objects, from button to shells, straws to feathers, in whatever manner they pleased, and using all their senses. This was very much a partnership in learning for me as the practitioner and the children alike, rather than a formal lesson with lots of instructions.

During the first week I introduced children to the objects and encouraged them to explore and investigate textures and outward appearances. The children were so engaged that as they left the the session I heard them comment “this is smooth” as they touched the door!

In week two we looked at the shadows and reflections produce by the objects with the help of an overhead projector, a light box, and torches. We then took the torches into the dark ‘Desert Discovery’ gallery to explore further.

Week three found us looking at the imprints objects leave behind when pressed into modelling clay. Some children chose to leave their objects in the clay, integrating it into their designs, while other children were more interested in their imprints.

For our final session I hung up a white sheet and projected photographs from the previous sessions on to it. Needless to say, the children were fascinated with the images of themselves as they ran through with the sheet. I also brought out all the objects from previous sessions for one more explore.

There were lots of surprises in the way the children played with the many different objects; one boy who usually loves to be very physically active showed himself to be a methodical learner, as he spent a great deal of time sorting out and identifying things. Each week the children surprised me with their understanding of the world around them; they made me and the nursery practitioners smile with their enthusiasm and knowledge and I had a great deal of fun learning with them.

Penny Dargan is an Early Years Enabler at Eureka!

Play is a necessity

2009-10-16T10:44:00.010+01:00

Today we have a quote from Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who makes a serious point about play:

"Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."

This really reiterates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which is 20 years old this year and states:

"Parties recognise the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts."

Fast Food Fun

2009-10-14T12:29:00.001+01:00

One of the joys of working at Eureka! is delivering our amazing interactive educational workshops. Throughout the year I might find myself taking the children on all manner of incredible adventures; from flying off to the planet Kaygool with aliens (I’m one of them) to sailing aboard the ‘The Black Light’ with pirates (me again) to search for treasure. At the moment we’re concentrating on the very current topic of healthy lifestyles with two workshops; Fast Food Fun for 7-11 year olds and Fruit for Thought for the 5-7 year olds.

Watch a video of the Fast Food Fun workshop

At the end of every ‘Fast Food Fun’ workshop I ask the children two questions. The first question is always “have you enjoyed the workshop?” - A question that is invariably answered with a very enthusiastic “YES!” The second question; or to be more accurate set of three questions, are aimed at finding out if they think they’ve learned anything. A unanimous positive response tells me that all the learning objectives have been achieved; and what’s more, the response from the children is just as enthusiastic when faced with these questions as it was to the first. That’s what it’s all about for me and it’s what I love about Eureka!; play and learning are not put in separate categories, play is learning and learning is fun.

I think ‘Fast Food Fun’ is a brilliant way of putting across the healthy lifestyle message. From the moment the children set eyes on Jogger Jill (my alter ego) in her over the top sports gear; complete with jazzy pink leg warmers and ‘bad hair day’ headband, they know they’re here to have fun. I love to see the excitement on their faces as they compete in teams to pick up the little bags of food energy (beanbags) and balance them on their heads, or dodge the beanbags on their way to the supermarket to pick up something from the carbohydrate, fat or protein food groups. All the games are great fun and most of them are pretty active too so we don’t just talk about the value of exercise, we actually do exercise at the same time! Anybody who doesn’t believe in the learning through play philosophy should come along and watch. In what other situation could you get a whole class of 7-8 year olds sitting, totally engaged as they listen to somebody talking about simple and complex carbohydrates and saturated and unsaturated fats – and what’s more, actually understanding the differences and working out which would be the healthier choice.

Every workshop is different because every group of children is different and that makes them as much fun for me as it is for them. (Maybe next time I blog I’ll include a few examples of ‘children say the funniest things’ and you’ll see what I mean). Until then always remember – “adults don’t stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing” Hopefully, thanks to Eureka!, I’ll never get old!

Jill Ward is an Enabler in the Front of House team at Eureka!

Friday is quote day

2009-10-09T11:00:00.008+01:00

We'll be posting quotes every Friday around the subject of play. Maybe they'll make you see things differently or even challenge your own ideas about play; but at the very least we hope they'll entertain you!

"In our play we reveal what kind of people we are." Ovid (43BC-18AD)

It seems that even way back in Roman times there were people around who understood the value of play as this quote from the Roman poet Ovid shows.

That's mine!

2009-10-07T11:21:00.014+01:00

This poem is bound to resonate with anyone who has a toddler or works with toddlers, and it’s always made me chuckle. There have been many small tussles in the play kitchen at Eureka! as children cook their parents an imaginary lunch or tea, disagreeing over who will use that tomato or who gets that potato. Peace is usually restored as soon as another vegetable or something more interesting is found to add to the pot.

This poem really encapsulates the possessive urge that comes over many toddlers as they struggle to learn how to share and play with others.

Eight Rules of Toddler Play

1. If I like it, it’s mine.

2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

4. If I had it a little time ago, it’s mine.

5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way, shape or form.

6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks like mine, it’s mine.

8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.

Poem by Tracy Hogg and Melinda Blau (The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems)

Jenny Goodall is in the Play & Learning Team at Eureka!

If you go down to the woods today...

2009-09-30T16:09:00.006+01:00

Last week I got to spend a whole day outside playing in a forest in Doncaster!

I was at a conference called "If you go down to the woods today..." jointly hosted by Play England, Yorkshire Play and the Forestry Commission. It was an environmentally friendly event where all delegates were able to fully engage in nature play. Holding the whole conference outside reinforced the messages we are hearing from educationalist and play professionals alike, that being outside enhances children's development.

One of the workshops was delivered by Creeping Toad. As a voluntary helper on the day I was unable to attend the whole session, but one activity I saw is great for playful, nature-loving people of all ages, whether in a group setting or with the family. Apologies to Gordon MacLellan (aka Creeping Toad) for not presenting this activity in the creative, inspirational way he did but here goes:

Sit outside and listen to nature, discuss what creatures may be around you right now
Place a golf ball sized lump of clay or Plasticine on the end of a piece of string (approx 30cms)
Spend 20 minutes exploring your environment gathering any natural objects you want and stick them into your clay to create your own natural creature

It was great to see all the delegates proudly walking round with their creation all day and in the well-known words of Blue Peter, here's one I made earlier... quite autumnal isn't it?!

Rebecca Johnson is Director of Play & Learning at Eureka!.

Learning through play

2009-09-08T17:01:00.006+01:00

It is that time of year again - back to school, and for some it will be the first time.

Having worked in Early Years for many years I have seen frameworks and curricula come and go. Through my own practice and much reading, I know that young children don’t learn by listening to the teacher whilst sitting silently, bottoms on chairs. They learn through active engagement with their environment, through interaction with people - peers and adults.

The introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage in September 2008 has been a move in the right direction in ensuring all children under five are exposed to play based learning. (I know many nurseries and reception classes were already implementing a play based approach but many were not).

In 1935 Susan Isaacs, educational psychologist and advocate of learning through play said:

"We watch the nursery school child at play and accept this sort of activity at this age as normal and desirable. But too often the five and six year old is expected to cease play activities in school and begin lessons. Yet some educationalists would like all children under seven to enjoy nursery school conditions where play and living experiences are the accepted mode of learning."

I and the rest of the learning team at Eureka! believe this should be the accepted mode of learning (and that is certainly how we plan and deliver our school programmes) and it saddens me to see that in the 70 years since Susan made this comment, children have become subjected to more and more formality and tests.

Here's hoping Jim Rose's review of the primary curriculum will enable older children to learn through play too. His recommendations include giving teachers new advice on how to stimulate play based learning, which will be passed onto parents and smoothing the transition from early years to primary by extending and building upon active, play-based learning.

Rebecca Johnson is Director of Play & Learning at Eureka!

It's never too wet (or cold) to play!

2009-08-26T16:10:00.011+01:00

Playing outdoors is brilliant - whatever the weather, as this recent article on the BBC website reminded us.

Why not get some funky wellies and a bright waterproof on and have a splashing time with these ideas:

Stomp through pools of water – who can make the biggest splash?
Make up a ‘singing in the rain’ dance routine
Hand out disposable waterproof cameras to capture the magic of the rain including water droplets, cloud shapes and colours, reflections in puddles and amazing rainbows. Make a rainy day photo album
If you’re wet already, get drenched even more with water balloon challenges and soggy sponge dodging
Pitch a tent in your garden when rain is forecast. You'll stay nice and dry when the rain starts, but you can enjoy the sound of the raindrops hitting the tent. Get cosy, tell rainy day stories, sing rainy songs like ‘Itsy Witsy spider’ and play games
Collect rain water and add colours to paint the pavement when rain is expected – watch the colours blend and wash away. Or dust powder paint onto thick cardboard and watch what happens
Look in the garden to find creatures who love being out in the rain too – go on a wiggly worm hunt!

Just don't forget to warm up when you're done!

Playday

2009-08-13T16:00:00.002+01:00

Eureka! celebrated Playday earlier this month. The day is an annual celebration of children's right to play and 100s of events took play all over the country. Eureka! marked the event in typical style with lots of opportunities for play at the museum, indoors and out.

The organisers behind Playday revealed that 72% of parents want more time to play with their children or to take them places to play (opinion poll conducted by ICM).

At Eureka! play is at the heart of what we do and Playday was a great chance to demonstrate our commitment to play by encouraging all our staff to make time to play. It was the perfect opportunity to spend half an hour escaping the pressures of our daily lives and experiencing the positive effects of play, something we tend to lose sight of as adults.

It was great to see so many children, parents and grandparents getting stuck into play, as well as staff - even our CEO Leigh-Anne Stradeski had a bounce on a spacehopper!