Play
Playshed
This has a variety of things to do, including a replica of the village shop for
children to buy and sell vegetables; dressing up clothes for children to get
into the period mood, a large-scale Connect 4, old school desks, play
tractors and a model farm, a rocking horse, and books to read.
Play Area
This includes a sandpit, junior climb-on
equipment and slide, and even a real tractor!
Open space
The site is secure and there are plenty of green spaces where it is safe to
let off a bit of steam (away from the ruins and farming equipment!), as well
as have a picnic.
Also of interest
Family Activity Days
Wednesdays and Thursdays of every holiday and half-term (except for
Christmas) we run drop-in activities for families. These include things for
children to make and do, with help from their grown-ups.
Outreach
The Education Officer would be happy to come to your nursery with
boxes of artefacts, for example old toys, and do a session with your
children. The charge is £18 for a 40-minute session, plus mileage .
Pre-school Picassos
This is an art club on Wednesday mornings for pre-school children run
by an experienced art teacher. There are 3 courses a year of 4 sessions
each. The charge is £15 for the course. See the museum website:
http://www.dennyfarmlandmuseum.org.uk/ for full details.
Contact details
Chris Leuchars (Education Officer)
The Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey
Ely Road, Waterbeach, Cambridge, CB25 9PQ
Tel: 01223 860988
Email: [email protected]
www.farmlandmuseum.org.uk,
www.dennyeducation.co.uk
Craft
activities
Visits to the Museum and Abbey
Activities
We welcome pre-booked groups to the museum, and are happy to do
activities throughout the year. Most of the site is accessible for
wheelchair users, including disabled toilets.
Washday as it used to be
Complete with dolly tub, peg and posser, the
demonstrator will take children through the
rigmarole of pre-washing machine washday
in a fully interactive session.
A typical visit for a pre-school group could consist of a tour of the site,
together with an activity of your choice. Both would be led by museum
staff. The tour would be in the form of a story which would introduce the
children to different parts of the site and some of the more interesting
objects in the collection. Each tour has interactive elements.
Stories/Tours
At present there are two stories to choose from:
Daisy the forgetful cow
Daisy knows she has to look after the farm while the
farmer is at market, but she cannot remember where
anything is. The children have to help her find the places
and objects so that she can do the job properly.
Farmer Brown and his hot buttered toast
Farmer Brown loves his toast, but one day he finds
himself without any bread. He can’t go to the shops so he
has to grow his own, and make the butter to go on it. The
trail leads the children through all the equipment and
processes needed to grow and make bread and butter.
Around the Museum
Trails
There are usually trails which enable children to
see all around the site. Among those specially
designed for children are Animal footprints, and
Flossie the farmyard cat. Please ask on booking
if you would like a trail set out.
Interactives
Each area of the museum contains something to do, especially designed for
children. These range from handling and doing, to looking and spotting, and
even some dressing up. There is also a full size cow to ‘milk’.
Toys
What did children play with in the past?
Museum staff will demonstrate how old toys
worked and invite children to come and have a
play themselves. Can be combined with a toymaking activity.
Clay
Using air drying clay and moulds, children can
create tiles, and impress their own, or preprepared, designs, and/or make simple pots.
Craft Activities
We offer a range of craft activities for groups such as mask-making,
optical fun, toy-making, etc. These can be adapted to suit your group.
Pond dipping
Come and look for insect life in and around our
new raised pond, and examine and identify
what you find.
These are just a sample of what we do. For more craft , and other,
activities, see our website: www.dennyeducation.co.uk, or ring/email the
Education Officer for further details.
Charges: Entry to the museum for pre-booked pre-school groups,
including a museum-led tour and activity is £1.00 per child. All adult
helpers come free. Free pre-visits and risk assessments offered.
Normal entry to the museum (without a tour or activity) is free for under
5’s, but adults have to pay the full rate (see www.farmlandmuseum.org.uk
for details).