Play is good for babies

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

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!

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.