Pirate Training Day

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.

The Adventures of Captain Wheelio Bear

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!

Playing with a purpose for Playday 2010

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.

Do adults really play?

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.”

Play keeps you fit

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?