How cute is he?
Print him out on card stock (64 lb paper), cut and glue. He’s 2.5 inches tall (7 cm) and 1.5 inches deep and wide (3 cm). Since he is hollow, you can fill him with treats. The top is glued shut so he opens from the bottom, behind his feet.
paper cubee medieval knight source : papermodels.wikidot.com
One of our most successful events last year was the Medieval Europe mini-museum. In part because of the workable (but toy sized) trebuchet…..kids and adults alike enjoy launching things through the air. But also due to the fact that we had a museum Edukit with us for the first time. There is no substitute to the participants being able to get up close and personal with a knights’ armoured gauntlet or chain mail.
Medieval gauntlet photo source : Lorie Pierce
how chain mail is made photo source : Lorie Pierce
Once you start to do papercraft, you find that this versatile and inexpensive material can be coaxed into all kinds of shapes.
( SPOILER ALERT : if you are one of my close family or friends, please avert your eyes at this point )
Here are some bunnies I am making for Easter treats. They look like they are lined up waiting for the Easter Parade to begin. Still a few more to make.
bunnies on parade photo source : Lorie Pierce
single filled bunny photo source : Lorie Pierce
single bunny – another view photo source : Lorie Pierce
source of pattern ss42.com Look for the link to free paper toys
Use cardstock paper – weight 64 lb. This prints out on one sheet. I recommend using white glue and tweezers to hold the glued surfaces together while drying.
and Happy Holidays.
One thoracic vertebrae vs the height of a 6 foot one inch tall man photo source : Lorie Pierce
This is a reproduction of a spinal bone from the heaviest dinosaur ever found.
Argentinosaurus
It may also be the longest dinosaur but we won’t know until more of the fossilized bones are found. Regardless, he was a giant of the Cretaceous in Gondwana, 95 million years ago.
(my thanks to D.H.)
While staffing a touchtable with artifacts, models and supporting images/printed information, I watched as a child created an activity I had never thought of.
He took the models and matched them to their corresponding illustrations by picking them up physically moving them in place. Here is the image of ancient sea animals. Notice the four plastic models above the book.
book open to show illustrations photo source : Lorie Pierce
Here is the book with the models in place. There was more that one illustration of each animal so there were different spots the child could choose to locate the model.
book with animals placed to match illustration photo source : Lorie Pierce
It’s a simple activity that requires the child to look closely at the shape of the animal to make the match. Since they are holding the model, they benefit also from the kinesthetic sense. While they hunted for the images, I was able to tell them about the animals. If more then one child was present, they shared the activity and took turns picking an animal to match.
It worked well in a high traffic atmosphere such as our Spring Break programming.
This is where my favourite museum collection resides at present.
the back hallway photo source : Lorie Pierce
This is the room where they will be featured in sometime in 2014.
Early Life Gallery (to be) photo source : Lorie Pierce
Can’t wait.
Touch Tables.
In addition to activity tables, our events will have at least one table where the main focus is to show and tell.
Touch tables provide the opportunity for some up close and personal connection with your museum’s collections and research. At the last event that was held off-site, the touch table spilled over onto two smaller tables. The first table ended up being a bit of a grab bag. Some images, some models, some touchable artifacts. All were oriented to explaining aspects of the theme of Ancient Sea Creatures.
Ancient Sea Creatures touch table photo source : Lorie Pierce
The second touch table was more focused on the museum’s prime invertebrate fossil collection…the Burgess Shale fossils. It also showed the current day Nautilus – a dweller in the warm seas of the Indian Ocean and South Pacific – that is distantly related to the ammonite fossil.
Burgess Shale and Nautilus touch table photo source : Lorie Pierce
Studying living life forms informs us of how ancient animals might have lived.
Connections to the museum’s literature and website are given so that the interested participants can follow up on their introduction to the theme. Staff a touch table with a knowledgeable volunteer and/or ask a curator to create some facts and talking points about the touch table items.
Everyone in the museum field wishes that their events will be well-attended.
However, programs have to end eventually. Museums close for the day, volunteers may only be available to assist for a specific length of time, and cleanup will take some time to complete.
photo source : Lorie Pierce
It’s a good idea to have some event-closing strategies in place. Here are some suggestions.
1. Event start and finish times should be clearly marked on posters, e-mails, sign-up sheets or other means of communication.
2. Activities should not be so involved that they will take a long time for participants to complete. If possible, pre-cut items for creating models, pictures or crafts like crowns. The shorter the time spent at each table, the more activities the child can finish.
3. Prepare take-away bags with crafts, puzzles and colouring sheets related to the theme of the event. Have these to hand out to families who arrive at the last minute. These are also recommended for off-site events, such as programs at hospitals, for children who may not be well enough to attend that day.
4. Some activities like face-painting and tattoos will be very popular. Dedicate a volunteer for crowd control. Fifteen minutes before the event ends, have the volunteer stand at the end of the line to demonstrate the cut off point. Anyone coming after that time will be told that they may not be able to be fit in. If the line goes quicker, the participants will be in luck but they line up taking the chance that they will not. Have some give-away tattoos or stickers as a consolation prize for those turned away.
No one wants families to be frustrated when attending their event. Hopefully these suggestions will help reduce the chance of that occurring.
Another successful outreach museum program delivered at a major children’s hospital.
Here are some of the activities.
1. Paper Plate Aquarium
Kids glued their choice of colourful paper sea creatures, which were pre-cut by volunteers, onto a blue paper plate background. A second white paper plate with a pre-cut central window was attached over. The top of the aquarium was punched with a hole and a ribbon attached for hanging. Especially attractive accessory for I. V. poles. A circular plastic piece (eg. mylar) can be added to the window opening.
paper plate aquarium photo source : Lorie Pierce
2. Rubbings of trilobite fossils
Easy peasy. First get your hands on some authentic fossils! Our invertebrate palaeontology section kindly donated original and reproduction trilobites to the program. You will see small trilobite tails in the box to the left and the large slab under the papers in the centre is a Burgess Shale trilobite reproduction.
Children placed newsprint over the fossil and rubbed over top with the fat end of a thick crayon. Soon the relief features transferred onto the paper in whatever colour the child chose.
Colouring sheets were also available at this station.
rubbings table, colouring sheets photo source : Lorie Pierce
3. Fossil moulds
What better thing to take away from a museum program but your very own copies of fossils. In this case I made moulds of a snail, a horned coral and an ammonite. All three real fossils were there for the children to inspect and choose which one to copy.
To make a fossil copy, we first placed some cornstarch in the mould so the clay would pull out easily. Tap out the excess. You can see that this is a messier craft than we normally do at hospital locations, but it is worth it.
Use an air-drying clay that is not too sticky. We used Model Magic which was left to air dry a bit first to remove surface stickiness. Take enough clay to fill the mould and form a lip about 1/4 inch thick. Press firmly into the mould to fill completely and remove all trapped air. Then gently pull up the clay lip all around the edge of the fossil until it pops easily out of the mould. Place in a styrofoam or tin plate to dry overnight. Turn over when the top has dried. Then either leave as is or paint.
fossil moulds photo source : Lorie Pierce
There was also a colouring and sticker activity to create a fish out of paper plates (not pictured).
In the next post, I’ll show the touch tables.
museumtalkarchive 