Delivering early years programmes with Bradford museums
Charlotte Woodhouse, Early Years Facilitator, shares how Better Start Bradford has worked collaboratively in partnership with Bradford Museums and Galleries to develop their early years offer.
In 2023, Better Start Bradford attended a summer family event at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford to celebrate the International Day of Play. Initial conversations were held there with the staff about opportunities for collaboration and partnership-working between the Museums department and Better Start Bradford to help attract families with younger children to visit the museums and galleries.
Charlotte’s story
I started in the first week of September 2023 and this coincided with the appointment of an Early Years Officer for the museum, Miroslava Zarkov. Our initial meeting was combined with a tour of the Industrial Museum in Eccleshill, Bradford. We were able to explore how we could work in conjunction with the museums to develop activities for much younger children, whilst still adhering to their rigorous health and safety regulations.
This included some very positive dialogue about how the overall museum environment could be utilised for younger children. Bradford District Museums and Galleries already offer a range of children’s activities via its existing school programme, but only for over fives.
We talked about how the concept of the learning and theory around loose parts play1 could be incorporated into the museums offer. Loose parts play is where children are provided with a selection of materials with no specific structure or defined activity. Children are encouraged to use their creativity, imagination and their interests to play. Miroslava told us that initially she was hesitant about this approach, but with a ‘can do’ attitude, and ongoing feedback from other practitioners and parents, she was willing to consider the open ended and child-led play approach.
To help develop this, I led on providing a series of small stay and play sessions within the museums, and also invited their staff to attend some of our local play group sessions and events. This gave them experience of the types of events to run for 0-3s.
Working with Bradford Museums to deliver an early years play session pilot
In November 2023, the Museum’s team ran a special art inspired play session as a pilot at Cartwright Hall as part of Baby Week Bradford. The innovative sessions were aimed at bringing art to life for young children. The sessions focussed on sensory play involving two of the museum’s most famous art works: one of David Hockney’s iconic swimming pool paintings and Cityscape (Industrial Landscape) by Lowry.
We invited some of our regular Better Start Bradford families, including a small group from one of the local toddler groups, Little Dots from Shine West Bowling. It was a new experience for the museums, but also for the families, many of whom had not realised how accessible the Museums and Art Galleries in Bradford were.
To enhance the overall experience, the sensory sessions were carried out in front of the paintings in the main gallery, a first for the museum. The sessions were linked to the paintings by using a tray with a range of materials and toys in it to reflect the different elements of the artworks. Water play is restricted inside the museum, but materials such as foil and blue paper were used to simulate water without risking any damage to the valuable artworks. Teddies were dressed in swimming costumes and children were able to re-enact the picture using sounds, colours and words to enhance their play experience. It was great to see the imagination involved when the children recreated the painting. This was enhanced by them having the opportunity to use the materials more imaginatively, benefitting from the sensory experiences provided by each of the materials, in addition to having sounds to go with each painting – water flowing for the swimming pool, and city sounds for the Lowry painting.
A parent described the session as “an extremely stimulating environment, playing in front of these priceless paintings.” As part of the same session, similar activities were offered linking to Cityscape (Industrial Landscape) by Lowry. This included using a train track and building blocks, again under the backdrop of the original painting. Some of the resources were originally loaned by Better Start Bradford, but the museum department now has an early year’s resource box for each venue.
The children were then introduced to the ‘Learning Room’. This is a room primarily used as a classroom or workshop for schools and other groups, but rarely accessed by very young children. Here they played with a variety of toys in builder’s trays and participated in singing and storytelling, all perfect activities to support so many areas of early child development.
Some of the feedback from parents after the artwork sessions:
- “We loved that it was interactive sensory play.”
- “It was really nice to see the museums catering for younger children.”
- “My child loved exploring all the different play spaces.”
These sensory activities provided by the museums have many benefits: not only are they a great way of engaging children and families, they encourage families to attend art galleries and museums in the Bradford District and have the added benefit of helping improve their little one’s attention span. When a child is hands-on with an experience, they will engage with it for longer than if they just listen to someone talking. Sensory play helps a child’s language learning too, as linking experiences with their senses helps children to remember the words that went with them.2
Collaborating to deliver even more sessions to build upon the pilot’s success
Following the art sessions and after further collaboration with Better Start Bradford, Miroslava was able to access some bespoke training on play from myself and other district partners including our Better Place project and 50 things to do before you’re 5.
For Better Start Bradford, this was part of a larger early years offer of ‘The Importance of Play’ which was also offered to the Science and Media Museum and Kala Sangam arts hub , both integral parts of the Bradford Arts and Culture scene. This is a bespoke Better Start Bradford training session adapted to the needs of the audience, but always encompassing some valuable opportunities to play, and experience some of the amazing values of play for both adults and children.
Building on the positive feedback from parents on the pilot sensory play sessions, the same families from the Little Dots group had another opportunity to visit Bradford Museums and Galleries in May 2024 when they were invited to a bespoke toddler session designed by Miroslava at Bolling Hall museum and library.
Bolling Hall is the nearest museum to the group and they were supported to access a 'walking bus' to get to the session. The walking bus idea was a fun and healthy way to access the museum. Even though it was only a short distance from many of the families’ homes, most had not visited previously. By joining the ‘bus’ it enabled the families to retain their independence whilst having the security and the support of a group. It also ensured the whole trip was a no cost excursion.
They all enjoyed a range of play activities, including sensory toys in the old kitchen playroom where they ‘played’ kitchen and sang a song about flowers before they went outside to explore the cherry blossom trees which were in bloom. The children were encouraged to touch, feel and smell the fallen blossoms, a sensory experience all on its own and they loved touching, smelling, and throwing the blossom in the air.
At this event they were able to access several other outdoor activities including some of the ideas shared within the training provided by Better Place. Children were encouraged to gather items to put in an empty egg box, such as petals, grass, sticks, stones linked by colour, and as the activity was led by the children, the results were all very different!
The activities provided by the museum were built around the environment and the space inside and outside of the museum, not just around what items were on display. On this occasion this meant developing the cherry blossom theme and introducing drawing, sensory trays and other activities, each demonstrating a good understanding of supporting the younger child’s play, and its value for the child and the parent.
All of these activities contribute to promoting cognitive development, maximizing social skills, encouraging physical fitness and helping to foster language development.3
The activities demonstrated some of the key messages and learning outcomes following on from the training and experiential learning Miroslava had accessed, especially through Better Start Bradford and 50 things to do before you’re 5. These focused on low-cost materials and diverse play opportunities and the museum now use a range of recycled materials, such as tubes and cardboard cones to represent binoculars, to enable a treasure hunt for wheels in the Industrial Museum.
Building and strengthening our partnership
Going forward our relationship strengthened, and we have continued to work together, learning and developing as our roles progressed. The museum department has been able to offer more outreach work for 0-3’s at Better Start Bradford events and at local toddler groups, including the Little Dots group and sessions led by some of the Better Start Bradford HEY Fund groups (The Happy Early Years). The HEY Fund gives parents and carers in the Better Start Bradford area the opportunity to apply for funding up to £2,500 to develop their own ideas and initiatives for expectant parents and families with children aged 0-3.
At each outreach session the children were given different opportunities to play and engage with a range of activities based around some of the learning objectives of the museums. These sessions bring the museums to life in a familiar environment and help to encourage families to independently visit the museums.
We ran a play and learn training session in March 2024 for our HEY Fund groups and invited other early years staff including Miroslava. We wanted to do something a little ‘outside the box’. We set up the room as a playroom with lots of recycled materials including: cones, ribbons, tubes, materials etc. The attendees were then asked to develop a toddler play session with the materials provided to encourage them to use these type of activities in their settings. The use of recycled materials encourages low cost/no cost activities. We provided an overview of the early years curriculum so they knew the outcomes and objectives of the session.
Bradford District Museums and Galleries now run regular and successful toddler events at all the local sites, as well as ensuring the weekend and holiday activities can be accessed by younger children safely and enjoyably.
One of the key learning outcomes for the Better Start Bradford ‘Importance of Play training’ is that activities do not always need to be designed for very young children to capture their interest. Most can be extended to enable all babies and children to participate and to benefit from the experiences in their own individual way.
A good example of this was at the ‘archaeological dig’ which was held at Bolling Hall as part of the Festival of Archaeology on 31 July 2024. Children were encouraged to come and take part in the event, digging for objects in builder’s trays and younger children were encouraged to take part in messy digging and an ice age adventure where items were frozen in ice. Due to the hot weather, we were able to use the extensive grounds to play in.
A small water play area with paintbrushes piqued a particular child’s interest and he started to paint on the floor. He was encouraged to paint the walls and structures, after a quick spontaneous risk assessment by museum staff showed that as it was outside and only water it would have no risk of damage to either the environment or the child. It was a perfect example of following a child’s lead, with the diligence of the staff, and the continuous involvement of the parent, it meant a unique experience was enjoyed by all.
Our relationship with Miroslava has continued to thrive and this was illustrated at a recent Baby Week Bradford 2024 Steering group, when, whilst discussing events for the week, she offered to lead an event at Cliffe Castle Museum based on accessing music and playing together. Instead of wanting a closed session like last year’s pilot, this time she suggested an open session that will easily accommodate over 100 families.
Impact from the partnership
I continue to support the museum department with their early years offer development by providing training opportunities and links with toddler sessions within the Better Start Bradford area and links to other organisations, such as 50 things to do before you’re 5 and the Big Swing adventure playground in Bradford.
Miroslava has been to several groups and attended many of our events, including Festive Fun, Baby Week Bradford, messy play sessions and pop-up farms within the Better Start Bradford area enabling families who have never previously visited the museums to experience the museum collections firsthand.
This partnership has helped bring an early year’s offer to Bradford museums and increased museum staff knowledge of the importance of the first 1001 days. The partnership has not only enabled museum outreach work with young children, but it has also helped encourage more families to visit the museums.
Miroslava Zarkov, Early Years Assistant at Cartwright Hall, said: “We have felt very supported by Better Start Bradford regarding developing our early years programmes. Better Start Bradford staff supported us in delivering sessions for early years and family programmes in our museums, helped us promote our programmes to the community, and provided lots of useful of advice and training. Charlotte Woodhouse and other Better Start Bradford staff were particularly helpful during our summer family programmes 2024. They supported and enriched three days of early years differentiated play this summer in Cliffe Castle, Bolling Hall and Bradford Industrial Museum.”
Bradford Museums are also now running Museums for Play and Growth sessions each month at each museum site. These are themed sessions linked to the seasons and what collections are at the museums at a particular time, they are also linked to the ‘50 things to do before you’re 5’ activities.
Feedback from Better Start Bradford families
- “Our families loved going outside and it was fun for them to see their children run around having fun. Story time in the library was nice too.”
- “My child really enjoyed all the designated play areas. There was lots to do, thank you.”
- “Very well organised. Friendly staff and my children enjoyed the session.”
The early years offer at Bradford Museums and Galleries is now incorporated into their events schedule throughout the year. The joint work undertaken with Better Start Bradford has led to families experiencing the museums in their own community settings and encouraged them to visit the vast array of venues that Bradford has to offer.
References
1 https://early-education.org.uk/what-are-loose-parts-play-in-the-eyfs/
2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/z6whxbk
About A Better Start
A Better Start is a ten-year (2015-2025), £215 million programme set-up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
Five A Better Start partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend are supporting families to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life. Working with local parents, the A Better Start partnerships are developing and testing ways to improve their children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.
The work of the programme is grounded in scientific evidence and research. A Better Start is place-based and enabling systems change. It aims to improve the way that organisations work together and with families to shift attitudes and spending towards preventing problems that can start in early life. It is one of five major programmes set up by The National Lottery Community Fund to test and learn from new approaches to designing services which aim to make people’s lives healthier and happier
The National Children’s Bureau is coordinating an ambitious programme of shared learning for A Better Start, disseminating the partnerships’ experiences in creating innovative services far and wide, so that others working in early childhood development or place-based systems change can benefit.
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