Young builders get to grips!
Grant for Weald & Downland Museum's new project for very young children

The science of buildings will come to life for young children aged between five and seven at the country's leading museum of historic buildings thanks to a £7,000 grant just announced by the Clore Foundation.

A brand new hands-on exhibition for very young children will be created at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, near Chichester, West Sussex. It follows in the footsteps of the museum's highly successful Getting to Grips interactive project for older children, which is also greatly enjoyed by families. The Clore Foundation's small grants programme aims to promote the use of museums and galleries for learning.

Baby Getting to Grips will enable children to learn about the way traditional buildings were constructed and compare them with today's buildings through a series of fun mini-experiments - a resource unattainable in the classroom. The project was developed with local schools, head teachers and educational advisors to incorporate the requirements of the National Curriculum for five-seven-year-olds. At the same time the exhibition will provide a new insight for small visitors into the museum's 45 historic buildings, rescued and reassembled on the museum's 50-acre downland site from all over the south east of England.

Children will be able to compare traditional and modern building materials, make a wall with mini-bricks using real brick-laying techniques, discover the source of natural materials like thatch and wood and test different types of stone with small hammers. Pretending to be a carpenter, they will try out junior saws, drills and froes and find out how timber buildings were held together with joints and wooden pegs. They will be able to make small wattle and daub walls with willow, clay and straw and test the differences between thatched and tiled roofs with small scale models.

Newsletter Spring 2000 Contents

New exhibitions > Opening dates for UK exhibitions | New Yorkshire Centre | Young builders | Number exhibition | What's wrong with the Millennium Dome?

News > Canadian Director for Eureka | Design in education Week | The 'Race against time' show pack | Indo-UK Science Festival | From the editor | From the chair

BIG Annual Report 1999 > Chair's Report | Treasurers Report | Membership Report