Project 84: The Emergency Services

We had planned a trip to the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield for this week, and as Sheffield is also home to the National Emergency Services Museum we decided to make that the week's project.

There are plenty of resources for the ambulance and fire services online, with many of the services around the country having outreach programmes. In particularly we made use of the North West Ambulance Service worksheets for how and when to call for an ambulance,  and the Cheshire Fire & Rescue worksheets for making a family emergency escape plan for the house. For the police we focused on their relatively recent history, and both the good and bad points of having a police service:

The National Emergency Services Museum is a nice museum mostly covering the police, fire, and ambulance service, with smaller exhibits on the coastguard and mountain rescue service. The museum has a wide range of exhibits, including a large collection of historical emergency vehicles, a number of reconstructions, and even a climbing wall. There was also an opportunity to go for a ride on a fire engine! The children all enjoyed the museum, and we spent about 2.5 hrs there in total. If I had one criticism of the museum it would be the one-sided view of the police.

Emergency Services Museum

Next project: Revisiting programming.

Project 41: Britain

Project 41 was a double project/holiday: two weeks travelling around Great Britain by train with an All Line Rover ticket, from Thurso (the northern most station) to Penzance (the southern most station). Unsurprisingly there were plenty of opportunities for teachable moments along the way, whether visiting local museums, sharing a train with Prince Charles, or just looking at the objects we saw along the way. 

We visited three local museums and a gallery over the two weeks - we had planned to visit more, but the train travel didn't always go to plan. The McManus gallery and museum (www.mcmanus.co.uk) in Dundee is currently renamed the McMenace in celebration of 80 years of the Beano, and after discovering the Beano in the previous week's project on comics Solomon has been obsessed with it.  

McMenace

We visited the Caithness Horizons Museum and Art Gallery in Thurso (www.caithnesshorizonsmuseum.com), with it's exhibitions on nuclear research, local wildlife, and medieval stones. 

Skinnet and Ulbster stones at Thurso Museum

Finally, we visited Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (www.shrewsburymuseum.org.uk). Unfortunately we only had an hour to look around, and despite the ticket seller assuring us that was plenty of time, it was a bit of a rush as there was lots to do and see, with plenty of hands-on activities for the kids. It currently has a big exhibition on the Titanic, but as with many museums where you have to pay, it was very very quiet. Although the 3rd class cabins on the Titanic are often compared unfavourably with Titanic's 1st class, you can't help but see the similarities with the modern sleeper carriages we were on. 

Caledonian Sleeper or Titanic 3rd Class

We also visited MOMA Machynlleth, after an unexpected change on the train. Unfortunately for a museum of modern art, the modern art gallery was closed! 

Just MO

As well as the museums and galleries, there was also a host of public objects and art works that provoked discussion along the way. From prehistoric henges and public walks, to scientists, writers and fictional characters. 

Balfarg Henge and Offa's Dyke Walk

Charles Darwin and Geoffrey Chaucer

Desperate Dan and Paddington Bear

You can't travel the country on 39 trains without at least one picture of a train, and our favourite train trip was Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog (www.festrail.co.uk) on a narrow gauge steam engine.

The 'David Lloyd George' on the Ffestiniog Railway.

Obviously there's too much to be covered in a single blog post, and we're thinking about writing up the whole trip as a book, current working title: How not to travel Britain by Train.

Next week's project: The Stone Age

Project 5: English Civil War

As the Oliver Cromwell museum is just down the road, we decided to do a project on the Civil War this week.

We got some books out of the library on the subject, and watched the Horrible History sketches about the Civil War on Netflix:

• Series 2 Episode 7 (16 mins 30 secs – Charles I)
• Series 1 Episode 11 (20 mins 30 secs - The start of the civil war)

(Unfortunately the Horrible Histories Civil War song is in series 3 - which isn't available on the UK's Netflix)

The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon is a small museum, just one room, but holds a significant number of artefacts about Oliver Cromwell and the Civil War. The staff were very helpful and there was plenty for the kids to do: worksheets, dressing up, and games from the period. We spent about an hour there in total.

The children's favourite exhibit was undoubtedly the Lego reconstruction of a Civil War battle, although there were many other items of more historical interest.

Lego Civil War Battle

Roundhead Uniforms

Oliver Cromwell's Hat

Following the BBC's Are you a Roundhead or a Cavalier? Solomon decided he was a Cavalier, and created a Cavalier recruitment poster.

Solomon's Cavalier Recruitment Poster

Next week's project: Nutrition!