'Creativity is intelligence having fun' Albert Einstein
Wednesdays, in the school holidays, are always our family workshops day. Using our collections, exhibitions or significant dates we provide a varied programme of activity either supervised by the staff, volunteers or commission a freelance artist to oversee the workshop. It is important that we look at engaging ways to make our collections and history accessible. A creative programme of activity provides a unique way to reach a wider audience.
So with us all in lockdown and working from home, we have had to be quite ingenious about how we can still provide activities through the worldwide web. The staff have been planning, researching and sourcing ideas to provide a varied programme over the next few weeks. Today was the first virtual workshop with a morse code sheet providing ideas to encourage people to use this code to send messages. (Check out our website for more details www.CumbriasMuseumofMilitaryLife.org) What is not too like about this when everyone is socially distancing!!
One of my jobs at home during the lockdown is to tackle the spare bedroom which has become a dumping ground for various items, including lots of craft materials. Keeping yoghurt pots, bits of material, glue, paint etc just incase has always been a weakness of mine. You just never know when they are going to be useful, whether entertaining a small child (now 18), working with my Guide unit or back-up materials for work. I sometimes fantasise that I will spend any spare time creating and making - in reality its cleaning the toilet or weeding the garden.
I like to think that I am a creative individual and hope that our Museum workshops are an opportunity for children to do things that they might not do at home. This includes using scissors, painting and sewing. But also allowing children to be imaginative, have creative ideas, to experiment and have the opportunity to do what they want to do. Of course, many parents also like the opportunity to have a go, even at the most basic of tasks. I was once asked if we could run the wednesday workshops for adults!
Perhaps our virtual Wednesday workshops will allow not only the children to have a go but adults too. Maybe as a family the workshop might provide a bit of respite from lockdown and provide some different ideas to have some fun. Watch out for our varied activities on a Wednesday - go on, get out the paint and scissors and get creative!
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