| Wed 16th & Thurs 17th April |
‘Traditional Spring Dance’ |
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To celebrate spring and the arrival of summer we did maypole dancing in the museum! Everyone had great fun learning traditional dances, and watching Anne’s demonstration of clog dancing. The workshop was lead by Anne Garrison from Tradamis. For more information go to : http://www.tradamis.org/
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| Wed 9th & Thurs 10th April |
‘Activities for Passover’ |
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| Children learnt about Passover by making a Seder plate to take home. Seder plates are consist of 6 foods and the symbolism of each was discussed. We also hid pieces of Matzo in the museum for children to find! |
| Wed 20th & Thurs 21st Feb |
Winter Music Workshop |
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The workshop began with a tour around the museum, looking at all the interesting objects. We then worked in groups and with the help of Anna Tabbush we created songs about the adventures of the Chalvey Stab Monk!
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| Thurs 20th Dec |
‘Carols and Mince Pies’ |
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This year we had a combined museum and Families Christmas party which was great fun. We had musicians in who told stories, played games and got us into the Christmas spirit with carol singing.
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| Wed 24nd & Thurs 25th Oct |
‘Diwali Lanterns’ |
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To celebrate the ‘Festival of Lights’ we made lanterns with the artist Julie Roberts. We spoke about the different light festivals around this time of year and the children decided they could also use the lanterns for Halloween and bonfire night.
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| Wed 22nd & Thurs 23 Aug |
‘Sculpture’ |
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Thanks to everyone who participated in this project Slough
Museum now has a new sculpture which will be enjoyed by everyone who
visits the museum! The sculptor Geraint Edwards is interested in
geometric forms, and spotted the potential beauty in paper cups.
Individually the cups are greatl, but as a together they have created a
visual explosion!
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| Wed 15th & Thurs 16th Aug |
‘Slough Souvenirs’ |
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This workshop was based on the concept of souvenirs. We
began with a discussion about why people buy souvenirs and had a trip
around the museum to see what Slough is famous for. The artist Sarah-Britten
Jones demonstrated different ceramic techniques and helped everyone
along the way to making fantastic sculptures. Some of the souvenirs
included: the Slough Museum, the Observatory, Upton Park from the air,
the Slough Train Station and the Bird Tree!
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| Wed 8th & Thurs 9th Aug |
‘Pulpy Paper’ |
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We started the day with an object handling session. We
looked at Victorian objects and spoke about Slough during the Victorian
times. Using the objects as inspiration the children made paper with
embossing, lace, string and glitter. The workshop was lead by the
artists of Julie Roberts who is the resident artist at MERL.
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| Wed 1st & Thurs 2nd Aug |
‘Museum Creatures’ |
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Creeping, crawling, and walking museum creatures. Children were asked to think about the museums collection and what type of creatures might live in it. Insects, dinosaurs, ghosts, people in photographs, monsters were some of the favourite museum inhabitants. These ideas were translated into fantastic prints with the help of Carla Conte.
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| Thurs 26th & Fri 27th July |
‘100 Years of Scouting’ |
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the scouts and to celebrate organisers of Slough Scout groups arranged lots of exciting activities for children. The children made pasta pictures, weather clocks, hats, decorated biscuits and some even traditional knot tying!
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| Wed 11th & Thurs 12th April |
Vaisakhi Celebrations |
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Children learnt about the Sikh New Year and had a chance to make Vaisakhi gifts. Everyone made fantastic chocolate boxes with traditional Indian designs supplied by the artist Amrit Kaur Bharma. The children got to learn more about Sikh culture in the temporary exhibition- 'Punjaab to Slough'.
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| Wed 4th & Thurs 5th April |
Traditional Polish Easter Activities |
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Slough Museum was filled with activity over these two days. Elzbieta and Krzysio amazed us with their pisanki (egg painting) skills. The children used traditional designs to decorate badges and wall hangings and at the end we played Easter games!
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| Wed 14th & Thurs 15th February |
'Africa' Family Activities |
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Freddy entertained families with his wonderful musical talent and knowledge of Africa. During the workshops the children learnt Tanzanian songs and all learnt how to play the drums!
For more information about Music4Slough please telephone: 01753 477 178, email: info@music4slough.co.uk, or visit their website www.music4slough.co.uk
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| Wed 14th & Thurs 15th February |
'Africa' Family Activities
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We all enjoyed 3 days of celebrating Africa. The events tied in with 'Rwanda Revisited' in our temporary exhibition space and the artist Beki Hart organized the activities. Families made colourful masks and made fantastic beadwork bangles and keychains.
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| Wed 27th & Thurs 28th December |
'Textiles-tastic' |
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Farnham Royal Quilters helped families to create seasonal textiles. Older children had fun using sewing machines and everyone created beautiful patchwork designs. For more information on Farnham Royal Quilters please telephone Virginia on 01753 546012.
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| Wed 20th & Thurs 21st December |
'Seasonal Stories and Singing' |
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Families explored the sights and sounds of the festive season through stories and songs from different cultures. New stories were created and recorded in special festive story books to take away and the museum came alive with harmonies, melodies and percussion. A big thank you to Music4Slough and Paula Bowman!
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Fri 27th October
'Black History Month – Caribbean Singing’
During this two hour workshop, provided in partnership with Music4Slough, families sang Caribbean folk songs and explored the history behind them. For more information about Music4Slough please telephone: 01753 477 178, email info@music4slough.co.uk, or visit their website www.music4slough.co.uk
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| Wed
25th October |
'The Big Draw 2006 - Drawing on Movement'
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Children and adults alike joined in
some fun drawing activties exploring movement at Slough Museum this
half term. Drawing on inspiration from objects in the collections and
the temporary exhibition of paintings 'Shadows from Africa', everyone
had a great time getting grubby with smudgy chalks, pastel and
charcoal!!
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| Wed
23rd & Thurs 24th August |
'Printing Planets'
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Artist Julie Roberts showed us all
how to make lovely prints of our favourite planets - inspired by
Herschel and his discovery of the planet Uranus! We learnt
two types of printing methods and contributed to a large scale
'night-sky' mural in The Space.
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| Wed
16th & Thurs 17th August |
Trading on the Past
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It was great to welcome the Ure
Museum and a selection of their handling objects back to Slough Museum.
Families found out about roman and greek pots and trading
methods and then we all got messy making aryballos (greek oil pots),
designing our own coins and making pouch purses to keep them in. Lots
of fun!
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| Wed
9th & Thurs 10th August |
Puppet Power
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Everyone had a great time making
puppets of their favourite Slough historical characters and others!
Once puppets were made and decorated, workshop leader Paula
Bowman led a dancing puppet parade around the museum!!
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| Wed
2nd & Thurs 3rd August |
Slough Sounds
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We worked with Music4Slough to host
two great
music workshops in the museum. One the first day songwriter Anna
Tabbush worked with families to write and perform a song about 'Woolly
the Mammoth' inspired by the museum objects. On the second day Stephen
Shiell helped families to make their own musical instruments from junk
and recycled objects. Two great days brought the museum to life with
sound and song!!
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| Wed
31st May |
What's my Story?
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To celebrate the new displays at
Slough Museum (the exhibition is now displayed by different themes -
come in and have a look for yourself!) we asked our family
visitors to try out our new museum trails and to write us some exciting
new object lables letting their imagination run riot!! Some
visitors had a creative time imagining the exciting stories the objects
have to tell and making their own storyboards!!
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| Wed
5th & Thurs 6th April |
Springtime Origami and Haiku
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We all celebrated the approach of
Spring by creating wonderful poetry and paper creations during this fun
workshop!t
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| Wed
12th & Thurs 13th April |
High Street Happenings
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Inspired by the museum’s
temporary exhibition ‘Hi! Street’ we had a
fun-filled time making High Street jigsaw puzzles, Easter egg window
cards and fantastic sculptures to brighten up Slough High Street.
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| Wed
15th February |
'Recycling Readymades!'
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Celebrating National Science Week
2006 (a bit early) and the museum’s new Slough Science Expo,
this exciting, art session looked at the environmental importance of
recycling and how fun it can be! Inspired by famous artists that use
readymade products in their art we turned rubbish into brilliant new
artworks and objects! Creations included solar-powered binoculars, a
television, a guitar, a space ship and much more!
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| Wed
21st & Thurs 22nd December |
Festive Fun!!
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Everyone got busy making last minute
salt-dough decorations to take home and put on the tree. Postcards were
made to show other people in Slough how particular families celebrated
at this seasonal time of year and stamps and collage were used to
design and make lots of bright and beautiful wrapping paper for
everyone’s presents!
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| Sat
15th October |
Slough Museum's BIG DRAW
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Italian Illustrator, Silvia
Baroncelli, led a brilliant drawing workshop to celebrate this year's
BIG DRAW. Young and old joined together in drawing activities of all
kinds including:making museum monsters, choosing different shaped paper
and making drawings to suit the shapes, contributing to a big floor
drawing (on display in the Journey Through Time Gallery in October) and
sketching different Museum objects. Silvia's pictures (shown here) were
also on display and visitors got the chance to ask the artist about her
work.
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| Wed
24th & Thurs 25th August |
Telling Tales!
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Families had a brilliant time
exploring the hidden historical stories that the museum had to offer.
Professional storyteller Paula Bowman led a session to unlock some of
the stories to be told by the museum objects and to help all of us
learn some great storytelling skills!! The tales told in the sessions
are ones that no one will forget for a while!
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| Wed
17th & Thurs 18th August |
Whistle a Happy Tune!
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Families had a great time mastering
tunes on a tin whistle, in sessions throughout the afternoon led by
professional musician Luke Daniels of Gael Music. There were also
several music-related activities happening in the museum while families
waited to join the next whistling session – great fun was had
designing record sleeves and making our own musical instruments
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| Wed
10th & Thurs 11th August |
As Young as You Feel!
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To celebrate National Youth Day on
the 12th August we held a range of fun activities to celebrate
childhood and growing up. Children and adults alike tried making
old-fashioned peg dollies, jack-in-a-boxes, played with original
puzzles and games form the collection and tried their hand at
recycling, making toys and games from scrap materials!! As you can see
young and old had a great time – quite exhausting for some!!!
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| Wed
3rd & Thurs 4th August |
'Photographic Puppet Theatre'
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Professional photographer Filip
Gierlinski led this exciting workshop. Families were introduced to
using a digital camera and then let loose around the museum to pose as
historical figures and with objects from our handling collection. The
printed photos were then cut out to create a miniature theatre, with
photographs from the museum’s collection setting the stage!
As you can see the results are
fantastic………
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| Wed
27th & Thurs 28th July |
‘Artful Archaeology!'
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Young archaeologists and their
families enjoyed a host of activities from a sand-pit dig to getting
messy making clay pots! We were very lucky to be joined by staff from
the Ure Museum of Reading who brought along a range of exciting pottery
finds and handling objects to learn about - click
here to visit the Ure Musuem Website
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Wed 1st June 1.30-3.30pm
Fantastic Fun Finger Puppets
Creative
fingers got busy making Slough’s historical figures come to
life by making finger puppets during half term at Slough
Museum!
Photographs from the museum’s collection provide the perfect
backdrop for such characters such as Sir William Herschel, James
Elliman, a Slough
brick worker and Isambard Kingdom Brunel!
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Saturday 14th May 2005
‘Celebrating Collections – Objects of
Desire’ Family Day
To celebrate National Museum & Gallery Month we invited young
and old to bring in samples of their own collections to show to our
curator and ask her expert advice on how best to care for them. We saw
all sorts of fantastic collections, from plastic dinosaurs to exotic
bank notes! Budding young curators also made mini display cases and
curated their own exhibitions using pictures of museum objects, as well
as bringing Slough’s historical characters to life with great
dressing up costumes!
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Wednesday 30th &
Thursday 31st March 2005
Easter Egg-Citement!!
Springtime was welcomed in at the museum with fun Easter-themed
activities such as painting egg cups, making Easter Bunny masks and
learning about Polish Easter traditions by making beautiful Polish
Palms.
If you have a special festival that you would like to see celebrated by
an activity at the museum, or of you just have a good idea for an
activity you would like to do – why not write to or email us
your idea?
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Wednesday 16th &
Thursday 17th February 2005
Very Valentine - Hearts& Spoons!
We spent Valentine's day looking through the rose-tined glasses that we
made and learnt all about the romantic history of St Valentine
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Wednesday 29th &
Thursday 30th December 2004
New Year Nuttiness!!
We made thank-you cards for lovely Christmas presents and got organised
for 2005 by making handy calendars
Wednesday 22nd &
Thursday 23rd December 2004
Christmas Creations
Lots of festive fun creating sparkling Christmas decorations and
elegant Victorian decoupage cards!
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Saturday 27th November
2004
'The Space' Launch
We had a great time celebrating the opening of our exciting new
learning area ‘The Space’ and the launch of our new
searchable collection database.
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Saturday 16th October 2004
Slough Family Funday
As part of Family Learning Week 2004 Slough Museum worked with many
other Slough organisations and companies to hold a Slough-wide free
Healthy Living Funday. Activities at the museum included a historical
healthy walk, mendhi painting and health themed art activities.
Wednesday 27th &
Thursday 28th October 2004
Mural Madness
To prepare for the opening of our new creative area 'The Space' and to
celebrate The Big Draw campaign we got messy and had lots of fun
painting a huge mural depicting our favourite things about Slough.
Wednesday 25th &
Thursday 26th August 2004
Dramatic Designs
We played with pattern, colour and shape with a range of design-related
activities including Soap Carving, Mosaic making, Stained Glass and
designing Victorian Samplers.
Wednesday 18th &
Thursday 19th August 2004
Telling Tales
One of our most popular events ever! We enjoyed a magical afternoon of
storytelling by two professional storytellers, inspired by the objects
in the museum.
Wednesday 11th &
Thursday 12th August 2004
Practically Potty
We had great fun and got very messy together with the Ure Museum in
Reading to find out more about ancient pottery and make our own pots!
Wednesday 4th &
Thursday 5th August 2004
Action! Archaeology
We celebrated National Archaeology Week by getting our hands on some
fossils - real and imaginary!
Wednesday 28th &
Thursday 29th July 2004
What's in name?
The launch of our 'design a logo' competition resulted in lots of fun
and a great new name and logo for our 'Hands On at Slough Museum'
Family programme
Saturday 16th June 2004
Menhdi Hand Painting
Young and old enjoyed this fantastic workshop learning all about the
traditional art of Mendhi and of course having a go themselves
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Thursday 3rd June 2004
Terrific Toys
Play time at the museum! We designed doll's houses and made toy cars
and had a historical look at how we used to play
Wednesday 7th and 14th
April & Thursday 8th and 15th April 2004
Activities Egg-travaganza!
We had a great time at Easter 2004 making Spring butterflies, Easter
bonnets and pop-up cards!
Hands
On’, family activities are run on Wednesday and Thursday
afternoons every school holiday. Activities are free and on a drop-in
basis. Donations towards the cost of materials are welcomed
Please download
our full Community & Outreach Brochure for more details 
