We spent an enjoyable Wednesday evening at Twilight at the Museums in Cambridge. We began our torchlight adventure at the University Library, exploring mysterious objects in the Curious Collectors exhibition. One of the activities on offer involved exploring the “magical” properties of parchment. With pencil and parchment in hand we drew an object of…
Beagle 2, by Damien Hirst Inspired Art
We took part in The Fitzwilliam Museum‘s monthly family session, creating some art based on Damien Hirst’s spot painting for the Beagle 2 space mission. In 2003 Beagle 2 was thought to have been lost. However recent images from NASA reveal that it did indeed land safely on Mars, making Hirst’s spot painting the first work of…
Shapes in Art – Using “Perfect Square” by Michael Hall to explore shape
Following on from our Shapes in Art exploration, our Shape Hunt game and our Shape View Finders we took the book “Perfect Square” by Michael Hall (ISBN 978-0061915130) to the museum to explore shapes and how they can change. The book follows a square who is changed in some way to become something new; a…
“Memory Bottles” by Beth Shoshan – Using bottles in Museums and Galleries as a source of inspiration to record memories
The Fitzwilliam Museum has numerous vessels of different specifications and designs on show. Whilst on a visit one day it reminded me of the story “Memory Bottles” by Beth Shoshan (ISBN 978-1904511625), given to me by a dear friend when I moved jobs. I took some photos of various jugs and bottles to use as…
Exploring Colour in Museums and Galleries Through “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse” by Eric Carle
Following on from our Colour Hunt we shared the book “The Artist Who Painted the Blue Horse” by Eric Carle (ISBN 978-0141348131) in the gallery. The book celebrates and encourages the imagination within us all as artists, beginning “I am an artist and I paint…”. At the end of the book there is also a description…
Colour Hunt
Similar to the shape hunts we have been doing in the museums and galleries, I created a colour hunt based on the same principle to support A with his colour recognition. Again we used luggage tags as they are a cheap ready-made resource, 50 tags only cost a few pounds, and I laminated them to…
Exploring the story “Monkey Puzzle” by Julia Donaldson in the Museum and Gallery
What animals do you have represented in your local gallery or museum? In The Fitzwilliam Museum there are various animals represented in objects and paintings. I am always on the look out for linking stories to objects in the museum and it occurred to me there there were several of the animals in the book “Monkey Puzzle”…
“Katie and the British Artists” – Using Postcards during Museum and Gallery Visits
We love the Katie series of books, in particular “Katie and The British Artists” by James Mayhew (ISBN 978-1846167379) it is such an easy and inspiring way to be exposed to different paintings. S recognises and remembers the name of artists and their paintings and A is quick to see the paintings he recognises in…
Our Visit to the Bullock Texas State History Museum
We spent a fun afternoon at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas. The Bullock Museum celebrates and illuminates Texas history and culture through exhibitions, films and programs. The boys were particularly interested in Cowboys and spent time pretend-lassoing around the exhibits. As well as exploring Texan history we enjoyed one of the temporary…
Our visit to the Thinkery in Austin, Texas
On a recent visit to Austin we visited the amazing Thinkery, formly the Austin Children’s Museum founded in 1983. The Thinkery delivers its mission through an ever evolving mixture of exhibits and sessions that focus on science, technology, engineering, art and math and museum activities revolve around educational experiences led by staff. On our two week…