Eureka! The National Children's Museum Visit

Eureka! The National Children’s Museum is an award-winning attraction and educational charity for children. I visited the museum, based in Halifax, yesterday as I believed that it would be useful in getting into the mindset of a child and understanding the way they think and learn.

The museum features over 400 interactive exhibits which are intended to inspire children aged 0-11 to learn about themselves and the world around them through imagination, play and discovery. The museum is based on the North American model of children’s museums with a focus on play-based learning and providing inspirational informal learning experiences for young people.

Eureka! was granted charitable status in order to promote the education of children and to develop their imaginative play and social skills, thereby assisting in their personal development and preparation for school

The museum had many different areas to explore including the following galleries: Desert Discovery, Living and Working Together, Me and My Body, Our Global Garden, Sound Garden, SoundSpace, Outside and Eureka! Wonder Walk, Mission: Active Future.
One of the most noteworthy was Desert Discovery, which was a special habitat created for under-5s to explore. This was inspired by the Mojave Desert in the USA and features a desert quarry.

It is a highly interactive experience, also featuring Baby Oasis – a safe, secure oasis design especially for non-mobile children who are not yet walking, encouraging them to reach for textured shapes etc. Within Desert Discovery are other sections such as Boulder Mountain, Cactus Construction, Storytime Tent, and Desert in the Dark.

Another section of the museum which I found particularly interested with regards to children’s development of social skills was the Living and Working Together area. This enabled children to explore the world of work, becoming cashiers, postal workers and mechanics.

Whilst at the museum I took photographs to document my visit. I will annotate these as soon as possible and include them in my research file as primary research. I was not just looking for inspiration regarding child development, but also inspiration relating to colour, texture, imagery, subjects and trend. I will make my finding apparent through my annotation.