Roald Dahl and the Children's Gallery

David Erskine

“Roald Dahl hated museums but would have loved this,” commented Felicity Dahl on seeing the new Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery in Aylesbury. So what is the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and how does it fit into the whole hands-on movement?

The Gallery, which is part of Buckinghamshire County Museum, is unique amongst children’s museums in the way that it uses a famous author’s stories to capture the imaginations of its visitors. Roald Dahl’s much-loved characters, such as Willy Wonka, the BFG and Fantastic Mr Fox, create a magical and imaginative environment in which to learn through investigation and discovery. Aimed mainly at Key Stage 1 and 2, the interactive displays encourage children to investigate history, natural history, science and technology through practical hands-on activities relating to real museum objects.

The phrase “hands-on,” however, is more strongly associated with science centres and their phenomenon-based exhibits. However, many museums and art galleries have been quietly adopting a hands-on approach to more traditional subject matter in their displays. Around the country are many excellent examples of hands-on exhibits, often low tech, that have been incorporated into perhaps more traditional displays to make them more accessible. The Dahl Gallery could be seen as one of a new breed of hybrids, a cross between a science centre and a museum, but it is much more than that and the description really does not do it justice.

The Gallery has learnt much from science centres and some popular exhibits have been absorbed i.e. frozen shadows, bendy mirrors, optical illusions and the video chromakey. But instead of standing alone, as they do in many science centres, they are incorporated into the ‘Dahlesque’ themes and the overall environment.

When generating ideas for the Gallery we had three main objectives in mind: to introduce children to museum objects; to provide hands-on experiences and to celebrate the stories of Roald Dahl. It was important throughout the project to keep reminding ourselves of these objectives, as it was all too easy to stray into the realms of complete fantasy and frivolity. Nevertheless, it is always healthy to generate ludicrous ideas as they can later be reined back to reality.

What we did not want to do, however, was create any children’s gallery and then decorate the walls with illustrations by Quentin Blake (Dahl’s illustrator). Visitors would have high expectations of a gallery named after Roald Dahl, so it was important that it captured the spirit and flavour of his books. He never disappointed his readers and we did not want to disappoint our visitors.

Equally, we also needed to attract schools during term time. They had to find it relevant enough to the National Curriculum in order to justify a visit and hopefully to build it into their teaching programme. The Gallery recently won the 1997 Gulbenkian Award for the most imaginative education work.

We had three possible starting points from which to generate ideas and satisfy our objectives. They were: the Museum’s collections; the National Curriculum or Roald Dahl’s books. We chose to start with Dahl’s books, as he was himself fascinated by the world around him and his books are full of references to natural history, science and technology. The themes that were eventually chosen for the exhibits were then those that best used the Museum’s collections and had links to the National Curriculum. Equally important were three key words: imagination, wordplay and humour. These elements influenced all aspects of the displays.

The general approach to the displays is a combination of objects in cases from the Museum’s collections, handling objects and associated hands-on exhibits. Provenanced material is protected but you will see no traditional display cases. Instead many cases double up as activity benches or are dressed to fit into the Dahl environment, such as a giant suitcase or part of the centipede’s body. Objects are displayed at all levels so that viewing requires visitors to get down on hands and knees or look above their heads. It is amazing how many visitors do not look at anything that is positioned above eye level. There are also large set pieces, which help to create a complete environment, such as, the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox’s tunnel and the Twits’ upside-down room.

The exhibits are generally low tech, so most maintenance can be done in-house. As far as possible, easily available components have been used so that worn parts can be quickly replaced. This reduces the amount of time any exhibit is out of action, essential in a gallery of this size. You may be able to afford cleverly engineered and highly expensive exhibits at first but sooner or later they will succumb to the hands and feet of an eight-year-old.

The Gallery can be enjoyed on many levels by different age groups and the rich variety of activities has prevented any one area becoming a honey pot. There are, of course, exhibits that are more popular and these tend to be those that are physical or involve an enclosed space, such as, crawling through a tunnel, freezing your own shadow or appearing in your own drawing. However the things that work best are often the simplest and cheapest, such as, dressing up and the ever popular feely holes! All the exhibits have the potential of being enhanced by the team of Explainers who are on hand to interact with visitors.

The Gallery, housed in an 18th century coach house, has a capacity of only 85 people at a time, but its popularity is enormous. Devising the best method of controlling numbers at peak times has always been a priority while at the same time maintaining the quality and enjoyment of the visit. Initially numbered tickets were sold and the number and rate of those exiting determined entry. Unfortunately for those waiting, many visitors were reluctant to leave voluntarily. We have now introduced timed tickets where visitors have a one-hour visit that starts on the hour. Some tickets are pre-bookable for those coming a distance.

As I write this, we are celebrating our second sell-out February half term when the whole country seems to have descended on Aylesbury and all tickets are being sold by 2.00pm each day. February half term is, of course, notoriously busy as a result of most schools being off the same week, usually poor weather and many attractions still closed for the winter season.

With attendance figures approaching 100,000 since its opening in November 1996 and school visits booked up well into the summer term we seem to have found the right balance. Perhaps the message behind the Gallery is best summed up by the last words that Roald Dahl wrote:

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who do not believe in magic will never find it. ”

David Erskine is Keeper of Educational
Services, Buckinghamshire County Museum

Newsletter Spring 1998 Contents

Centres > Satrosphere News | What is happening to Light on Science? | Inspire News | Herstmonceux News

Exhibits > BIG working group on exhibit development | What is Design? | Exhibit Aphorisms | "Here's Looking at Euclid" - exhibit idea | Roald Dahl and the Children's Gallery | Are hybrids best? - viewpoint

Demonstrations and shows > Shows at the Exploratory | Exploding Can Demonstration | Water to wine Demonstration | Nitrogen story - urban myth?

Millennium News > More Millennium Grants | Pantechniques rewarded | Millennium awards scheme | A listing of interactive projects funded by lottery grants

Research > Measuring the performance of interactive centres

Resources and conferences > Conferences and Future Events | Indian Science Congress Report | Managing Science Centres Book Review | Children's Museums Book information

BIG > BIG Moves - From the Chair | BIG AGM Report | BIG Annual Report 1997