Tuesday 7 February 2012

Museums & Outreach

Today was a very busy day. For the first time in a long while I had put my name down to do an Outreach School visit for the Museum I volunteer at. Since September the local schools were only requesting Ancient Egyptians or Dinosaur outreach which are not my subjects so the Curator had done those instead. However this time the booking was for Toys and that is one of my specialist subjects so I stepped up to the challenge!

I did not do this alone thankfully. I was joined by a fellow museum volunteer who also happens to be one of my best friends so we made a good team and had fun! It was the first time she had done an outreach session for the museum and she did an excellent job. After helping me do the first session she felt confident enough to lead the second session. I was very impressed with how much she remembered after just one run through.

We were booked for two sessions with Year 2. The children were very enthusiastic and excited. They loved meeting Jemima the Victorian doll as well as the ugly porcelain doll! The also enjoyed meeting Edward Bear who was made in 1907 and is my favourite toy in the Museum's collection. Edward and Jemima were joined by a Hornby Triang Clockwork Train set, Victorian cup & ball, Victorian Happy Families card pack, Medieval Child's costume, Victorian iron hoop & stick, 1930s Mini Brix, Lego and much more. The children asked some interesting questions and seemed to enjoy the afternoon.

I am now feeling very tired and my throat is sore after trying to talk over some of the children's more excitable moments! It is worth it though, as I really love passing on knowledge to people and sharing my enthusiasm for history with others especially children. They are so often really eager to learn and find everything exciting. I don't think I could have been a teacher, not even a history teacher as I wouldn't want to just stick to the curriculum! I would want to cover all the interesting things whether they were in the exams or not!!

2 comments:

  1. The Medieval costume is a recreation! Have to be accurate in the description, wouldn't want people thinking we'd let children touch the real thing!!

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  2. Why the medieval costume in amongst the victorian stuff? Better get cracking on victorian one!

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