Fun at Home - Museum at Home You might not be able to visit your favourite museum just now so let’s go for the next best thing and make your own museum display at home. Anything and everything in your home can be part of your collection, from dinosaur toys to Duplo, spanners to socks or bricks and bicycles. Time to do and skill level 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of your museum and if you print or write labels by hand. Easy - but adults may need to help with printing labels. The Museum at home quick version is outlined first, if it proves engaging then you might want to look at the extended version to add some depth to the activity. Be guided by which element is creating most interest or excitement for young museum curators. Equipment List You will need: Imagination Museum objects (this can be anything in your home, toys are a good starting point) Paper for your object labels Pens or pencils Cardboard boxes to create shelves or plinths Space to display objects. Could be a bookshelf or tabletop or use a cardboard box with the top and one side cut away. Instructions - quick version Step 1 - Check your equipment list Step 2 – Choose a suitable display area. Is it clean and tidy and will people be able to see your objects clearly? Step 3 – Gather your museum objects in one place. Sort them into an order that makes sense to the story you are going to tell. I settled on just a polar bear and the Tyrannosaurus rex because they are both predators. Step 4 – Next create your introductory panel. This has a title and then some text to explain what people are about to see. Step 5 – Object label writing. Keep it short and sweet and if you’re really struggling for inspiration just include the name of the object or where it was bought, found or maybe why it’s your favourite. Labels don’t have to be serious; this is your museum so have fun. Step 6 – Plinths or shelves. If you have lots of objects you may want to create some difference in the height that they are displayed at. I made some boxes out of scrap cardboard, but you could substitute Lego or Duplo bricks for ease. Step 7 – Take a photograph and share with us, we would love to see your Museum at home on Instagram hashtag #museumofthegreatsouthern or Facebook remembering to tag us. Instructions - Extended version A popular program with visiting schools to the Museum of Great Southern is Create a Classroom Museum where pupils take on the role of curators and designers and learn about the process of exhibition design in a museum setting. I’ve condensed some of the elements of this program to help you create your own displays. Don’t forget to share your creations or questions with us and share on Instagram hashtag #museumofthegreatsouthern or Facebook remembering to tag us. Step 1 - For the adult helper I think it’s a good idea to ask the question What is a museum? Wait and see what answers you get, if you were to ask museum professionals the same question, you might get an answer like below. “a museum is a collection of objects which are cared for, researched to understand more about them and the stories associated with them and lastly, people can access the objects and stories. This should be both physical and intellectual access. These objects can be as big as an aeroplane or as small as bacteria, they can be billions of years old or brand new” Step 2 – Ask the question “What are the different roles people have within a museum?” Curators, conservators, graphic designers, 3d designers, preparators, taxidermists, IT and AV, front of house staff, building and maintenance teams, security, marketing, digital media, librarians, scientists and researchers, learning and engagement officers, finance controllers, records management, administration, HR, development and fundraising to name just a few. For your Museum at home let’s just focus on being curators and designers. Almost every child and adult are a curator in some aspect even if they don’t know it. Younger children will have collections of toys, shells or rocks that they care for. They will select which new shells can join their collection based on their size, colour or general appearance so they are demonstrating decision making, taste and rationalisation in their choices. Older children and adults may have their own playlist on an audio streaming service and different picture albums on social media platforms. These are all collections that they have chosen to curate, they made a choice to add or remove content based on themes or categories and preferences. Curators are also the staff who have specialist knowledge around a subject area. Step 3 – Sorting activity (being a curator) this is a very useful activity if your budding curator doesn’t know which objects to choose or if they have too many and don’t where to start. How many ways can we sort? We try to define things. We give them names, definitions, categories and put them in boxes. Collect a handful of random objects or toys from around the house. You have 1 minute to sort into categories. Lay the objects into 3 different categories. Categories are of your choosing there is no right or wrong answer. You can see I chose the 3 categories of metal, plastics and wood. Now do it again, can you change categories so that there are more, or so that objects which were in different categories find themselves grouped together? We can further refine our categories, here I have chosen all the metal objects and then arranged by size. Step 4 – Although there are many ways to sort and classify objects for the purpose of display it’s important to remember that biologists use taxonomy as the science of naming and classifying biological organisms. Step 5 – As the designer for your Museum at home your job is to arrange the objects in the best way possible so that people can see them easily and understand what story you are trying to tell. How to choose a colour scheme or palette for your display? Pick one that is sympathetic to your object or evokes a sense of place. To demonstrate what I mean by that let’s look at some poor colour choices and better examples. First up is our Polar Bear on a yellow base, the bear is lost on the yellow as it’s too close to its own colour plus yellow is traditionally associated with sunlight and warmth. Look at the difference when it’s placed on a blue base which suggest a cooler, icy atmosphere as well as allowing the bear to be seen more easily. Step 6 – We know that colour can indicate temperature or environment, but it can also act as a warning. To display this redback spider model I chose a black and yellow scheme as that is what is commonly used on hazard labels for chemicals, electricity or flammables so subconsciously your brain should pick up on that. By displaying the redback on its own with plenty of space around it has also elevated its importance and drawn attention to it. Step 7 – Keep your colour choices limited and simple. So only 2 or 3 colours at most and avoid patterns where possible. It’s very tempting to use patterns but they will obscure the objects on display and make it difficult to read labels. A green and yellow dinosaur on a green and yellow background is something to avoid. Step 8 – Here are some tips for label writing To ensure your labels are readable choose a plain font such as Arial, avoid fancy swirly typography such as Papyrus Keep the point size the same for every label, around 12pt is standard Make a template on your computer for the label to ensure you’re consistent. Make the object name in bold and limit yourself to maximum 50 words for a label. Your introductory panel should use the same font as the labels but be larger in point size, experiment and see what is readable from a distance. Your introductory panel should contain more words than your object labels, somewhere between 70 to 200 words Scientific name should be written in Italics Step 9 – Take a photograph and share with us, we would love to see your Museum at home on Instagram hashtag #museumofthegreatsouthern or Facebook remembering to tag us. This Fun at Home activity is presented by: