“Which Way Shall We Go? OK, I’ll Follow You....”

Providing resources that help parents and carers support pre-school children to engage with museum collections and buildings

Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Executive Summary 4

3. Main findings 7

4. Implications and recommendations 13

5. Project background: aims, values and principles 20

6. Family Learning Context 22

7. Evaluation method 23

Findings: characteristics of successful resources 8. Successful resources in museums.... 30

8.1 … are usable 30

8.2 … encourage babies’ and children’s communication 34

8.3 … encourage parents to listen actively to their children 37

8.4 … build the relationship between children and parent/carers 41

8.5 … provide opportunities to explore, play and learn 45

8.6 … ensure families feel sufficiently secure and confident to explore and participate 50

8.7 … encourage parents to extend children’s learning rather than always leading it 52

8.8 … encourage a balance between child initiated and adult initiated activities 54

Findings: ORIM framework9. Findings 55

9.1 Opportunities for children to learn about the museum or collections 57

9.2 Recognition of children’s interests, knowledge and achievements 62

9.3 Interaction around the building or collections 66

9.4 Modelling of “learning behaviour” by adults 69

Appendices

Appendix 1: project partners and resources piloted 73

Appendix 2: project descriptions 73

Appendix 3: observation frameworks 77

Appendix 4: resources advantages and disadvantages 80

3

1. Introduction

This report is the culmination of a programme of partnership projects in six

museums across the South West. The projects explored the characteristics of

resources that effectively support parents as educators of pre-school children

in museums and galleries. Each museum worked with a group of parents or

carers and a practitioner working with families. Although each project was self

contained, staff came together as a team to agree guiding principles and to share

understanding and skills.

The South West Museum Hub’s previous exploratory project Close Encounters with

Culture (2008) had shown that pre-school children could engage with museum

collections and buildings and that there was a huge learning potential in that

engagement. It also highlighted the positive response of parents and carers. The

Pre-School Learning Alliance felt that this was significant and recommended that

the Hub explore this further. Most Hub museums already ran staff led programmes

and events for families. However, the team felt that spaces and resources for families

to use independently of museum staff could be better designed to support parents

and carers in helping their young children learn. This project therefore set out to

explore a range of ways that this could be done.

The purpose of this report is to provide insight into what kind of resources empower

parents to support their young children’s engagement in museums. The first sections

provide an overview of the findings and the implications for museums, whilst sections

8 and 9 are for “dipping into”: providing detailed evidence including observations

and family voices. The project team hope that this report will prove useful to any

museum or gallery seeking to support parents as their child’s “first and most

enduring educator” (Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, 2008).

2. Executive Summary

This research focused on supporting parents to engage with their children and

with museum collections and buildings. Working with parents on the project and

listening to their feedback it is clear that this is only one aspect of a successful

family visit for them. Parents bringing young children to a museum need support

in structuring the experience, tools and resources so that adults and children can

take turns at leading activities and opportunities for children to play or explore

independently. Families with babies need safe, engaging sensory resources and

a baby friendly space where they can sit, lay or crawl independently, even if this

is just a rug or set of cushions.

The projects worked with a wide range of families with children under 5. Although

this included families who were confident and regular museum users, the majority

of parents involved were not museum visitors and many were from communities

who find museums difficult to access. Practitioners working with families found

that those who find museums most difficult to access needed a number of visits

to familiarise themselves with the resources and gain confidence in the space.

However as they grew used to the museums, families had such positive shared

learning experiences that many were considering visiting again.

The project museums contained a wide range of collections including art,

archaeology, social history, world cultures and natural history. The learning

environments also varied widely from a Tudor Priory, where everything can

be touched, to a historic house where only looking is allowed. There was

remarkable consistency in the findings despite such variation in the testing

conditions.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) states that the most effective early

learning combines active learning, creative thinking and play. The resources

that most successfully enabled parents to act as children’s educators in

museums were those that provided this combination. Family learning requires

communication (verbal and non-verbal), a positive relationship, experiences to

share and confidence to participate. Active investigation, exploratory play and

creative expression provided the right context for this to happen.

One of the project museums is a “please touch” space: a restored Tudor Priory

full of replica domestic objects for visitors to handle and use. Providing for

active investigation, exploratory play and creative thinking and expression was

unlikely to require many additional resources in such a setting. Nonetheless,

4

the museum team felt that the addition of some simple activities and resources

encouraged families with young children to make full use of the replica

collections together, where previously families had struggled. A permission to

play was key in this situation.

Most of the other museums involved have more traditional settings, with

a mixture of art works, displays and interactive exhibits. In these settings,

providing for active investigation, exploratory play and creative thinking and

expression was more of a challenge and required more additional resources.

Providing the multi-sensory experiences needed for active investigation was

particularly difficult and the need for more tactile experiences was clear in

the findings.

Nonetheless, all six museums developed resources that provided some part

of this ideal balance and contributed interesting insight to the overall picture.

Interestingly, the projects in which parents were most involved in developing

the ideas for the resources seemed to get closer to an optimal balance.

Simple exploring tools such as torches, magnifying glasses, binoculars and

cameras proved especially effective at encouraging active investigation and

exploratory play. Families had choice over how, where and for what these

were used, which seemed to result in children taking the lead and parents

and carers talking with them about their discoveries. These resources helped

children to investigate visually rather than through touching and provided

natural prompts for family conversations. Where families felt confident to

play together, the tools enabled humorous exchanges and sometimes pretend

play. The tools also enabled children to investigate independently, for example

experimenting with moving a torch closer to an object.

Whilst for some parents, this open-ended exploration was sufficient many

preferred a stronger sense of “mission” and a task that could be achieved.

The most successful of these in enabling parents to support their children’s

learning were hunting or matching games. These took various forms but

were usually pictures, shapes or toys to match to specific objects or building

features. Open-ended versions of these were also successful, for example a

challenge to find the best home for some toy farm animals in the museum.

Whilst many of the resources trialled were highly successful in prompting

family interactions it became clear that parents had to rely on their existing

knowledge for the content of these conversations. This report therefore

recommends that in addition to providing resources for active investigation,

5

exploratory play and creative expression, museums find family friendly ways

to provide information about their collections and buildings. This need for

collections information in a user-friendly format highlights the importance

of involving a range of museum staff in supporting parents and the role that

museum learning staff can play in deepening the understanding of colleagues

about the needs of families with young children.

The project findings demonstrated the importance of front of house staff (paid

or voluntary) in:

welcoming families and making them feel secure•

providing information at the beginning of a visit•

offering families a choice of resources•

encouraging families to actively explore together•

low level maintenance (tidying up) of playful resources in gallery spaces•

For staff to carry out these roles, they need to understand how important

their contribution is to a successful family visit and the value of the family

interactions they are supporting. This report, therefore, recommends that

learning staff are given time to work with colleagues to raise awareness, share

skills and deepen understanding.

6

3 Main findings

3.1. Providing the right kind of resources can enable parents to support their own visits

some kinds of resources can give parents the tools to support their children’s •

learning in museums independent of a staff-led event.

no single resource is likely to suit all families with children under 5 all of the •

time. Having a range of resources enables choice and encourages repeat

visits.

parents felt most comfortable when they “had a mission”, something to frame •

their visit. Parents who were regular museum visitors tended to feel slightly

less strongly about this and to be able to have a more “open-ended” view of

what a mission might be.

most family interaction happened when parents felt they had a clear role.•

although parents want their children to be busy, engaged and happy, •

observations showed that there was a limit to how long they would allow

children’s independent play to last where they had nothing to do themselves.

whilst resources can help parents and carers support their children’s learning •

on their own, they are unlikely to provide a strong enough access route for

families who are unfamiliar with museums. For families who find museums

difficult to access, an initial supported group visit is likely to be needed before

they can consider using resources independently.

setting aside individual family preferences, the kinds of resources that support •

parent-facilitated learning are much the same, whether families are regular

or first time museum visitors.

7

8

3.2. Exploring tools and resources put children in charge

torches, binoculars, magnifying glasses and cameras (pretend or real) were •

universally popular and resulted in visits where children determined the visit

route, and what was examined and discussed.

wearing or carrying explorer tools seemed to provide a role play context for •

families. This was amplified where children also had the choice of explorer

hats, backpacks or bags which acted as ‘costumes’.

the exploring tools seemed to act as a non-verbal indication of childrens’ •

interest for parents. Parents would notice what their child shone their torch

onto, or see their child peering through their magnifying glass at something

and talk with them about it. Parents frequently asked children what they

could see through the binoculars or commented on things they thought

children could see.

exploring tools prompted parents to model learning behaviours to their •

children. Lots of parents explained what magnifying glasses and binoculars

did and demonstrated how to use them.

exploring tools tended to focus the family interaction on the museum •

collections or buildings with both parents and children talking about what

they could see.

although the resources went a long way to engaging families with collections, •

they still felt that they wanted more opportunities to touch and hold objects.

“Having the torch made her focus much more on the exhibits.”

“I would like to see more things he could hold.”

Parent

Parent

3.3. Picture trails and carry-round challenges give parents a sense of purpose

Parents asked for trails: some called them ‘quizzes’, some referred to having a

‘mission’.

the trails provided were just pictures of objects to find. Pictures were not •

ordered and did not prescribe a route. Although a closed task, searching

provided plenty of opportunity for choice: where to go, what order to find

things in, where they might be, what kinds of objects they were. It was this

choice that prompted family interaction.

the carry-round challenges were open-ended. That is, there was no correct •

answer, although they offered the same satisfaction in having completed a

task. Challenges involved children making choices, for example, finding a

suitable home for some toy farm animals. Considering different options

prompted interaction about the collections.

both trails and challenges provided some opportunities for parents to model •

learning behaviours, although this tended to be “leading by example”.

in specific spaces, matching games, for example, •

matching a plastic animal to the displays, prompted

family interaction. This was usually adult directed

and the conversations were short, but both children

and adults found the tasks enjoyable and parents

praised children’s efforts and affirmed their

knowledge and understanding.

3.4. Intuitive but intriguing hands-on activities prompt parents to facilitate and explain

hands-on activities that needed no instructions for adults, but where children •

were not immediately sure what to do, encouraged parents to facilitate.

For example, brass rubbing, grinding with a pestle and mortar and using a

kaleidoscope.

many parents were drawn towards intriguing resources with simple written or •

pictorial instructions such as the Talking Tins.

these kinds of activities often prompted parents to explain to children, how a •

quill is used, what binoculars do or the most effective way to use a pestle.

9

3.5. Some activities build confidence, even if they are not immediately focused on the collections

some activities using familiar toys encouraged families •to interact and helped them make connections with home. Tea sets and pretend food for example were universally popular and encouraged imaginary play. Parents modelled how to use the toys to encourage children who were reluctant to join in. Unless an explicit link was made however, this kind of play did not link to the collections. Its main value was in building relationships and increasing confidence in the learning environment.

drawing and mark making were also popular and appeared to put families at •ease. Both regular museum visitors and those less familiar with museums were attracted to drawing equipment, especially if there was family seating. Where parents sat alongside children they modelled drawing and writing, praised children’s efforts, skills and outputs and facilitated their learning. However drawing and mark making mainly seemed to relate directly to the collections only when it was portable or part of a challenge.

not all familiar resources were equally good at prompting interaction. Parents •often chose puppets, but were then a little stuck with ideas for how to use them. Dressing up was not one of the main activities on offer, so observations may not reflect its full potential. Where children did dress up, it tended to lead to the child pretending independently. Interaction was limited to parental comments on how nice children looked, although this did provide positive affirmation and the photo opportunity it provided may have led to

further interaction after the visit.

3.6. Some activities are better for children

small world play and light/shadow play were attractive to children but most •

adults did not want to join in. Usually this play was curtailed as

adults wanted to move on, unless the group dynamics offered

a chance for family members to be independent for a short

while, for example, a parent might take the chance to play with a

younger sibling or chat to a friend.

dens and crawling tunnels, although accessible to adults, tended •

to separate adults from children.

boxes of toys and handling objects related to nearby displays •

10

11

often provided children with opportunities to play with siblings or friends.

Sometimes parents joined in, but often they observed and facilitated

instead.

3.7. Books got a mixed reaction when there are more active learning options

although relevant picture books were provided, in most of the museums •

parents did not choose to use them. Some parents, seated in activity areas,

did share books, mainly with children under two, but there was little interest

from the children overall. If story books related to displays are going to be

provided therefore, careful thought needs to be given to comfortable seating,

quiet corners and placing books away from more physical activities.

3.8. Group dynamics are important

the number of adults and children in a family group will affect the amount of •

parent: child interaction possible and the kind of resource that prompts it.

the presence of a “toddler” in a family group with an older child/children can •

dominate a group, severely limiting the amount of interaction possible between

parent and older siblings. Where two parents visited, or friends joined forces,

this dynamic was mitigated. Resources that sometimes helped included giving

the toddler a torch, magnifying glass or binoculars or mobile toys such as a

push along miniature shopping trolley, doll’s pram or cup and ball.

parents with a child under one as well as older siblings needed resources that •

encouraged verbal interaction and an element of adult direction, but child

activity. They welcomed gallery-based resource ‘areas’, where they could sit,

allow the younger child some freedom and play, as well as free-up their

hands to interact with the older child.

younger children often had to spend some time in their buggies as a •

practical response to managing a family safely. Having resources that could

be brought to the buggy kept all the family members involved.

“He looked at more things when we were on our own.”

Parent

12

3.9. Families tended to choose a balance between active learning and play

parents liked the idea of exploring round a museum, looking together at •

displays and then finding activity places.

“I liked the set-up. I loved the way there were different toys at different places.”

when feeding back what their children enjoyed parents tended to mention •

exploring and drawing or mark making.

when children chose to play, parents tended to step back to a facilitating role •

or even do something else allowing the child to play on their own or with a

sibling or peer.

3.10. Parents tend to rely on their existing knowledge

parents were clear that the resources provided enabled them to interact with •their children in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Parents already knew how to use most of the resources and had the skills to use them to facilitate their children’s learning.

the biggest difference between groups of parents was in the content of the •conversations. Overall, parents who were regular museum users either translated labels for their children providing age appropriate snippets of information, or appeared to have a deeper existing knowledge from which to draw.

parents who find museums difficult to access rarely read gallery text, unless •it was a single phrase identification label. Where one parent did try to answer her child’s question by reading the label she had barely finished the first

sentence before he had lost interest.

Parent

13

“Dylan wants to know what the writing says but isn’t patient enough to stand and listen,

as it goes on a bit.”

relying on existing knowledge meant that some parents provided incorrect •

information and many interactions didn’t go beyond simple identification.

4. Implications and Recommendations

4.1. No single kind of resource is likely to meet all the needs of the wide variety of families visiting museums

Needs and interest vary between families and also vary over time. Many of the families involved in developing resources for this project visited their local Museum more than once and chose to engage with different resources on

different visits.

The needs of families from disadvantaged communities are not always the same

as the needs of those from more advantaged backgrounds. Their perception

that cultural experiences in general, and museums in particular, are not for the

likes of them has to be addressed to ensure participation. Some activities do

not necessarily offer the richest collections-based experiences, but do act as

effective “ice-breakers”, providing a familiar and comfortable starting point for

families who may not feel immediately comfortable in a museum environment.

Parent

14

All families responded well to being given a choice of resources, whether

choosing what to carry round, or finding boxes with a variety of resources as

they went round. Choosing what to take with them involved good levels of

family interaction right from the start and appeared to ensure that families

used a wider range of the resources they took with them, in comparison to

families who took pre-packed explorer packs. This has implications for the

kind of staffing needed in providing the resources.

Since the most successful carry-round resources were predominantly visual and

giving more to carry is not really practical, more multi-sensory resources should

be offered in gallery spaces. A combination of resources to explore on the move

and places to stop and play was successful in allowing a well-paced visit, often

longer than many families originally envisaged. This combination also enabled

families to balance playing and learning cooperatively and independently.

“I liked having boxes of resources, where you can choose what to take with you.”

4.2. A museum visit needs to offer families the chance to learn together and independently

Although the focus of this study was on supporting shared learning experiences,

observations showed that the level of sharing needs to vary across the visit to

give individual family members space and to vary the intensity and pace of the

learning. Providing resources that allow families to engage at varying levels of

togetherness also enables individual families to engage at their own level. A torch

can allow a child to independently explore and investigate or it can be the start of

an intrepid family adventure. It can even be both things in the course of one family

visit. Providing resources that can be used by children alone or with parents and

carers, means that families have the choice.

Some resources seem better suited to children learning alone or with other

children, for example dexterity toys, small world play, role play toys and dressing

up. Putting these resources in areas where parents can rest comfortably and watch

their children continues the physical closeness of family learning and means the

link is not completely broken even during periods of independent activity.

Parent

Parent

15

Seating and comfortable floor spaces are important for wider social learning.

Where drawing and craft type activities were offered at communal tables and

chairs families talked both amongst themselves and to other families.

Of the resources piloted, the most successful at prompting families to learn

together in museums were those based on active investigation and exploratory

play. Crucial ingredients were:

giving choice•

enabling the lead to be shared between parent and children•

giving parents a clear role.•

“It was good to be able to do it at our own pace and not structured as they were all focused on different areas.”

4.3. Simple exploring tools enable a child-led, playful family learning experience

The exploring tools on offer varied across the museums. For a full list see

section 7.1. Whether children chose a full set of explorer

hat, backpack or bucket, torch, binoculars etc, or just a

magnifying glass, being an explorer was a great hit, even

with the very youngest.

Giving the explorer tools to the children put them in charge

and parents seemed happy to follow their children’s lead.

They would still suggest things to look at or ask questions,

but with children determining the pace and focus of the

visit families were better able to interact and enjoy each

other’s company and the museum. Magnifying glasses at

specific activities such as looking at bones or mini-beasts

also prompted families to talk about what they could see.

Including tools that could also be role play resources such as hats and binoculars

led to many families treating the whole visit as a sort of game. This was even

more explicit for some families who took toy cameras, with children pretending

to take photos and parents joining in the imaginary game.

“Having the Explorers’ Pack was brilliant. She loved using the torch in the tunnel etc.”

“I like it here. I’m an explorer.”

Parents responded well to more structured exploring resources, such as picture

trails and matching challenges. Indeed parents involved in developing the

resources suggested simple themed activities that gave them a sense of what

to do. Although these resources were task based their format was often playful.

Families used these resources to provide a loose structure for the visit and a

sense of “having finished” when all the things were found. These hunts and

trails were often combined with other activities, following children’s interest.

This could be the use of an explorer tool, playing with toys in a gallery, drawing

or using a museum interactive.

4.4. Hands-on, sensory or playful activities should always be part of the mix

Explorer tools are excellent for families to learn together but they don’t, on their

own, provide for all facets of the highest quality visit. To an extent, these mainly

visual extension tools, are making up for the fact that families can’t explore the

buildings and objects using more of their senses.

Tactile experiences should also always be offered, therefore, and these should

not just be toys. Natural objects, replicas and authentic handling objects all

prompted family interactions and parents’ feedback indicated that many would

like more of this. Observations showed that families were unsure what they could

and could not touch in all of the museums. Staff need to be aware of this

confusion and understand that it is the museum environment that needs to

change. More things, clearly designed or labelled for touching would help.

Where hands on activities already existed in the

museums, families were keen to use them but

sometimes needed “permission” if they looked

too adult. Having playful resources in the galleries

tended to encourage families to feel confident

16

Parent Child - 2 years 6 months

that their young children could use the interactives. Adding playful touches to

existing activities also signalled accessibility for example a variety of coloured

paper at a drawing table or a “chicken” in the hen hut, so that children could

pretend to feed it.

4.5. The chance to represent or create offers opportunities for modelling and praise

Drawing and mark making was popular with families and was observed to result

in a lot of praise for children. Parents often joined in drawing activities, usually

doing their own drawing but sometimes working jointly with children. Drawing

together, side by side, seemed a very natural way for parents to model learning

behaviour for their children.

When parents were given notepads as part of resource development, it was observed

that children wanted to use them. Children who subsequently chose to take drawing

equipment round a museum with them tended to use it to represent things they’d

just been looking at. These carry-round drawing resources offered children a very

immediate chance to express their thoughts in an alternative to talking.

A small number of children chose drawing equipment and then directed their

parents to write or draw things that the child noticed. Whilst families did not

carry this activity on for as long as other forms of exploration, it did result in

some extended family conversations and a lot of parental modelling.

4.6. Providing the right resources is only part of the picture

Whilst providing playful resources that encouraged active exploration certainly

helped parents to act as their children’s educators, it highlighted another way

in which museums can be difficult to access. Parents successfully engaged

their children with the collections and buildings and then struggled to access

information to fuel their conversations.

Some building features or collections’ stories were well known and parents

could draw on their existing knowledge to keep their children interested.

This however meant the potential learning opportunities for children were

determined by whether parents happened to have existing knowledge relevant

to the museum.

17

if seated. Portable gel pads and styluses used in one of the project museums could be offered in spaces were pencils might be a conservation issue

some familiar toys or activities, preferably in areas with seating, to build •

confidence and relationships

playful activities that relate directly to the collections, in gallery spaces. •

18

Where gallery text existed, some parents did try to read it, but it was usually

not appropriate for them to either read aloud to children or to quickly read and

easily glean relevant information they could pass on. Written text, of course,

carries its own accessibility issues, so any attempt to address this need for

more information should bear in mind the range of ways information can be

made available using both text and images.

4.7. Staff are important

The projects demonstrated the importance of a personal contact with staff in

encouraging families who would not have previously considered coming to a

museum to visit. Enabling and encouraging multi-sensory exploration is vital

to supporting parents and this is not always how museums have traditionally

worked. It is likely therefore that some level of staff development to deepen

understanding of active learning, exploratory play and parent-facilitated family

learning will be necessary.

4.8 Recommendations

What resources should museums provide?

a range of resources that families can choose between•

portable exploring tools like magnifying glasses and torches. Containers •for carry-round resources need to be small enough for children to carry. Ideally children should have a choice of what to take with them. Small backpacks worked better than larger bags. Small buckets worked best of all.

picture matching resources that enable parents to have a clear role. Short •“trails” seem to be the most easily recognised format for parents

resources linked to other senses in galleries to ensure accessibility, •especially tactile experiences that satisfy families’ desire to touch, for example pieces of the same material that statues are made from may help visitors to understand not to touch statues. (It should be noted that in observations, other adults visiting were seen to touch objects more than the project families)

opportunities for drawing and mark making. This could be a communal •drawing table or portable resources. Families will spend more time drawing

Ideally these should have a defined space, so they are not overlooked and

parts don’t get spread too widely. However this might simply be a rug or a

see through/into box.

a quiet comfortable corner if offering books. Chose quick and easy to read •

books with attractive pictures that are related directly to the museum.

“packages” to Early Years groups from communities who find museums •

difficult to access. These could include a familiarisation visit modelling the

use of resources, a second visit where families are greeted and resources

provided and then advice or support for families to make independent or

small group visits, using resources generally available to families.

What information should museums provide?

clear information at or near the entrance to tell families what resources are •

on offer and possibly take-away information so that families can “re-visit”

their museum experience. This “re-visit” information could be online.

information that families want at the points of most interest to them, •

perhaps linked to a trail. Individual museums will need to work with families

to identify what this is.

collections related information for parents close to seating as they may •

be able to read it whilst children play. This will be most effective if the

information provided relates to the things children are playing with.

information that doesn’t require an overwhelming amount of text. Using •

formats that families find familiar may help, e.g. images with captions,

photos that provide real world context, picture book formats.

specially designed pictures and information on line. Families did try to •

use computers in the museums and clearly assumed that there might be

appropriate content for their young children. A museum website could

provide information to bring along to a museum or to look at back at home,

to reflect on, remember and share their visit with other family members.

What should museums do to maximise the learning potential of the environment?

maximise visual access for young children. Cases that start from floor •height, potentially interesting objects displayed low in cases and some paintings hung low can all help. Try to avoid breakable objects set on the floor as this sends mixed messages about touching.

locate seating near related displays, with activities taking place directly •adjacent to the seats to ensure the physical closeness of families is

maintained, even if children play independently.

19

make existing interactives more accessible to families with young children •

consider offering child-appropriate information at certain displays or parts •

of the building to support parents’ own knowledge and provide a talking

point if children are interested. This should only ever be as well as open-

ended exploration.

use design, location and signage to make it clear to all visitors what can •

and can’t be touched.

use familiar toys as ice-breaker activities in an exhibition which families can •

then immediately begin to access and use a trail or exploring tools for more

difficult galleries

5. Project background: aims, values and principles

The project was a partnership project across six museums in the South West. Four were members of the South West Museum Hub and took part through Renaissance funding, which also paid for community partnership involvement and project coordination. Two museums received additional funding through Strategic Commissioning which provided them with additional in-house capacity to take part.

Each project museum worked with a community partner experienced in working with families with children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. A full list of museums and project partners appears in Appendix 1. Each project worked with a set of families. The 2008 report The Changing Context of Parenting (Innovation Unit) makes it clear that the “vertical family” is becoming more common as people live longer and have fewer children. For this reason we define families as any intergeneration group that consist of one or more adult (usually over 18) with one or more children (usually under 18). They may or may not be blood related, but they know each other and operate as a family group.

5.1. Aim and project structure

The project’s overall aim was:

to identify the characteristics of resources, which effectively support parents •as first educators in museums and galleries.

The team recognised that to achieve this and to know what evidence they were looking for, they would need to develop their understanding of how families with pre-school children learn together and how a parent’s role works. Drawing from the structure used by the South West Museum Hub in Close Encounters With

20

21

Culture, the overall project had:

a scoping meeting, at which museum staff taking part met each other and •agreed a partnership agreement for recruiting a community partner

a ‘Shared Understanding’ day, at which museums and community partners •met for the first time to develop a shared set of project principles. A speaker from the National Strategies team at the Department of Children, Schools and Families shared their understanding of best practice in supporting family learning. This ensured that resource planning was based on the most up to date knowledge of effective practice and enabled the team to agree what successful family learning should look like.

a progress meeting, at which experiences were shared and a speaker from a •local centre supporting young parents came to talk about their needs.

a summary meeting at which preliminary findings were shared and •Amanda Heath from The Potteries Museum in Stoke talked about creating Communication Friendly Museums.

Each local project was shaped according to the partners’ needs and to meet their circumstances. A group of families and a professional working with families was involved in each local project. In some cases families had a series of visits to modify resource ideas, in others parents’’ views were sought and then a piloting visit was arranged. A short description of each local project is detailed in Appendix 2.

5.2. Values and Principles

With help from the National Strategies Team, the project team agreed a set of shared principles that would underwrite the development of resources to trial. These were based on the EYFS and on the experience of Torbay Early Years team in developing effective resources with parents. The full set of principles formed the evaluation framework and is listed in Appendix 3. A summarised set provided a simplified observation framework for museum staff to use (also Appendix 3).

This led to three key principles that underpinned the project. These were:That resources must be:

useable *•

based on active learning•

meaningful and relevant•

This meant that all resources should be fully inclusive, developmentally appropriate (i.e. enabling a play-based approach) and enable personalised learning, through choice and shared control.

* the project team defined usableas:•notoverwhelming•visual•multi-sensory• culturally inclusive • physically accessible to all • open-ended • intuitive touse,doesn’tneedmuchexplanation•offerschoice•ageappropriate•enablesparentandchildrentousetogether•enableschildtolead•notmuchwriting•physically transportable or able to be visited

6. Family learning context

The importance of parents’ role in learning has been consistently emphasised by government since the introduction of Every Child Matters (2003). It was picked up in Every Parent Matters (2007) and re-emphasised in the Children’s Plan (2007). It was embedded in the Early Years Foundation Stage, promoted through Local Authority parenting strategies and the Extended Schools core offer and re-visited in the research study: Parental Involvement in Children’s Education (2007). Government interest in supporting early learning in families was taken forwarded by the PEAL (Parent, Early Years and Learning) project 2005-8, which started with research and culminated in a national training programme.

Government thinking has been highlighted in the recent booklet: The Impact of Parental Involvement in Children’s Education (DCSF, 2008), which differentiates between involvement in school and co-engagement in learning activities. It links the latter to raised attainment at school. The message is clear. The government considers that parental engagement in children’s learning is a key factor in positive outcomes for children and as a means to narrow the achievement gap. Whilst this view is taking hold in the formal education sector, and especially in early years, it is not yet clear how it aligns with traditional family learning programmes or parenting support initiatives.

Many museums have long seen themselves as venues for family learning and in recent years there have been a number of initiatives to raise awareness of what it

22

means to offer a family friendly environment. The Kids in Museums initiative has recently re-launched its Manifesto, interestingly removing calls for a crèche and instead emphasising families learning together. The Thames Valley Museums Group took part in a family friendly initiative, which was then rolled out across the South East and Renaissance North West have recently published research into family learning in museums. (Renaissance North West: Evaluation of the North West Museum Hub Family Learning Initiatives NIACE 2008)

In October 2008 MLA collaborated with NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education), which researches and supports family learning, to produce Families, learning and culture: Inspiring families through museums, libraries and archives. The publication provides a useful definition of the kinds of family learning provision that museums can offer, emphasising the social and collaborative nature of family learning in contrast to activities for children.

Despite being a long-running issue and having so many sectors interested in it, there does not appear to be a widely agreed definition of the characteristics of high quality, parent facilitated family learning. The EPPE (Effective Provision of Pre-school Education) study suggests a set of family behaviours that typify children with higher outcomes, but this list is contested by many as only providing a partial picture. NIACE have produced quality indicators for family learning, but these mainly relate to taught family learning programmes, not the informal independent learning that takes place in most museums. The PEAL model offers insight into the importance of relationships, respect, equality and communication but is essentially focused on day-to-day, face-to-face relationships.

This project was therefore researching an important issue but needed to put together its own frame of reference.

7. Evaluation method

Having the skills to interact, and understanding the value of adult:child interaction, varies between individual families. There is also however a well documented link between family interaction levels and advantage/disadvantage, with the children in the most advantaged homes hearing on average 1,500 different words a day and those in the least advantaged only hearing 500. This study therefore did not seek to “assess” the levels of interaction. Rather, it looked for resources that could enable families to interact in ways in which they felt comfortable.

The nature of the information needed, required first hand observations. Children

23

under 5 cannot be interviewed or surveyed. Their interactions, engagements and learning needed to be observed and noted. Similarly, it is not practical to try to interview or survey parents who are looking after young children. Whilst parent feedback could be sought informally through each local project, the main evidence of parent’s interactions needed to be through observation of the resources in action, since there was no guarantee that parents would even be aware of the behaviours observers were looking for.

The project therefore needed a framework for making sense of the observations: a set of characteristics of effective resources and a definition of effective family learning behaviours that would enable observers to know what to look for and to recognise it when they saw it.

The ORIM framework offered one solution. The ORIM framework was devised by Peter Hanlon at Sheffield University to assess parents’ engagement in children’s literacy development. It has subsequently been used in a number of studies related to early learning, including PEEP’s Room to Play project 2006-8. PEEP (Peers Early Education Partnership) is a well-known and respected early intervention initiative that supports parents as children’s first and most important educators.

ORIM stands for Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Modelling, bringing together the four pillars of shared learning. It provides one of the few definitions of what a parent facilitated family learning experience should look like. For the purposes of this project the ORIM framework was defined as:

Opportunities for learning about the museum or its collections

Recognition of children’s interests, knowledge and achievements

Interaction around the building or collections

Modelling of “learning behaviour” by adults

Whilst clearly there is value for children and their families in any learning that takes place in a museum, the ORIM framework provided the study with a chance to focus in on learning specific to the setting. It enabled the identification of resources that seem to intrinsically prompt museum-focused learning and also highlighted ways of using resources for maximum learning impact.

Recognising children’s knowledge, skills or attributes is an important part of being able to engage in their learning. It also provides family adults with opportunities to praise, which in turn affirm particular behaviours and ensure that children see learning being valued.

Interaction (both verbal and non-verbal) is central to social learning. This study therefore emphasised seeking to identify the conditions under which that

24

interaction is focused on the collections or buildings.

Modelling is also crucial in social learning models, drawing on Bruner’s ideas of cognitive “scaffolding” and also on ideas of observational or imitative learning. A parent modelling how to learn is not only providing a positive role model but is communicating their attitude towards learning at the same time.

The ORIM framework alone however could not provide the project with a complete picture of successful support for family learning focused on outcomes for children. This needed to include motivational aspects such as enjoyment and relevance and emotional aspects such as relationship building. For this reason, this study used the framework in conjunction with a framework based on the characteristics of effective practice drawn from the EYFS. (See Appendix 3)

The EYFS provides a wide ranging definition of effective practice in offering learning opportunities to pre-school children. This is based on extensive research, particularly the long-running EPPE (Effective Provision of Pre-School Education) project. The team developed a set of characteristics of successful resources, drawn from the EYFS (see 5.1 and Appendix 3).

A shortened list that summarised the most important features was used as a simplified framework for observation data.

The group agreed that successful resources in museums

are usable•

encourage babies’ and children’s communication •

build the relationship between children and parent/carers •

provide opportunities to explore, play and learn together•

ensure families feel sufficiently secure and confident to explore and participate •

encourage parents to act as facilitators, extending children’s learning rather •than always leading it

provide the opportunity for a balance between child initiated and adult •initiated activities

These headings are therefore used in the Section 8:Findings below.

7.1. Resources piloted

A wide variety of resources were piloted (see table below). In almost all the museums, families were given a choice of resources. Due to the project budget, no computer based resources were developed although it should be noted that where computers were already on offer in the museums a number of families tried to use them.

25

Museum Resources observed

Bristol City Museumand Art Gallery

Explorer Packs: a backpack with torch, magnifying glass, •binoculars and cuddly toy animals or puppetsSeaside box: books, toy sea creatures, “sea” fabric, •mermaid fabric, pirate hat, treasure chest, treasure, shells, magnetic fishing game, buckets, talking tinAnimal box: large feathers, pocket dice with pictures of •animals to find, plastic animals, puppets, masks and headdresses, talking tinTrail: laminated set of picture cards to hunt•

Cheltenham Museumand Art Gallery

Drawing tables•Curious creatures basket: soft toys, puppets and masks•Picture trail: a set of laminated cards of curious creatures •to find around the MuseumNature box: mini-beasts, magnifying glasses•Stay and Play (already existed): play area with doll’s •house, dressing up, books, puzzles and toys related to museum themesFarm animal box: included carry round challenge find a •home for the toy animals, books, toy animals, pull along lamb, fabric farmer figureSeascape box: watery sounds musical instruments, blue •fabric, small boatsSeaside box: objects to make a seaside “tableau”•Doll’s pram: find me a mummy challenge•Shopping trolley with replica food: linked to nearby •paintingWindow box: a set of cars, busses etc linked to large •window overlooking the street

Plymouth CityMuseum and Art Gallery

“Archaeological dig” boxes: a tea set hidden in a box •full of corks and paper strips, plus a mug tree to hang it onParts of a large doll in a box of paper and fabric strips which when found can be Velcroed onto the doll’s head and body nearby

Moths and Lizards: a roll of fabric with a set of felt •moths and lizards that can be stuck onto it using Velcro. The moths match an exhibit and the lizards match interpretation panels in the Darwin exhibition

A small world seaside (Not seen in action): a seascape •made of felt with small boats and figures for small world play next to related paintings.

26

Museum Resources observed

Russell-CotesArt Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth

Explorer buckets and bags: children choose a bucket •or a bag and then choose tools to take round with them. These included: an explorer’s hat, torch, magnifying glass, binoculars, toy camera, gel pad for drawing.

Carry round challenges: Find the colour: a set of •coloured squares in a bucket, with a bag attached. Find a colour match and pout the square into the bag.Find the animal: a set of animal masks, soft jigsaws, finger puppets and a singing cuddly bird to match to the collections and play pretend.Imaginative Play bags (x2): find the objects and then pretend to be like them using the props provided.

Music box: included musical instruments with ideas •for relating them to nearby paintings

Coloured blocks: a set of interestingly coloured blocks •with a suggestion for making your own version of a nearby painting

Fruit Seller box: plastic fruit, dressing up, fabric and a •plate to recreate the Fruit Seller picture

Magnetic board: (already existed) a set of Manga •line drawings that can be matched to pictures in the exhibition or used to create a scene on the board.

St Nicholas Priory, Exeter

Rat bags: carry bags containing cloak, rat puppets, •drawing equipment, jester bells, disposable camera, torch, modelling dough

Cellar box: building bricks construction jigsaw, hand •bells, books, Tudor cloaks for adults and children also in cellar

Dining Hall box: fuzzy felt food, jigsaws, kaleidoscopes, •books

Kitchen: pot pourri making using pestle and mortar•

Bedroom: baby doll in small scale bed, dressing up•

Great Hall box: hobby horses, quoits, skittles, cup and •ball, pirate hat, books,

27

Museum Resources observed

Torquay Museum

Explorer Packs: backpack and choice of: hat, pencil •and paper, magnifying glass, binoculars, torch

Drawing tableJmodified) different coloured paper and •crayons, objects to draw, brass rubbing plates, scissors and sticky tape

Light box den: den area partitioned off with see through •net curtain, containing light box and plastic dinosaurs

Projected animals: OHP with coloured acetate and •plastic animals and mini beasts for shadow play

Assorted musical instruments on rug in front of •instruments case

Plastic snakes at snake exhibit•

Different sized coloured elephants next to wildlife •tunnel (already existed)

Toy farm in farmhouse gallery•

7.2. Data sample

Data was collected through observation at all six sites by the evaluation consultant. A total of 61 families was observed.

Families observed included families with one, two and three children, although most just had one. Parents and cadres were mainly mothers but also included fathers, grandparents and childminders.

Families came from a range of social and cultural backgrounds, including at least 12 bilingual families. Families included some who visited museums regularly, some who have occasionally visited, but the majority were families who did not usually visit.

How families were grouped on the pilot day is explained in the following table

28

Museum Resources Observed

Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives

Children’s Centre Stay and Play group came together as large group, with teacher and key workers. Split into three smaller groups to use the resources.Individual families in the museum were invited to trial resources.

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum

Children’s Centre families came together as a large group, with their teacher and key workers.Small group of parents with support worker from another local Children’s Centre came as a group.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Two families from the Refugee Women’s Centre came individually to trial resources.Individual families from “The Imaginators” museum group trialled resources.

Russell-Cotes Museum and Art Gallery, Bournemouth

Two families from Boscombe Children’s Centre couldn’t come on the pilot day but came subsequently and were observed by museum staff.Individual families from the Museum’s “Fun for Under Fives” programme helped trial resources.

St Nicholas Priory, Exeter

Children’s Centre families came as a large group with their teacher and key workers. Split into smaller groups to explore the building.

Torquay MuseumNursery families came in time slots across the day. The teacher stayed at the Museum all day to welcome them. Families explored individually or in friendship pairs.

Supplementary data was also gathered by museum project staff and by staff from the partner community settings. This ensured that all families taking part on the pilot day were observed and provided observations on a further 14 families from other pilot sessions.

7.3. Data tools

The following tools were therefore used:

consultant observations•

project team observations•

still photographs•

video footage•

informal conversations with parents following pilot sessions •

29

8. Findings: Characteristics of successful resources

The following characteristics of successful resources have been drawn from the definitions of effective practice in supporting young children’s learning and parents as children’s educators (see page 21). The headline characteristics line up with the framework the projects used to analyse their observations (see section 7).

8.1. Successful resources in museums are usable

The EYFS defines usability as being physically and developmentally appropriate and universally accessible. It says that learning resources should:

be physically accessible and safe•

be intrinsically interesting •

be developmentally appropriate: stimulating and following children’s •interests

be suited to the different ways in which babies and children learn•

meet all needs•

enable families to communicate in any language•

encourage babies and children to do the things they can•

give unambiguous messages about what behaviour is expected and be as •intuitive as possible

Key findings

Safetymost of the resources trialled were physically safe, however observing them •in use highlighted a number of potential hazards presented by parts of the existing learning environment, e.g. sharp corners on cases and shelves at toddler head height.a small number of resources included small items that could potentially be •choke hazards or fit up small noses, e.g. small shells.

Physical accessibility

putting resources on surfaces that were too high for children to •easily see or reach (even adult table height) tended to make them

30

less accessible. Families responded best to resources set on low surfaces or even the floor.

enclosed spaces such as dens and tunnels, whilst physically safe and attractive •to children, tended to separate family adults from their children.

although child-sized backpacks were very popular, they did not make the •explorer tools very accessible. After a first few awkward attempts to get things out, children tended to use the things in their hands or round their necks. The small rubbery buckets used by the Russell-Cotes Museum offered the most accessibility to explorer tools. They could be set down without losing their shape, did not need to be opened or closed and were largely carried round by the children themselves.

Intrinsic interest

families using exploring tools such as torches and magnifying glasses needed •no instructions on what to do or what to look at. Families followed their own interest, usually the interest of the children, although some parents suggested things to look at.

children found toy cameras interesting, particularly because they had a •satisfying shutter sound and “say cheese” voice. Whilst parents were not interested in the cameras themselves, they showed interest in children’s pretend pictures.

many families found drawing and mark-making intrinsically interesting and •spent a long time engaged in it, even prolonging their visit to include it.

domestic role play toys, such as pretend food, prompted families to play together.•

parents were drawn to musical instruments and younger children especially •found them interesting.

intriguing resources such as ‘Talking Tins’ and kaleidoscopes were used by •many families, being interesting enough for some to read instructions.

placing resources in galleries whether the content was intrinsically family •friendly, such as natural history galleries, helped ensure interaction. However, families used trails and exploring tools to investigate paintings, historic room sets and world culture displays.

Age appropriateness

being developmentally appropriate for children under 5 does not guarantee •that a resource will support parents in engaging children with museum collections or buildings.

exploring tools were the best resources for enabling families to follow• children’s interest.

31

matching games, picture trails and carry round challenges were the best •resources for parents to stimulate children’s interest.

tactile materials, things that made sounds and things to manipulate were •good at stimulating babies’ interest.

whilst exploring tools and musical resources stimulated one to three year •olds’ interest, their main preoccupation tended to be physical exploration of the building. The most successful resource for enabling them to explore the space without dominating their group was push along toys such as miniature shopping trolleys.

some parents who just had children this age spent most of their visit •exploring the stairs, the sound of floor boards and large open spaces with high ceilings.

Suitability to the different ways children learn

not all children enjoyed hunting for things, although the majority did. Having •a choice was important as it enabled families to try different things and to spend longer on things that children enjoyed. Parents reflecting on their visits mentioned a wide range of activities children had especially enjoyed.

giving children an initial choice of carry round tools seemed to promote a •sense of ownership and a determination to use the resource, for example many children chose (and used) binoculars although it was questionable how many of them could see very much through them.

“She loved the ownership of the rucksack.”

Meeting all needs

whilst the exploring resources provided something to physically hold, they •were mainly aimed at increasing visual exploration. They were therefore not sufficient on their own to cater for children’s sensory needs, especially for children with visual impairment.

some carry round resources contained more tactile materials like puppets •and modelling dough or sound resources such as small sets of bells. The logistics of carrying these however meant that they were not used as much.

the gallery based resources offered a wider sensory experience in a more •easily accessible form.

32

Parent

they also offered an alternative to children who did not particularly enjoy •hunting, who lacked confidence to explore or did not feel immediately comfortable in new spaces.

whilst there was a lot of cross-over between what girls and boys enjoyed, •parents pointed out that dressing up should be inclusive for boys. Construction toys proved attractive to boys and to fathers (although not exclusively).

Project Observations

In Bristol Museum the magnetic fishing game seemed to be an activity the children wanted to enjoy independently, with perhaps some encouragement or word of praise from an adult willing to be close but not disrupt play. A three year old bilingual boy on his first visit to a museum concentrates for quite some time on the activity whereas for the first part of the visit he had been quite unsettled and drifted around, telling his mother he didn’t like the animals, he was scared of dinosaurs etc. His mother stays nearby watching and making occasional comments, relieved that he is now happy.

In Cheltenham Museum a mother with a child of two and a baby of 12 weeks is supporting her daughter to play with the doll’s house. The mother explains that her daughter lacks confidence in new spaces and is very shy. She has been physically clinging to her mother since coming into the Museum. Playing with the doll’s house encourages the little girl to let go of her mother and begin to move the pieces for herself. As they leave the play area to explore further, she takes a piece of furniture from the house with her.

very few resources provided relied on written instructions. In most cases where •instructions were needed they were provided using photographs of families using the resources, perhaps with some simple text. The photographic “instructions” were used most by families who find museums difficult to access.

most of the museums had culturally diverse collections so exploring tools •enabled families to find any points of cultural reference for themselves. This was more difficult for St Nicholas’s Tudor Priory, due to the nature of the displays.

whilst no resources were culturally insensitive, no specific attempts to link to •other cultures appear to have been made.

Valuing home languages

the intuitive nature of most of the resources provided meant that English was •not a pre-requisite to participation. Bi-lingual families observed used both English and their home languages for family interactions.

no single type of resource seemed to encourage home language use: some •

33

families used home language when giving instructions, some in identifying and matching things, some when a particular object made a cultural connection, for example two mothers had a conversation about whether peacocks came from India.

Encouraging independence in babies and children

the open-ended nature of many of the activities and the age appropriateness •of the resources meant that there were no observed instances of parents doing things for their children that children could have done for themselves.

the main exception was where younger children were kept in buggies. Whilst •sometimes this was purely a practical response to the adult to child ratio in the family, safe and comfortable areas with resources did enable many families to give their babies and toddlers the chance to engage independently.

Unambiguous messages

because museums are a “shared space” resources need to be visible and •clearly meant for families to use. Some families, particularly those not used to visiting museums, seemed to almost need permission to use resources. Setting things physically low or on small tables and chairs, putting resources near seating, and ensuring that resource boxes were open and the contents either spilling out or clearly visible was effective.

all the musical instruments provided were age appropriate and very popular. •However, instruments signal that making a noise is expected and in some cases, slightly quieter or more melodic instruments could have been chosen that would have had less impact on other visitors.

many visitors, not just young children, have difficulty knowing what can and •can’t be touched in a museum. Families who find museums difficult to access or are not regular museum goers tend to be even more unsure. Whilst the resources provided did not appear to increase this confusion, it also did not stop children and adults wanting to touch the collections.

8.2. Successful resources in museums encourage babies’ and children’s communication

The EYFS highlights the importance of language: both for children’s thinking and their communication. Communication is also at the core of the social learning that goes on in families and in helping to build family relationships. Children need to be encouraged to communicate, whether verbally or non-verbally, and for this to happen, parents need to communicate with their children.

The EYFS notes that successful resources should include linking to home

34

languages, ensuring that language is not a barrier to communication. It also notes that children need to be motivated to communicate and suggests that resources that successfully prompt communication:

connect with children’s existing knowledge and extend it•

provide points of familiarity as well as intriguing novelty•

provide information or resources to enable children to tell everyone involved •in their learning about their visit

The Close Encounters with Culture project established that museum collections and buildings intrinsically offer motivation for young children to communicate and give parents and carers reasons to talk to babies. The following section looks at whether certain kinds of resources seemed to capitalise upon that opportunity.

Key findings

What got children communicating?

where children took the lead in activities they tended to communicate more. •Where they were exploring, hunting, searching and discovering they tended to exclaim and identify objects or encourage parents to come over or hurry up. They also used non-verbal communicating such as pointing, waving, beckoning and shining their torch.

making choices also encouraged children to talk: even the simple choice of •where to go next.

real and toy cameras prompted children to speak when they wanted to either •organise parents to be in a “photo”, ask them for their help, or show them the resulting picture.

children responded to parents’ direct questions, e.g. “What can you see?” •

where children and parents played together with a toy or resource, short •conversations revolved around finding or identifying pieces and taking turns.

children’s most extended communications were in •imaginary play or small world play. In general, this was not a form of play most parents were interested in engaging in in the museum setting. This kind of extended narrative was therefore largely confined to children talking to friends or siblings, with the exception of the table setting in St Nicholas’s Priory where families role played eating together.

short episodes of pretend play took place in family groups where a role play •‘task’ was engaged with, for example taking a pretend picture, using a replica

35

sweeping brush, feeding pretend chickens

some families used puppets to ‘talk’ to each other, although children’s •contributions were often non-verbal.

What got babies and toddlers communicating?

babies and toddlers most actively communicated when they were out of •their buggies, although some parents and older siblings brought resources to buggies.

young children responded to different things depending on their stage of •development. Those who were just beginning to move were often excited by the museum space. More sedentary babies responded to bold colours, tactile and sound resources and things they could manipulate.

some toddlers had exploring resources. Binoculars and magnifying glasses •were popular, although binoculars were too difficult for many toddlers. These seemed to help parents find things in the displays to talk about, often lifting their children up to see.

babies and toddlers often watched their family members and sometimes •imitated them. They were often held up to displays or artworks as older siblings used their exploring or matching resources.

Project observations

In Bristol Museum a 15 month old boy is being carried by his mother as she points out animals to his brother, who is shining his torch on them. As the mother says “Deer” and “”Raven” the 15 month old copies the sounds, trying to say each word. In Cheltenham, a toddler holds one of the curious creatures matching cards and copies the way his older sister has looked for the objects.

What got families communicating?

matching actives stimulated communication. Parents tended to take the lead •in these activities, so the pattern of conversation tended to be a parental question, followed by a child’s action accompanied by verbal or non-verbal communication. Parents would then often confirm the child’s choice, praising their efforts or knowledge. Sometimes parents would add information or explain

36

about the object found. It appeared that the further the object to be found was from the starting point, the more opportunities for communication. For example a pocket dice had a picture of an animal on each face and children needed to look around the gallery to find them, whereas a doll with body parts to attach simply needed children to find the appropriate parts in a nearby box. Although both were fun and equally engaged with, the dice prompted more communication and the doll led to mainly adult directed talk.

picture trails and carry round challenges tended to be directed by parents. •Parents reminded children what they were looking for or asked what they should look for next. They suggested possibilities or asked children what they had found.

whilst the exploring tools did not always prompt children to verbally •communicate they did tend to provide parents with something to talk about.

toys in galleries also prompted families to communicate. Parents often sat •down at this point, which prolonged the opportunity for conversation

Project observations

In Bristol Museum a mother uses the puppet to talk to and encourage her 20 month old son to explore the contents of the backpack. He picks up the binoculars, hangs them round his neck and calls her attention to them. He looks through both ends then turns to another adult and repeats the actions. He says ‘backpack’ a number of times, exploring the sound of the word and imprinting it in his memory.

8.3. Successful resources in museums encourage parents to listen actively to their children

Active listening is the cornerstone of effective family learning. As the ICAN materials ‘Learning to talk, talking to learn’ (ICAN, 2007) point out, active listening enables adults to understand children’s preoccupations and interests, affirm

37

and sensitively correct their language use and extend their thinking, building on their existing understanding. The EYFS points to active listening as a key to adults effectively supporting the development of children’s communication skills and the EPPE research highlights the importance of active listening as a basis for ‘shared sustained thinking’, which they categorise as the most effective early learning dialogue.

Active listening requires:

focusing on the child and not doing anything else •

showing you are listening through body language and subsequent actions•

being interested in what the child is saying•

verbally confirming what the child says•

asking questions related to what the child has said or done•

only stating your own ideas after the child has had the chance to •communicate

Of course, observation cannot determine whether or not a resource actively promotes active listening, without being familiar with parents’ usual styles of interaction with their children. However, observations did provide some insights into the kinds of situations where active listening might occur.

Key findings

Being at the same level

Since there is quite a height difference between adults and pre-school children, parents tended to need to physically make sure they were at the same level as their child to actively listen to them. This was achieved in a number of ways:

bending over•

lifting children•

crouching down•

sitting together•

38

Although parents were happy to do all of these things, the first two are physically wearing and the third can be difficult for some people. Having the chance to sit together often provided a natural opportunity for actively listening to children. The provision of tables and chairs, rugs, padded seating and cushions did not, on its own, however guarantee active listening.

Project Observations

In Torquay Museum, a mother is sat next to her four year old son who is drawing. She is not drawing herself but is fully focused on watching him. She smiles when he looks up and asks him about his drawing, bending close to hear his reply.In Cheltenham Museum a mother sits on a padded seat, with her baby nestled beside her and her older child on the floor. She hands her older child a magnifying glass and bugs in resin to look at, leaning towards him to hear what he says. She gives the baby something from the basket to hold. The older child and mother look at each other through the two magnifying glasses and laugh.

Resources that put children in charge and where the parent consented to follow their lead tended to require the adult to actively listen to their child and intrinsically included a number of active listening behaviours, e.g. being interested in what the child is saying, demonstrating interest and asking related questions.

Project Observation

In Bristol Museum, staff noticed that parents were more likely to crouch down at the child’s level and actively look with them when the child was using a magnifying glass, rather than standing back and not engaging. This led to shared conversations. Even if the younger ones didn’t manage to use it ‘properly’ it was a good tool for involving parents.

39

Finding and matching things

Although hunting and matching often involved physical separation for short times, it also often brought families physically together to look at something. The finding often resulted in parents confirming children’s communication and offered opportunities for parents to ask further related questions.

Choosing things

In some circumstances choosing things to play with can also prompt active listening. Parents who arrived in larger groups tended to step back from choosing and allow children to make choices by themselves, with friends or with their teacher or key worker. In smaller groups, parents tended to move physically closer and encourage children to think about their choices. They gave children their full attention, helped them physically access resources, sometimes asked questions or made suggestions.

Activities that involved explicit decision-making by children, for example some of the carry round challenges or the toy cameras, tended to elicit an active listening response from parents.

40

Pretend play

Although pretend play, especially small world play in which children establish the narrative and parents affirm and extend it, has the potential for adults to actively listen to children, only two examples of parents playing in this way were observed. Overall, whilst children seemed keen on pretend play, parents tended to step back from imagining. The main exception to this was pretending to eat and drink. However in that case, parents were more likely to take the lead than to actively listen.

8.4. Successful resources in museums build the relationship between children and parent or carers

Naturally any kind of social learning relies on a positive relationship. The EYFS underlines the significance of a good relationship between parent and child and stresses the importance of parents in developing a child’s positive self image, through praising effort and celebrating success. It recognises that children will be capable of different levels of involvement built on varying degrees of sociability and energy and indeed the same is true of parents. Ideally in family learning, family adults model a whole range of positive behaviours including learning behaviours. Family relationships are built through a wide range of shared experiences, which help build a sense of belonging and identity.

Key findings

Enjoyment

whilst museum experiences cannot fundamentally alter relationships, having •an enjoyable experience as a family does have a beneficial effect. Parents reported being surprised by their own and their children’s level of enjoyment. Some parents who were experiencing difficulties in their home lives mentioned how nice it was to spend time together in a new environment.

parents reported back on children’s enjoyment, mentioning a wide range of •resources and aspects of the museums that had appealed to their individual child. Whilst a wide range of resources were popular, the following had appeal across the age range and for both boys and girls:

• torches, binoculars, magnifying glasses and backpacks

• tea sets, pretend food, mixing and pretend cooking

• drawing, rubbing and mark making

in all six observations only one child was observed being reprimanded. •This was a very mild rebuke at the very beginning of the visit and was not

41

Parent

repeated.

a number of parents commented that they were enjoying their visit as much •as the children were and some first time visitor parents asked about coming back for a repeat visit.

“We had such a lovely time. Lizzie got home and was telling her Nan and Dad all about it. She’s come on so much since being in the group. I was amazed she

wasn’t clingy. It’s a shame the project is coming to an end but we’ll try and visit the museum on our own”.

parents don’t enjoy outings where their children are not engaged and where •they either have to control their behaviour or expend a lot of effort keeping children amused. The resources provided enabled parents to interact at the level at which they felt comfortable and confident.

“She asked to look at the sleeping statue herself. That’s really nice because it’s not such hard work.”

Praise and encouragement

Overall parents were very positive towards their children, congratulating them on finding objects, completing tasks, making choices and answering parents’ questions. In some cases, children praised parents. Section 9.2 provides detailed findings of which resources most prompted parents to recognise children’s’ interests and achievements.

In Torquay Museum, three families are working together to find objects on the picture trail.

Adult: “Is there anything in this window that’s on your sheet?”Child 1: “I found one!”Child 2: “I see it!”Adult: “Good. Well done everyone.”

Sharing experiences

all the families observed shared their museum experiences to some extent, •with the majority being highly engaged together for most of their visit.

the range of resources on offer enabled families to choose to play and explore •

Parent

42

together and independently.

exploring and hunting resources tended to be shared experiences. •

resources where there were different parts to a set, or a range of resources •that required giving and taking also seemed to prompt shared experiences.

gallery situated play resources tended to be shared experiences for adults •with very young children, but also produced more independent and friendship play amongst older children.

generally where parents sat with children in play areas, they facilitated •children’s play, helped them get resources and encouraged participation but had fewer shared experiences. This level of contact still appeared to contribute to a positive relationship and may be necessary to help pace the visit.

the exception to this was drawing and mark making where •parents drew and did brass rubbings alongside their children. Family friendly seating may well have helped to both suggest and facilitate this shared experience.

one mother created a shared experience for her two year •old child using a dinosaur puppet. She and her son spent at least 15 minutes taking the puppet round the animal displays, looking for things it could eat. The sustained shared thinking that happened resulted in them considering whether the dinosaur should be vegetarian and the hunt switching to plants for it to eat instead of animals. This level of creative thinking was not observed elsewhere, but does demonstrate the kinds of games that museums could suggest to families.

parents did spend time looking at displays and building •features with children, separately from the resources. It is impossible to say whether the welcoming effect of the resources impacted on engagement. However, some regular museum visiting families commented that the resources had enabled them to explore new parts of the museum and discover exhibits they had not noticed previously.

“We often look round this bit. We give it a cursory look but there’s nothing much to make us take longer. This is great … we’ve looked more at the things in here than we

would have done normally.”

43

Parent on the addition of a resource box in the Seaside Gallery

A clear role for adults

most of the children were at ease in the museums, playing with other children •(familiar and new), with key workers and museum learning staff. It was the comfort level of the parents that seemed more crucial to the level of family engagement.

this was one of the few clear differences between regular museum visitors and •those new to museums. Regular visitors seemed confident of their role and therefore slightly more relaxed in their interactions. Those new to museums were most confident and most engaged with actives that gave them a clear role.

activities with a clear role included: •

picture trails (parents especially liked the paper version on which you •could tick off your finds)

children having explorer tools and taking the lead•

familiar activities such as drawing, building blocks, stacking toys and •jigsaws

musical instruments•

things that needed adult help, e.g. ‘talking tins’ or cameras•

Modelling learning behaviour

The resources that most encouraged parents to model learning behaviours were:

tools such as binoculars which parents demonstrated and, in some cases, •explained

activities where parents needed to lend their skills, e.g. brass rubbing•

resources they knew how to use, which they often modelled as a way to encourage •children’s participation

Section 9.4 provides detailed findings of resources that most prompted modelling.

44

8.5. Successful resources in museums provide opportunities to explore, play and learn

The EYFS advocates both play and active learning as the key approaches to successful early learning experiences. It emphasises the need to start from where children are: moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar. This includes:

using the experiences children bring from home and their settings as starting •points for new experiences

providing points of familiarity as well as intriguing novelty•

connecting with children’s existing knowledge and extending it•

maximising the chance of success for children by pitching activities at just •the right level

The EYFS says: ”Babies and young children learn by actively investigating the world around them and through social activity with people.” Active learners need to make choices and take some measure of control over their environment and the resources in it. This is the process that enables them to construct ideas and create a framework for thinking. They need to do this in a playful way, with resources that:

can be used in many different ways•

offer a variety of different kinds of play experiences to suit different preferences •and cultural approaches

value children’s own play preoccupations, e.g. superheroes•

stimulate play in different ways•

Key findings

Overall

all the resources offered opportunities for exploration or play. Those that were •taken up the least were the more “creative” and unusual play opportunities, which may have been because parents weren’t sure what to do. Almost all the suggested activities were at the right level for children.

some resources worked better for children than for adults. Children were •usually more confident than parents with creative play, although some parents were happy to do this once staff had modelled it. Fabric and toy sea creatures became a rock pool to explore in Bristol Museum. Whilst children joined in with staff straight away, adults only used the resource on a subsequent visit. Practitioners played with hobbyhorses, dressed up and engaged with

45

shadow play using plastic animals on an OHP. Whilst children played and learned through these activities, parents mostly watched or moved onto other things.

families from a range of cultures and social backgrounds took part in piloting •the resources. The preference of adults was for exploration, which often became exploratory play.

most families chose a mixture of shared active learning and facilitated or •independent play. The balance appeared to be helpful in sustaining the momentum of the visit, often lengthening the time spent in the museum

Active learning: exploring

the explorer tools worked best for active learning in most museum •environments. Both parents and children needed little explanation or encouragement to use the tools in their own way to explore and learn.

the tools themselves were familiar yet often intriguing. •Children don’t often play with torches in the day, there was a real reason to use binoculars, magnifying glasses were quick to master and the toy cameras made satisfying noises. The tools were simple, but not necessarily something children would have at home.

the tools were within children’s control and in addition •gave children control over where to go and what to explore.

having a free choice of displays and building features to interact with •enabled families to follow their own interests and preoccupations and make connections to their own cultures and existing knowledge.

the role play element of the tools, hats and bags combined with the open-•ended task of exploring blurred the distinction between active learning and exploratory play.

having things visitors could explore through touch, even if they couldn’t use •them, led to some excellent learning opportunities, with parents making links to children’s prior knowledge.

In St Nicholas Priory a mother and daughter are examining some quill pens at a writing desk. As the child touches the quills, her mother says:

Adult: “Oh are you doing some writing? Shall we have a go at writing with some feathers because there’s one in the bag?”

Child: “Yeah.”Adult: “Look there’s a little ink well. You put some ink in there, then you

dip the feather in and do some writing. It’s a bit scratchy.”

46

The child dips a feather in the ink well and tries to write.

Child: ”It doesn’t work.”Adult: “No. There’s no ink in there.”Child: “Why’s there no ink?”Adult: “May be it’s run out. Do you want to have ago at writing with the

feather in the bag?”Child: “Mummy, why haven’t we got ink?”Adult: “Why haven’t we got ink? Do you mean at home?”

Child nods.Adult: “Because our pens at home have the ink inside them.”

Active learning: hands on activities

Existing interactives and hands on experiences in the museums also offered active learning experiences where the actives were intellectually and physically accessible to the children. Sometimes these were social learning experiences, sometimes they were parallel and sometimes independent.

hands on exhibits based on cause and effect tended to provoke an initial •social learning experience. Children would physically explore and parents would try to explain. This would often be followed by children continuing to explore the same cause and effect whilst parents moved away.

hands on exhibits based on touching or handling objects provided short, •shared active learning experiences. Parents valued these.

“I would have liked to see more things he could hold.”

where replicas offered a chance to do something with them, as is the case •in St Nicholas’s Priory, a parallel active learning approach emerged. Adults tended to use sensory exploration, or try to use the object for its intended purpose, whilst children tended to move into imaginary play.

in some cases role play emerged, but seemed to centre around food and drink.•

47

Parent

Active learning: other resources

Other resources provided for aspects of active learning.

hunts, trails and matching resources enabled children over two to actively •investigate the world through social activity, both with parents and other children. They offered a good combination of familiar and intriguing objects to match and usually connected in some way to children’s prior knowledge. They were pitched at the right level and all children achieved success.

carry round challenges that offered a more open-ended task •provided more choice. Sometimes their completion did not seem intrinsically as satisfying as a closed task, e.g. matching all six animals on the dice.

objects to handle that relate to nearby displays also prompted •short episodes of active learning.

Project Observations

In Bristol Museums, two two-year-olds are brushing feathers against their cheeks and are then able to spot feathers in the Griffier painting nearby. One little girl brushed her younger brothers with feathers, whilst another did a little dance, wriggling her bottom as though she had long tail feathers like the birds in the nearby display.

In the Seaside Gallery a mother and son are exploring all the resources in the treasure chest. They pull out some shells. The mother holds the shell up to her son’s ear and asks if he can hear the sea. They try a few more times with different shells.

48

Play

where exploration tools were used, families could be seen engaging in •exploratory play, i.e. open-ended, non-directed exploration.

beyond exploratory play, most adults did not join in extended play with their •children, but did engage with children in a playful way. This tended to be characterised by parents engaging in short episodes of playing in and amongst completing tasks, such as hunting or drawing, exploring and facilitating children’s play.

apart from a small number of atypical examples, the only imaginary play •observed was playing eating and drinking. Parents played with tea sets and replica food.

some parents played with familiar simple toys with their children •such as stacking toys, shape sorters and jigsaws.

most of the play observed took place between children or with •children playing independently.

children played with siblings, with friends and they made friends with new •children using the resources provided.

Project Observations

In Bristol Museum a mother and two daughters are using the Seaside box at the same time as a father and his two sons, who they have not met. The children are of a similar age. Whilst the two parents interact with the two younger children, the two older children (between three and four years old) strike up a conversation. They have picked up some acetate pieces and created a game of using them as glasses, commenting on what colour everything turns. They continue to play a series of invented games for the next 10 minutes until one family has to leave.

children responded well to a wide range of play resources, according to •individual interest. Most popular were:

miniature animals, including dinosaurs•cuddly animals•a magnetic fishing game•tea sets•toys with moving parts, e.g. hobby horses, skittles•building blocks•

although many of the resources could be used in any number of ways, the •most open-ended play resources such as fabrics, were the least played with.

49

8.6. Successful resources in museums ensure families feel sufficiently secure and confident to explore and participate

The EYFS points out that unless learners feel secure and confident they will be unable to learn. For families in museums this may mean:

families knowing before a visit what they can expect•

families knowing what a museum offers when they begin their visit•

resources that respond to parents’ ideas and needs as well as children’s•

resources that make families feel welcome•

resources that promotes equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice•

Key findings

since most of the families observed had either come as part of the pilot •project or were familiar with the museum, issues of pre-visit information and information about resources on entry were not relevant. However, during piloting a number of families coincidentally in the museums either asked for information or began using the resources.

Parents’ ideas and needs

when asked for their thoughts, especially before a visit, parents tended to •focus on asking for things they felt their children would like and could do, rather than things for the family to do together.

many parents were keen on the idea of things children could touch or hold. •They also asked for things that made sound or movement.

after initial visits, some parents asked for themed trails and ideas for things •they could do with resources they found more challenging, like puppets.

observations showed parents having to rely on their own existing knowledge •and some parents commented on this after their visit.

“The displays were nice but information on some things was not obvious. He would lose interest if I could

not answer his questions.”

50

Parent

Feeling welcome and secure

in all the observed session no families looked ill at ease or uncomfortable, •even those on first time visits. However for some of the families who find museums most difficult to access, the observed session was not their first time in the museum and their levels of engagement had grown over time.

Project Observation

“Adults’ confidence to use the resources with their children without staff facilitation increased markedly over the four sessions (even though not everyone was able to come to all the sessions)” - Practitioner

In Bristol Museum, a grandmother who cares for her granddaughter during working hours and her two year old granddaughter are using an explorer backpack. Neither are usually very confident or outgoing, but they are actively engaged in finding all the real equivalents of the soft animals from the pack in the displays. Later they change pace and sit for some time quietly exploring the contents of the treasure chest in the Seaside Gallery.

having colourful and tactile play resources and family friendly drawing equipment •in gallery spaces encouraged families to see the spaces as “for them”

“I’ve never taken (my daughter) to the museum because of my experience when I was younger. I found it

didn’t really get my attention as there wasn’t a lot for younger children.”

musical instruments signalled that noise was acceptable•

51

Parent

“Places without the pressure to keep young children silent are far more relaxing to visit.”

seating played a crucial part in making families feel welcome. Tables and •chairs prompted drawing together and social interaction with other families. Rugs, cushions and resources on the floor signalled a place it was acceptable to sit. Comfortable, padded seats and low weight bearing surfaces in play areas offered parents places to snuggle close with children or perch as they watched or facilitated their play.

spaces needed to look, feel and be safe and secure for families to confidently •explore. Parents checked exits and positioned themselves where they could monitor the whereabouts of their child if they let them explore independently. They risk assessed resources and the environment, for example one parent moved breakable objects out of her child’s reach whilst another removed pieces that would not have been good for a baby. Parents did occasionally also assume that environments were safer than they were, allowing babies to crawl on surfaces that were not strong enough for example.

8.7. Successful resources in museums encourage parents to act as facilitators, extending children’s learning rather than always leading it

Whilst the EYFS emphasises the importance of encouraging children to be independent learners, it points out the role adults have in this. Independent learners should not be left to learn in complete isolation. Facilitating children’s learning through sharing skills, asking relevant questions and increasing access to appropriate resources makes children’s own learning efforts more effective.

Key findings

resources that provided parents with a clear role and children with a need for •parents tended to result in parents acting as facilitators.

Parents acted as facilitators when:

things needed explaining, such as binoculars, magnifying glasses and brass •rubbingthings needed organising: parents helped carry things, fetched resources •at drawing tables, pulled resources closer to their children, and rummaged through resource boxes for particular resourceschildren needed their help: parents opened boxes, helped steady pencils, •wrote or drew, gave children clues for where to find things and lifted children so they could see

Parent

52

St Nicholas Priory a mother and daughter are sitting on the floor, closely huddled together drawing together. They are talking quietly to each other. Dad and Granddad are exploring the kitchen exhibits.

Mother: “Daddy: that’s her chicken in a cage.” (showing the drawing)Father: “You drew that.”Mother: ”We drew it together. We both held the pen.”

They sit back on the mat. The mother suggests they look into the explorer bag and see what else is in there. The little girl pulls out jester bells. She takes them over to the chicken hut and jingles the bells at the chicken.

Child: “I’m jingling at it.”Adult: “We’ve got to go to a different room in a minute.”Child: “Yes and draw and write.”

In Torquay Museum two families are hunting using the picture trail. The boy spots something he thinks is on the picture sheet.

Child; “The golden head!”Adult: “Ah, the golden head. Well is it gold? It looks the same but it’s a different colour.”Child: “I must tell Miss Butler.” (teacher)Adult: “No, no. I think there is a golden head in the Museum. We just haven’t found it yet.”Child: (to his friend): “I found a golden head but it’s not gold. Have you seen the golden head?”

A mother and daughter are sat at the drawing table.

Ch: “Let’s do a picture first. What do you need to do?”The mother shows her how to do a brass rubbing using a crayon.

53

Adult: “Look. Like this.”

She gives the child some paper and then helps her stick it to the table. The child begins to rub.

Child: “I haven’t got the right pen.”Adult: “You’re just not doing it in the right place.”

The mother demonstrates on her own picture. The child points at the crayon she wants and the mother hands it to her. Both colour their own, sat side-by -side. The mother looks across at the child frequently, smiling at her.

Child: “I’m doing it like this. (turning the crayon sideways) I done it! I done a dolphin.”

8.8. Successful resources in museums provide the opportunity for a balance between child initiated and adult initiated activities

The EYFS recognises that for children to become independent learners, they need to have the opportunity to lead and initiate activities as well as be engaged by adult led activities. For any learners, motivation is strongly linked to the ability to follow your own interests and decide how, when and what you want to learn. Having control and ownership of your own learning in this way makes learning more relevant and enjoyable and helps develop learning skills.

In a social group such as a family, such a balance stops one party form dominating and ensures that children are empowered in the relationship.

Key findings

having a range of resources enabled most families to create this balance. •

children initiated a wide range of activities across the six museums, some of •which parents joined in with, some they facilitated and some they observed (see sections 8.5 and 8.7 above).

most resources were flexible enough to allow for either child or adult led •actives, for example some children picked up plastic animals and matched them to animals in the displays, whilst in other families, the parents suggested this to the child.

closed tasks with unfamiliar resources tended to result in the most adult •direction.

where this was the case having pictorial instructions enabled parents to share •the direction with children.

54

9. Findings: ORIM framework

What kinds of resources provide the most opportunity for learning about the museum and its collections?

Families with young children are not all the same. Individual children have different interests. Adults have different interests from children and from each other. Families interact in different ways. The answer to this question therefore varies across the families observed. The key thing to note is that one kind of resource alone is unlikely to meet all families’ needs. Having a range and an element of choice was observed to not only enable participation but to encourage and prompt family interaction.

Overall, portable resources seemed to offer more opportunities for learning about museums, encouraging families to move around museum spaces and increasing the opportunities to spot something interesting. Families responded well to the idea of a “mission”, even if that was as loosely defined as “exploring”.

Resources that used observation, hunting and matching skills and tools that facilitated exploration and problem solving opened up opportunities for a wide range of both individual learning for children and shared learning with adults. Matching pictures or toys to objects in displays led to identification, description and sometimes explanation. Torches and binoculars encouraged children to look around the space, with adults sometimes providing a narrative to their exploration.

Choices, such as what to “take a picture of”, provided pretend play opportunities with which adults felt comfortable. Whilst children were drawn to small world play toys and lots of adults were attracted to puppets, there was little prolonged

55

engagement with these toys, in relation to objects or buildings. Domestic role-play was universally engaging but only resulted in learning about the museum or its collections where the role play props were “historical”, e.g. a Tudor kitchen.

What kinds of resources provide the most recognition of children’s interests, knowledge and achievements?

Resources that enable children to succeed and to demonstrate their existing understanding, skills or interests help build a positive relationship. Across all six museums, the observations included very few incidents of children being “told off”, as all the activities were age appropriate and offered chances to succeed. The feedback from parents was positive with some parents at each museum actively asking about coming back for future visits.

Overall, the resources that seemed to prompt most praise were: •finding and matching things•drawing and writing•counting•choosingthings

Parents also praised children when they responded to questions about the displays.

Parents recognised children’s existing interests most where children were leading and initiating conversations. Resources that enabled children to take the lead or make their own choices sometimes resulted in children providing their own narrative for their actions, which parents often listened to and sometimes joined in with.

Familiar toys and resources enabled children to demonstrate their existing knowledge and parents to make connections with home.

What kinds of resources prompted the most interaction around the buildings or collections?

Even allowing for established interaction patterns, the amount of family interaction focused on the collections or building varied. Group dynamics made a big difference. However certain resources also seemed to consistently prompt museum-focused interaction. Exploratory tools such as torches and magnifying glasses prompted most joint interaction around displays. Picture hunts also prompted children and adults to look at displays together and talk about what they could see. This was not restricted to cases that included “trail objects”.

Explorer resources encouraged movement around the museum buildings, thereby prompting family interaction about buildings. Carry round challenges also did this, as did picture trials, if they included building features.

Resources based in individual galleries or related to specific exhibits were slightly less successful in this regard. Some resources were popular and prompted either children to play or families to interact, but the play and interaction was not immediately related to the collections. They did often however provide something for younger siblings to interact with, whist older children explored. Gallery

56

resources aimed at matching to nearby displays were the main exception. These prompted collections focused interaction. These interactions tended to be shorter, more adult directed, with the focus on matching the object and then moving on.

In St Nicholas’s Priory where most of the resources on offer are replica collections, much more interaction was collections related. The domestic context of cooking, eating and sleeping provided interaction opportunities. Depth of conversation and length of interaction were mainly determined by parent’s prior knowledge.

What kind of resources prompted the most modelling of learning behaviour by adults?

Many of the family adults were observed looking at the displays both on their own and with their children. Seeing family adults having an enjoyable and interesting museum experience provides a naturally positive role model for young children. However, this study was keen to identify resources that encouraged adults to actively model learning behaviours – consciously seeking to prompt their children to imitate in order that they could learn.

Binoculars, kaleidoscopes, magnifying glasses, rulers, cameras and talking tins all prompted parents to demonstrate how to use them through modelling the required actions. Familiar resources, especially musical instruments, puppets, shape sorting and stacking or “domestic” toys such as tea sets or brooms, also prompted adults to use them. This was sometimes modelling to encourage participation and sometimes co-playing. Drawing tables encouraged adults to draw or write alongside children and brass rubbing prompted adults both to demonstrate and have a go themselves.

Hunts and trails sometimes prompted a slightly different kind of modelling, where adults exaggerated behaviours so that children noticed them, for example saying out loud what they were looking for. Interestingly interactives designed for older children or adults often attracted family adults who then modelled their use to their children. Very few parents however read interpretative labels.

9.1. Opportunities to learn about the museum collections or building

Key findings

9.1.1 Some resources consistently offered opportunities for families to learn about the collections or the building.

Picture trails

These were very simple, with a small number of images of objects or building

57

features to find. The pictures were not given in a specific order, nor did they define a route and this seemed to encourage exploration beyond the limitations of the trail itself. Whilst laminated pictures to hold next to objects worked well, so did having a paper sheet and a pencil to tick things off.

Carry-round challenges

These were toys or other props carried round with a “mission” in mind. Successful examples include:

a colour challenge which consisted of a set of coloured fabric squares of •varying textures in a small bucket, with a bag attached. Once a colour had been found, the square could be put into the bag.

a farm animal challenge which asked families to find a home for a set of farm •animals

an animal challenge that consisted of a set of cuddly animals and puppets to •find in displays across a number of galleries

self made missions: some families made up their own missions using •resources, for example one family took a dinosaur puppet round a gallery looking for things for it to eat.

Exploring tools

These included magnifying glasses, binoculars, torches, rulers, explorer hats and backpacks. Children used these to look at things and parent and carers followed their lead. They led to active exploration following children’s own interests and enabled parents to identify objects or explain things linking to children’s existing knowledge.

Toys that matched objects

These included plastic animals and sea creatures, cuddly animals, animal puppets, pocket dice with pictures from the displays in each pocket and ‘find me’ on each side, a set of magnetic Manga sketches, a set of felt animals that matched collections and animal outlines on display banners, coloured tactile pieces that make up an abstract painting and plastic fruit that matched a painting. In each case the level of matching offered a good amount of challenge for children and family adults were able to either introduce or affirm appropriate vocabulary.

Drawing

Drawing was offered in a number of different ways:

58

a carry round gel pad with stylus on which children could draw or write and •then rub off

small paper pads for children or adults•

wipe off blackboards/whiteboards•

low tables with small chairs or stools at which paper was provided•Drawing contributed most to learning about the collections where it was either part of the “mission” or where tables had been set in line of sight of objects that children (and sometimes adults) wanted to draw.

Recording things

Families enjoyed having digital Polaroid cameras, disposable cameras and even toy cameras to explore the museums. On the observation days the most used were the toy cameras. Family adults prompted children to choose what to photograph and then talked about the resulting pretend picture. Setting up photos also offered opportunities for children to learn positional language and vocabulary associated with the museum building. “Talking tins” (simple voice recorders) were also popular. Although mainly used for recording animal noises they did spark off some interesting conversations.

9.1.2. Some other kinds of resources offered opportunities to learn about collections or museums buildings, but were taken up by fewer families.

Dressing up

Dressing up opportunities were not offered as a main activity but included masks, hats, scarves, magic cloaks, Tudor cloaks and full Tudor replica dress. Reactions to these varied. Most children were happy to wear explorer hats and they loved the backpacks. After the first few times of taking things in and out, they mainly ignored whatever was left inside and used the backpacks as explorer costume.

Some children were prepared to wear masks but overall, most were not. A pirate’s hat was very popular with one boy and a Tudor dress with a girl, but overall, most children and most adults did not use dressing up to explore the museums.

Small World play

Small world animals were available and in one museum were used on a light box to encourage investigation and shadow play. A toy farm and a doll’s house were also available. Whilst children were attracted to these toys and in some cases showed high levels of engagement and learning from them, most adults were not. The play tended to be individual children or peers and the play was generally not transferred or linked to the museum displays by families. In the instance of the toy farm the one adult that did play with her child thought the

59

farm toy was meant to be a replica of an historic farm and so assumed that the trailer provided was indicative of how trailers worked in the past.

Other resources taken up by few families included: related story books, light box play, a quiet “den” and materials to make your own seaside scene related to a nearby picture. Some of these resources might have been used more if there had been fewer families visiting at once.

9.1.3 Some kinds of resources were attractive to families, but missed the opportunity to harness the learning opportunities to the museum’s collections or building.

Where some toys could be used in a self-contained way and the link to the displays was not immediately and intuitively obvious, learning opportunities were missed. A set of coloured building blocks for example was attractive to families and led to learning but not related to the museum, because the suggested linked activity was too difficult.

Families interacted with familiar games such as shape sorting, stacking rings and jigsaws. Although these interactions contributed towards a positive museum experience, helped pace the visit and build relationships, the immediate link to collections was missed. In many cases a simple label or picture link to the displays might better capitalise on the learning opportunities.

Project observations of families using resources to learn together

In Plymouth Museum, a mother and 2 and a half year old son are in the Darwin exhibition playing with some felt animal shapes. The mother shows her son a wormery.

Adult: “Can you see the wiggly worms?’Child: “Wiggly worm.” (quite indistinct)

They go back to the cloth strip that is part of the butterfly toy and the mother wriggles it to make a wiggly worm. Her son jumps over the cloth and she laughs. He jumps over a few more times, back and forth making a squeaking noise as he jumps.

Child: “I want to see wiggly worms again.”Adult: “Put all these back. Put them in a row and say “Goodnight.”He puts the felt creatures back on the strip and says “wiggly worm, wiggly worm.” (clearly)

In Bristol City Museum, a small group of parents and children are in the “Seaside Gallery”. A parent and two year old daughter are using a “talking tin” voice recorder. Another parent comments that perhaps they could be

60

used to record fish noises instead of ‘Bob the Builder’, ‘Hello’ etc. This prompts a big discussion between the adults and children about the noises fish and jellyfish might make. There are various sucking, blowing and popping noises and a wobbly dance to mimic a jellyfish floating in the current.

In Torquay Museum a mother and four year old boy are using a picture sheet, looking for each object.

Child: “I’ve found a mummy.”Adult: “Did you find the little boy yet?”Child: “No, but I’ve found a mummy, look!”Adult: “You found a mummy. Now you can tick him off. These are all from Egypt. That’s a country that’s far, far away.”

Her son has spotted the statue of the boy king (also on the sheet) and she goes on to explain that the model looks a bit like the boy who died and became the mummy.

In the Russell-Cotes Museum a mother and her two and a half year-old son have chosen a pretend camera, binoculars and an explorer’s hat. They set off round the Museum, with the little boy leading.

Adult: “What do you think? Which way do you want to go? That way? OK I’ll follow you.”

After taking pretend pictures of some of the paintings and the ceiling, they go upstairs. His mum points out the birds painted on the ceiling of the room.

Child: “Let me take a picture.”Adult (looking at the pretend picture): “I like that picture.”Child: “Me too.”Adult: “What do you think that is?” (pointing) “That’s a fire place where you can sit and get snugly and warm.” She gives her son a cuddle.

In St Nicholas Priory, Exeter a mother with three children (two very active boys aged three and four and a toddler) are finishing playing in the cellar where they’ve spent a long time building with the castle block set. They have already explored the feeling of the “rocks” that make up the walls and have looked closely at a model of St Nicholas’.

Adult: “Let’s move into the next one ‘cos we’ve got lots and lots and lots to see.” (They are still in the first room)Child: “Look at my house” pointing to block model.Adult: “Brilliant. Let’s take a photo.” She uses her phone. “Let’s pick it all

61

up.” They make an attempt to tidy up.Child: “I love you” to the model priory before they leave.

In Cheltenham Museum a mother, key worker and two boys are finding a home for a toy lamb, horse and some cows. They look at all the objects they go past, naming them and discounting them as anything to do with the farm animals. They get to a sedan chair that the children can go inside. The Mother crouches down to the same height as the children, points to the diagram on the label and explains: “People go inside and then they put these poles through (pointing) and then they carry them.”

9.2. Recognition of children’s interests or achievements

Key findings

9.2.1 Parents praising children

Finding things

Parents praised their children when there was a hunting task and children found the object or feature. Praise was not limited to individual “finds”, but continued on extended tasks such as spotting animals in paintings in a number of different galleries.

Successful matching and naming of objects was also praised, with parents affirming the name and recognising existing knowledge.

Drawing and writing

Drawing and writing were free choice activities, provided for, but not an integral part of any challenge or activity. Four of the six museums offered drawing or writing resources. Two offered drawing tables, two offered carry round mark making

62

materials. Where the tables were offered, most children chose to participate. Only some children chose to use the carry round materials.

At the tables, most parents either sat with children or stood nearby watching. Most parents who sat down drew or did a brass rubbing alongside their children. Where children had portable mark making resources, some parents sat down with children whilst others stood and watched. Where they were sat side by side, parents commented directly on children’s work, asking what was being represented, describing the marks made in a positive way and praising effort. Where children stood to make marks, they showed their results to their family adults and were always praised for how well they had done.

Counting

Whilst no formal counting activities were provided, a number of activities had parts that could be counted. A small number of families decided to count. The fact that most of the children observed were under three may be why only a small number chose to do so. Counting was usually initiated by parents with children joining in or taking over. Where children took part in counting, parents praised them.

Choosing things

Resources that gave children choices led to both praise and recognition of children’s existing knowledge and interests. Even simple choices such as where to go next were verbally praised. With the portable resources, the choices were less adult directed, with most parents willing to let children take the lead. Parents following children provided a non-verbal affirmation of their choices.

Questions about displays

Parents asked a lot of questions as they and their children looked at displays. The majority of parents asked children to identify an object or something in a painting. They also asked children what colour things were and what noises animals made. Where children tried to answer, they were praised and “correct” answers were repeated and affirmed.

9.2.2. Parents recognising children’s interests

Exploring toolsChildren’s use of binoculars, torches and magnifying glasses appeared to highlight where they were looking and what they might be interested in. In addition to giving children the opportunity to genuinely explore their own interests, they seemed to signal to adults what to comment on. Parents noticed for example children investigating how the torch beam changed as the torch

63

got closer to an object or how absorbed children were in looking carefully at certain things. One adult commented about her three year old little girl: “I’ve never seen her concentrate like this.”

Toy cameras

Toy cameras also provided a reason for children to express their own interests. As children chose what to “photograph”, parents would praise their choice and, on occasion, change what they were focusing on. One little boy for example chose to “photograph” the carpet in one room. His mother from then on began pointing out features of the decoration rather than the animals she had previously done.

Open-ended challenges

Since the open-ended challenges required children to make choices, their interests were more obvious to parents. In the colour match challenge for example, the mother and son observed talked about exactly matching the shade of the colour swatch in some rooms, in others the little boy found more than one example and in other rooms he tried to match the texture of the swatch.

Picture trailsFinding the objects in the trail was not especially conducive to recognising children’s interests, since they were pre-scribed and children tended to find them and move on. However because the objects weren’t in a specific order, children could make choices about what to find first, allowing them to demonstrate preference.

Games

Some games captured children’s interest and some parents were prepared to let their children play for some time in recognition of their level of interest. Some children were fascinated by projected shadows provided by an OHP (Over Head Projector), by a magnetic fishing game and by a tile board with magnetic mosaic pieces. Overall however, these activities tended to separate adults from children and most adults moved on, meaning children had to leave sooner than they would have liked.

9.2.3 Parents recognising children’s existing knowledge or skills

Finding things

Where trails or games involved matching objects to images or models, most parents gave children the chance to identify the object verbally as well as find it physically. Where children knew the name of an object, they were usually praised and affirmed in their identification.

64

Mark making

As well as praise for their mark-making, children’s ability to write their own name or make a particular mark was often commented on. Familiar toys or resources

Toys such as pretend food, cleaning items, tea sets and building blocks enabled children to demonstrate their existing skills. Their familiarity made them attractive to parents who were less familiar with museums, providing an easy access point. Whilst playing together with these toys, families made connections to their home life and parents recognised children’s likes and dislikes, previous achievements and prior knowledge.

Project examples of family adults recognising skills, knowledge etc

In the arts and crafts gallery in Cheltenham Museum, a mother and son, aged three, look into a display case at a wooden carriage:

Child: “Look at this.”Adult: “What is it?”Child: “It’s a carry horse.”Adult: “A carriage. A wagon. What’s this bit?”Child: “The horses get into it and they carry it.”Adult: “You’re a bit clever.”Child: “Then the people fall out.”Adult: “They need seatbelts.”

Then on the way out of gallery:

Adult: “Here’s one with a horse. That’s a nice one. You were right. That’s where the horse goes.”

In the Russell-Cotes Museum a mother and her three and a half year old daughter are combining a colour trail with binoculars and a toy camera. They are searching for something red. The little girl takes a photo of the carpet.

Child: “Do you want to see it?”Adult: “Excellent. Do you want to take one of the pot now? Excellent work.” Do you want to do a drawing of it?”Child: “I can do it by myself.”Adult: “Wow! Very good.”

She does some squiggles. Then rubs them out. Then she draws some more squiggles.

Child: “What I’m trying to do - it’s very nice. That says cat.”Adult: “Excellent. Very good writing.”

65

In Bristol City Museum, a mother is watching her daughter match plastic animals to the animals in the display cases. She picks the plastic hippo and looks around.

Adult: “Look that way”. Pointing down the gallery.

The little girl finds the hippo, holds up her plastic version smiling at her mother.

Adult: “Clever girl. Can you find another one?”

9.3. Interacting around the museum building or collections

Key findings

9.3.1 Group dynamics

Whilst many of the families observed came as part of an organised visit, some families explored individually, some were observed visiting in pairs and others stayed in a larger group. In general, most adult:child interaction happened where groups were smaller. However this may is some part be reflective of levels of confidence with many of those visiting in larger groups being first time visitors or families with lower levels of interaction. For families that don’t usually visit museums, large group visits may be necessary pre-cursors to individual or smaller group exploration and interaction.

Having younger siblings in a group also tended to change the potential amount and level of interaction, particularly if the sibling was around two years old. These toddlers are physically independent and keen to move. Families with three-five year olds and active two year olds were restricted in how long they could stay in any one space. This was most successfully managed by having two adults in the group. Groups with children under two tended to keep the younger ones in buggies whilst moving around and then settle in gallery spaces with activities where they could interact with the younger children and allow their older children to explore for themselves or with peers.

Whilst adult: child interaction was high amongst families with just one child and one adult, the adults also tended to encourage their child to play with other children and the adults socialised: either with friends or by meeting other parents.

9.3.2 Interacting about collections

Exploring toys

Exploring tools tended to prompt interactions that focus on collections or the building and follow children’s interests. Magnifying glasses were especially good

66

at drawing adults to children’s point of interest. For example, two families that were familiar with Bristol Museum noticed a dinosaur interactive that they’d never seen before, drawn by one of the children carefully examining it with her magnifying glass. They interacted with the exhibit and compared dinosaur skin and bones to human ones. The two toddlers in the group played with the interactive for some five minutes after the older children had moved on.

Both magnifying glasses and binoculars tended to lead parents to ask children: “What can you see?” Most of the time this led to identifying the object and naming it, sometimes it led to more in-depth conversation, with adults providing more information about the object or linking it to children’s own experience.

Torches drew parents’ attention to things children might be interested in. Some parents suggested using torches to look inside things and then crouched down with children to peer in together. Some asked children to use their torches to point to things, for example shining on the hippo’s teeth.

Wearing an explorer hat or backpack or carrying an explorer bag or bucket also appeared to provide a role play context for the family visit. This meant that families would stop and look at displays often in passing, without using a specific explorer tool.

Hunts and trails

All the families who used picture trails had access to other resources such as explorer tools or gallery play boxes. This seemed to ensure that the trail did not increase the visit pace to the detriment of family interaction. Families looked at displays to look for trail objects but still spent time looking at objects once they had been discounted for the trail and looked in cases unlikely to house trail objects. Parents and children named objects in displays, children asked parents what things were and what they did, parents asked children to name things or called their attention to objects they thought they would recognise or like.

Matching games

Games where a picture or small version of an object was matched to an object or art work were good at prompting collections-based interaction. Parents tended to set the matching challenge and children then did the matching. Parents would either confirm the child’s identification or name the object themselves. Parents with less experience of museum visiting appeared to find this style of resource especially useful, perhaps because it gives a clear role to the adult or perhaps because they feel confident of the “right answer”. Parents with more experience of museums chose more open-ended matching for example colour matching, where children chose any object that matched the colour of the resource.

67

9.3.3 Interacting about the building

Toy or real cameras prompted discussion of building features as did anything where children had to decide where to go. Binoculars also tended to prompt families to notice building features as adults either encouraged children to look across distances or assumed that they were. In both picture trails and carry round challenges, families talked about things such as the balcony, ceilings, windows and stairs. They noticed stairs were steep, had handrails, what materials they were and that there were two sets to chose from. Where trails specifically included building features, these were obviously noticed and talked about.

9.3.4 Interacting without resources

Some families, both traditional museum users and first time visitors, looked at displays together and talked about the objects without any additional resources. Sometimes this was part of the notion of “exploring”, sometimes it was part of the visit between play resources.

Although slightly outside the scope of this evaluation, it is worth noting that very few parents read the labels in the cases, relying instead on their own existing knowledge and guessing where there was no information to help them. Where labels were read they were mainly short identification labels. Three parents were observed trying to read longer more explanatory labels. In one case, the label had a diagram and offered a very short, easy to read explanation. This was successful at engaging the children. In the other two cases, the children had walked away before the explanation was completed. Three parents were also observed “translating” labels for their children. These were parents who were experienced museum goers.

In St Nicholas’ Priory each room is an historic “set” with replicas for visitors to use and explore. Whilst these were very successful at encouraging families to interact, families were once again relying on their own existing knowledge in explaining things to their children.

In Torquay Museum a father and son are looking for objects on the picture

trail. English is their second language and they are conversing in their

home language. The father kneels down close to his son and they look at

68

Project examples of families interacting around the collections or museum buildings

the picture sheet together. The boy points to a picture and then looks at the

snake on the display. He carefully steps over a plastic snake on the floor,

treating it as if it might be real. His father notices that another family have

used their ruler to measure the plastic snakes, so he suggests to his son that

he could use his ruler. The little boy kneels down with his ruler. Then the

father also kneels down, stretching out the plastic snake along the ruler his

son is holding.

In the Russell-Cotes Museum a bilingual mother, and her son of two years

eight months, are exploring the Fruit Seller’s box with things in it related to

a nearby painting. The little boy takes some plastic fruit from the box and

walks over to the painting, matching the fruit in the picture, naming each

fruit and counting how many of each there are. The mother takes a shawl

and puts it over the plate, so that he can put the fruit onto it. She reinforces

each fruit name: sometimes in English, sometimes in their home language.

The little boy asks where the apple is in his home language. His mother says

she doesn’t think there is one, but he points to the painting, having noticed

that all the other fruit from the painting have been in the box. He looks in

the box and finds an apple.

In Bristol City Museum, a mother and her three-year-old son are looking at

a display of birds. The little boy is shining his torch into the case to show

the things he’s trying to see. He is standing a little distance from the case

because the things he’s interested in are quite high up.

Child: “I can see. I can. The nest is up there.”

Adult: “What’s it made of?”

Child: “Straw.”

Adult: “Yes that’s right, straw, grass, leaves and feathers.”

9.4 Modelling of learning behaviour by adults

Key findings

9.4.1 Resources that need parents to ‘show’ how they work

Resources such as magnifying glasses, binoculars, cameras and kaleidoscopes all prompted modelling behaviour from a large number of parents. Activities where

69

a certain technique was required also had this effect, e.g. brass rubbing that requires holding the crayon in a certain way. Parents demonstrated resources that they already knew how to work and unfamiliar resources such as Talking Tins and a model with body parts that could be attached by Velcro. To work the Talking Tins some parents were prepared to read instructions whilst others learned from watching how others used them. The photo instructions for the Velcro doll were used by families who don’t usually come to the Museum.

Existing interactive exhibits were also frequently demonstrated by adults, sometimes as a result of children’s interest, sometimes following a parent’s own interest. Some simple instruction labels were read but many parents preferred to ‘have a go’ and see how the exhibit worked.

9.4.2 Resources that encourage participation

Some familiar toys and resources prompted modelling behaviour from family adults as a way to encourage children to being to interact or to interact in a different way. For example, parents picked up tea set pieces and pretended to make tea, backing away from the play when the child was established in playing. Some parents picked up building blocks from a box and began to build, again moving away once the child took over. Parents often picked up puppets and both modelled their use and used the puppet to interact with their child. These interactions tended to be relatively short with parents not sure what to do with the puppets after the initial interaction.

Musical instruments prompted the largest number of parents to begin modelling. However, whilst the use of instruments did lead to shared play in many cases, it was also often the case that the parents were more interested in the instruments than the children were.

A small number of parents demonstrated how to search for and find things on the picture trail by exaggerating their actions. This was often to revive children’s interest in the trail, to bring them back to the trail when they had moved to a different activity or to occasionally help children when they were having difficulty finding an object.

70

9.4.3 Resources that encourage parallel or cooperative activity

Playing or learning alongside each other provides an extended model of learning behaviour. Simple drawing resources (plain paper, pencils and crayons) led to many parents drawing alongside their children. Although some parents were prepared to sit on the floor to do this, this modelling behaviour was most often seen where tables and chairs were provided. Although access needs to be borne in mind, the observations showed that most parents were happy to sit at low tables and chairs meant for young children. They would sit next to their child for as long as there was space. However if another child wanted to join in, the parent would give up their space to the new arrival.

Familiar toys, particularly those that relate to a domestic context, most consistently prompted cooperative play between adults and children. Cooking, eating and cleaning were most often observed to prompt parents to play with their children.

Project examples of family adults modelling learning behaviours

In Plymouth Museum a mother is encouraging her two year old daughter to play through pretending to make a cup of tea.

Adult: “Oh, can you make a nice cup of tea for Mummy? Are you going to pour it out?”The little girl takes the tea pot and a cup out of the box but doesn’t use them.

Adult: “Do you want Mummy to make a cup of teas? Mummy will make one.”She pours a pretend cup of tea.Adult: “See if you can find some milk.”

The little girl searches through the box and produces another cup.

Adult: “Good, that can be the milk. Now the tea.”

The little girl pours the tea and takes control of the game.

In Torquay Museum, a mother is sitting with her daughter on a mat in

71

front of a musical instruments case. On the floor are lots of child-friendly instruments to play. They take turns to have a go on each but the child quickly loses interest. The mother then spots some headphones with World Music to listen to. She chooses music for herself and listens, deliberately emphasising her enjoyment of what she is hearing. The child asks to join in and the mother gives her the headphones, showing her how to select different tracks to listen to. The child dances to the music and the mother takes photos of her with her mobile phone. They listen together at the headphones and the child chooses another track. The mother dances along.

A grandfather picks up a pipe.

Adult: “Can you blow this George and tell me what it sounds like?”

When he gets no response, he models playing the xylophone. His grandson copies his actions. He suggest that the boy has a go on the drum, but he is not interested, so grandfather uses the drum to beat out a pattern and says: “George, listen to the horses.”

In St Nicholas Priory, Exeter two mothers were enjoying exploring the kitchen together.

Adult: “We’re enjoying this more than the kids. We don’t get to do this anymore”.

They look in the oven, sniff the herbs in the jars and then one mother picks up the broom and begins to use it. She calls over to her daughter: “ Mummy’s doing the cleaning”. Her daughter then comes across and begins using the brush.

72

Appendices

Appendix 1

Museums Community Partners

Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives Southmead Children’s Centre

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum Rowanfield and Hesters Way Children’s Centre

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery Families from “The Imaginators”

Russell-Cotes Museum and Art Gallery, Bournemouth Boscombe Children’s Centre/

Families from “Fun for Under Fives”

St Nicholas’s Priory, Exeter West Exe Children’s Centre

Torquay Museum Homelands Primary School and Nursery

Resources pilotedA wide variety of resources were piloted (see table below). In almost all the museums, families were given a choice of resources. Due to the project budget, no computer-based resources were developed although it should be noted that where computers were already on offer a number of families tried to use them.

Appendix 2

Project descriptions

Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives

Bristol Museum formed a strong partnership with Southmead Children’s Centre, in order to work with families from their Drop In group. Southmead is an area with diverse needs and includes some Super Output Areas (DOSs) that rank amongst

73

the highest nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. The Drop In families included varying number of children with their parent or carer, up to 22 families, some of whom had visited the Museum before but most who had not. Groups changed each week, increasing as word spread about what we were offering.

Working closely with our partner teacher, we visited the centre a couple of times, to become familiar faces, gain credibility from parents and staff and get to know the children. After the two familiarisation visits, we prepared for four visits by the group to the Museum. Initially we had considered public transport however it was decided this would be too time consuming for a group with many buggies and very small children.We planned to use two gallery spaces and base our activities around two themes: seaside and our painting of Noah’s Ark. We put together two resource collections using objects we already had and put them in the gallery. We each led a group session modelling playing and investigating through the resources. After each session we met with our partner teacher for an informal appraisal of the activity and to plan the next session.

Three more sessions were planned, expanding our use of galleries to include ‘Dinosaurs’ and modifying resources on advice from parents and practitioners.Parents expressed a need for more games for them to play with their children and also said how much the children liked to ‘explore’. As the Centre was involved in a ‘software trial’ that enabled them to create jigsaws and games from photos, we added a domino game as well as developing a dice game. We also put together a set of backpacks and trail pictures all of which proved to be very popular. For the final visit we had three gallery based boxes as well as backpacks and trail photos. All of which was very well received.

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum

Rowanfield Children’s Centre is attached to Rowanfield Infants School with which the museum had worked closely with the previous year. It seemed appropriate to extend that link, at the same time develop a relationship with non-user families. The Centre is a Phase 1 Centre. It is in an area of Cheltenham that has the need for a full range of services for families and children, including childcare, adult support, parenting courses, home visiting and adult learning. Families who attend the Centre are non-users of the museum and include parents at risk of social exclusion.

In 2008 a small space within one of the museum galleries was converted into Stay and Play, an Early Years area for family visitors to engage together in learning and play. The project came at an appropriate time for the museum to

74

re-evaluate existing resources within Stay and Play, develop and trial new ideas using the expertise of an Early Years practitioner and to form closer relationships with non-user families.

An initial outreach visit to the Centre to celebrate Chinese New Year introduced the families to the museum staff. The practitioner partner worked closely with the museum to identify objects, displays and spaces that would be of interest to families and advised on the kind of toys, props and games to include in the resources.17 children, 4 staff and 3 parents took part in a familiarisation visit in early March to pilot resources. To carry on the momentum of the museum visit the Centre borrowed a resource box of traditional toys from the Museum Take Away Service.

Parents had received an invitation to accompany their children on this second museum visit. Many more parents took up the invitation than was thought would (11 in total). Having free coach travel helped to remove an important access barrier for the families.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Helen Round, a freelance artist who works with hard to reach families, worked with the museum to develop and make the resources. We worked with a group of parents who attend our Imaginators under 5s group. This included some new families (previous non-users) and some regular visitors. We also worked with a group of families that Helen was working with on a community craft project. After talking with parents and asking about the accessibility of certain galleries we decided that our aim at Plymouth was to choose one of the less family friendly galleries to trial some interactive resources for parents and their young children.

We adopted a slightly different approach where whatever the resources were they would be unexpected and then end up being used with more conventional resources such as magnifying glasses, torches etc.

We looked at a gallery called Uncovered – based on local archaeology where we have a display of a skeleton of a woman in a bronze- age cyst. This is where Dolly comes from as her limbs are in a basket and the children with their adult put the limbs back on her (using Velcro). We developed a second archaeology box in which a tea-set was hidden amongst strips of paper, fabric and corks.

Uncovered is the space closest to where Imaginators meet, so we wanted to see if adding playful resources there might encourage families to explore more of the museum on their own.

75

Russell-Cotes Museum and Art Gallery, Bournemouth

We worked with families from Boscombe Children’s Centre and a group of families from our stay and play session: Fun for Under fives. This ensured a mixture of regular and first time visitors, including families who would find museums difficult to access.

At our initial meeting, children were supervised using clay, whilst family adults were briefed about the project, the value the museum gave to their thoughts and ideas and were shown a wide range of resources. Parents made the initial choice of resource and then went exploring with their child or children round the Museum. At the end of the session, children had a story-telling session, whilst parents fed back their thoughts.

We fed all the parents ideas into the choice of the resources and developing new ones where needed. They were keen for example to have some “themes” to use round the museum, so we developed an animal theme for the second visit. Again we provided a wide range of resources on the theme to see which they felt worked best.

Parents fed back that the portable resources were especially good, so for the third visit we organised a wide range of portable resources and then provided three gallery based boxes linked to nearby objects. This balance was so successful that we kept it for the fourth visit, which was observed for the report.

St Nicholas Priory, Exeter

With staff from the Children’s Centre, we looked carefully at St.Nicholas Priory from an under fives point of view - noting things that might be particularly attractive. (This included having what looked like a real chicken in the hen coop!). We then offered a lunchtime meeting session to parents at the Centre to discuss and explain what the project was about and showing them a Ratbag and some of the items it contained. This was not particularly well attended but a ratbag was left at the Centre and so staff and parents did have a point of information and discussion.

It was apparent that the Ratbags would not hold all the activities we required so we devised Rat baskets for each room, room maps and information sheets. We then organised two visits to the Priory with families from the Centre.

The first visit highlighted some problems about the introduction which we altered on the second visit. We also organised for both visits to be recorded by observers, using photo, and in the second visit, film. Finally we had a Tudor

76

Picnic at the Children’s Centre for Feedback and a festive conclusion and thank you to all those taking part.

Torquay Museum

The Museum worked with Homelands Primary School to develop resources for Early Years Foundation Stage children. Initially the Early Years practitioner sent out a questionnaire to the parents of her class. Many had little experience of museums but they suggested what they might like to see. Then parents and children were invited in to look around and their opinions on suitable activities were sought.

Together we agreed to develop an “Explorers pack” for the children to take around the Museum and to place suitable toys at locations in the galleries. The pack consisted of a rucksack with binoculars, magnifier, compass, ruler and clipboard. The toys placed in the Museum reflected the collection with musical instruments, a model farm and colourful books to look at.

The families were invited in for a second visit and our rucksacks and toys were tried out. Finally we gave each child with their families 6 months free entry to the museum. We will be monitoring how often they visit and we will review the packs as we go along. The museum intends to look for ways of extending the free access that this project has enabled. Ideally all early years children in Torbay might benefit from this offer.

Appendix 3

Below is a full set of characteristic of an effective family resource, pulled from the EYFS and from the experience of Jo Paterson of the National Strategies Team in creating high quality parenting resources. The bullets immediately below are the key features and formed the simplified observation framework for museum use.

Successful resources

encourage babies’ and children’s communications, both non-verbal and verbal•build the relationship between children and parent/carers•encourage parents to listen actively to their children•provide opportunities to explore, play and learn•ensure families feel sufficiently secure and confident to explore and participate •encourage parents to act as facilitators, extending children’s learning rather •

77

than always leading itprovide the opportunity for a balance between child initiated and adult •initiated activities

A resource built on effective practice

encourages babies’ and children’s communications, both non-verbal and verbal•builds the relationship between children and parent/carers•encourages parents to listen actively to their children•provides opportunities to explore, play and learn•ensures families feel sufficiently secure and confident to explore and •participate encourages parents to act as facilitators, extending children’s learning rather •than always leading itprovides the opportunity for a balance between child initiated and adult •initiated activitiesis physically accessible and safe•is intrinsically interesting (materials, sensory, shape, intuitive, familiarity)•provides for developmentally appropriate activities that stimulate and follow •children’s interestsdevelops positive self image•acknowledges the different ways in which babies and children learn, and that •learning is a process that cannot be rushed.encourages learning and motivates children through accentuating the positive, •praising effort and celebrating successpromotes equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice•offers additional support and equipment where needed/meets all needs•enables families to communicate in any language•makes links with home languages, words or expressions•makes families feel welcome•keeps children engaged with their parent/carer•encourages parents to model being a learner for their children•responds to parents ideas and needs•offers different levels of involvement built on varying degrees of sociability •and energymaximises the chance of success for children by pitching activities at just the •right levelconnects with children’s existing knowledge and extends it•emphasises museums as places where learning happens and staff as learners, •as well as families and childrenallows babies and children to do the things they can, helps them with the •things they cannot quite manage and does things for them they cannot do for themselves.

78

maximises all learning opportunities, even those that weren’t originally planned•uses the experiences children bring from home and their settings as starting •points for new experiencesgives children control over the environment wherever possible•provides points of familiarity as well as intriguing novelty•gives unambiguous messages about what behaviour is expected and is as •intuitive as possibleprovides pre-visit information so that everyone knows what to expect•provides information or resources to enable children to tell everyone involved •in their learning about their visitmakes the most of children being out of their regular setting•provides open-ended play resources that can be used in many different ways•values children’s own play preoccupations, e.g. superheroes•offers a variety of different kinds of play experiences to suit different •preferences and cultural approachesstimulates play in different ways, including using stories as stimuli•provides a measure of control over, and ownership of, the learning experience •by childrenenables children to take control of the physical environment•documents children’s learning to facilitate reflection, and sharing with •family adultsprovides models of adults being creative and taking creative approaches to •problem solvingtries to include content and topics from across the six areas of Learning and •Development

The team agreed three headline principles

useable•based on active learning•meaningful and relevant•

These are explained below:

Useable

not too much: overwhelming•visual•culturally inclusive •physically accessible to all•open-ended•offers choice•age appropriate•

79

enables parent and children to use together•enables child to lead •multi-sensory•intuitive to use, doesn’t need much explanation•not much writing•physically transportable or able to be visited•

Active learning

exploratory•play based•promotes conversation•encourages interaction between parent and child•is enjoyable for parents and children (could be humorous, surprising, •intriguing, messy)enables children to make links transferring understanding to new contexts•

Meaningful and relevant

connects to the Museum collection or building•connects to parent/child shared interests•links to children’s interests•connects to the familiar•introduces the novel•links to likely further experiences at home •

Appendix 4

Resource Good For Logistics

Binoculars

Child led shared •activityChoosing/decision •makingModelling•Prompting •communication about collections or building (at a distance)

Younger children can’t •usually see through them

Check safety of neck cord•

Needs handing out and •collecting back in

80

Magnifying glasses

Child led shared •activity

Choosing/decision •making

Modelling•

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Suitable for even •very young children (toddlers)

Best if chunky: small •ones too fiddly

Needs handing out and •collecting back in

Torches

Child led shared •activity or independent exploration and problem solving

Choosing/decision •making

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Suitable for even •very young children (toddlers)

Wind up version are •most economical and don’t “fail” on visitors

Some wind up torches •aren’t chunky enough - winding mechanism is too fiddly or stiff

Needs handing out and •collecting back in

Kaleidoscopes

Modelling•

Prompting •communication

Engaging with the •building if the design allows users to see through, e.g. looking at highly patterned wallpaper or stained glass windows

Requires manual •dexterity to turn

Only works in certain •spaces

Can be more of an •individual activity

Could be made more •social with 2 or more different scopes provided

81

Toy cameras

Child led shared •activity

Choosing/decision •making

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Pretend play•

Praise•

Choose a camera that •is obviously a toy so children don’t expect an actual photo.

A “Say cheese”, •or shutter noise, compensates for no picture.

Digital cameras

Child led shared •activity

Choosing/decision •making

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Modelling•

Praise•

Facilitating•

Choose a robust version •that can be dropped. May need to take some security to ensure return of camera.

Setting a challenge •can help conversations along.

Projects found cameras •worked well when asking families for feedback.

Pocket dice

Active exploration: •usually adult directed

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Praise•

The soft square ones •used didn’t roll very well. Still used for playful matching.

82

Toy animals

Child led shared •activity

Active exploration: •usually adult directed

Prompting •communication about collections or building

Feeling secure and •confident

Praise when •matching

If left with no •instructions, animals will tend to be used to match to collections.

Can also be good for •“finding a home” or “find me a friend” challenges, with instructions.

Plastic are more robust •than cuddlies, but cuddlies very good for security.

Portable drawing things

Child initiated •independent activity

Child led shared •activity (where adult was scribe)PraiseModelling (where adult was scribe)

Gel pads don’t have the •conservation issues that pens and paper may have

Suggesting a role for •the adult as scribe also worked well.

Drawing table

Child initiated •independent activity

Parallel shared activity•

Prompting •communication

Prompts social •interaction with others

Modelling•

Facilitating•

Praise•

Having same height •table works best. This can be child height or wheelchair accessible height, if appropriate chairs provided for children

83

Brass rubbing

Parallel shared activity•

Modelling•

Facilitating•

Praise•

Conversation value is •increased if the rubbed image is recognisable and linked to display within easy sight

Books

Adult initiated shared •activity

Modelling•

Works best in a quiet •space with comfy seating.

Choose simple, qu•

Most value if obviously •linked to displays.

Picture trails

Adult initiated •shared activityChoosing/decision •makingPrompting •communication about collections or buildingPraise•Facilitating•Adult confidence•

Keep as open as •possible. Don’t number pictures, create a route or give “missing words.”

Providing a laminated •“master sheet” and smaller laminated images to match proved successful.

Adult kept sheet and •children took cards to displays.

Puppets

(mostly) Adult •initiated shared activity

Modelling•

Can prompt •communication about collections or building

Although attractive to •families, most didn’t know how to use puppets in relation to exploring or the collections.

Provide ideas, e.g. •“let’s look at the paintings together and decide which are our favourites.”

84

Dressing upChild initiated •independent activity

Individual children were •very motivated to dress up, but the majority of families did not choose this. Even simple cloaks did not seem very appealing.

Hats were more popular, •but for children’s activity rather than family.

Toy tea sets and pretend or replica food

Modelling•

Child led shared •activity

Shared imaginary play•

Feeling secure and •confident

Best used where •links directly to the collections, e.g. ceramics.

Addition of historical •replicas gives opportunity to link to collections.

Small world play

Child initiated •independent or peer activity

Can prompt •communication about collections or building

Imaginary play•

Most adults did not •want to join in small world play and therefore limited the time children could spend.

Dexterity or coordination games

Child initiated •independent or peer activity

Praise•

Skittles, quoits and •a magnetic fishing game held appeal for children but the most adults did was facilitate or provide an initial explanation.

85

Familiar colour and shape toys

Child initiated •independent activity

Child led shared •activity

Modelling•

Feeling secure and •confident

The main value of these •toys was in relation to making families feel secure and confident to explore further afterwards.

86

museums for changing lives

Renaissance is the Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) Council’s widely supported and successful programme for regional museums. In the South West, £28.4m has been spent up to 2009 and the Government has committed to a further three years of investment. Renaissance in our region is focused on five Hub museums:

Bristol’s City Museum and Art GalleryRoyal Cornwall Museum, TruroRoyal Albert Memorial Museum, ExeterPlymouth City Museum and Art GalleryRussell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth

The Hub museums work in partnership with Renaissance South West to deliver improvements based on the key themes of education, collections and exhibitions, workforce development and the wider museum community.

Audio and large print versions of this publication are available from:

Renaissance South WestSouth West Hub Officec/o Bristol City Council4th Floor (Bazaar Wing), Brunel House, St George’s Road, BRISTOL BS1 5UY

T: 0117 922 4653E: harriet.downing@bristol.gov.uk

Electronic copies can be downloaded from:

Written by Jo Graham, Learning Unlimited.Published by Renaissance South West, August 2009

www.renaissancesouthwest.org.uk