These resources can be used if you have booked a self-guided educational group visit to the museum, or while some of your groups are having workshops, these resources may help the other classes who are simultaneously spending time looking at the museum galleries or the park.

Introducing the museum
We recommend that you start by asking your class to discuss what a museum is, why the objects are special and why only certain things are to be touched if the adults say so. They should discuss the ways they should behave in the museum galleries, how to leave the toilets tidy and how best to move between rooms given that it is open to the public, used by other school groups and there will be other events going on. They could decide what key rules they should follow. It is often helpful to briefly sit a group down in a room to focus them on what the room is all about and what they will be doing/looking for. We recommend that you don’t spend long in each room to help them to stay engaged.

Trails to use in the galleries
You can lead little quests or discussions or drawing activities in each room. The Stamp Search Trail, described below, will help with that. If you are studying the Victorians you may wish to download, print and bring some copies of the Victorian Trail by clicking here.

The Stamp Search Trail

We have some copies of the specific schools’ version of the Stamp Search Trail which you can ask for at the front desk. One trail sheet per class can be given to the class teacher to help you to guide a few quick activities in each room with your class. You can pick one different child in each room to use the lever to stamp the class trail card.

You can also download trails before your visit, see below for some options.