This guide was created in partnership with Sarah Shaw, Director of Museum Tales Ltd. Sarah has produced family friendly interpretation for English Heritage, York Art Gallery, Bath Abbey and other venues across the UK.

Kids in Museums believes that welcoming families to your venue should be a priority for any museum, but this can be a daunting prospect for staff and volunteers. We’ve created this short guide to support you and your team to develop a more welcoming environment for families by introducing self-guided family resources. 

Please note this resource does not cover digital resources or interactives.

Where do I start?

We know that families come in all different shapes and sizes and that museums and their staff have different levels of skills, budget and resources to produce resources to welcome them.

So how can you get started with producing resources to meet their varying needs? In the first instance, reflect on who you want to welcome, why and how. There’s a big difference between a 5 year old and a 15 year old, yet often we only have one trail or resource available for all. Rather than creating a one size fits all approach, try creating resources for particular age groups – even if it’s a similar resource which is adapted for different groups.

As a rough rule of thumb, this can be:

  • Under 5s
  • 5-11s
  • 11+
  • Families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Speech and Language UK breaks these ages down in more detail in its Ages and Stages guide and you can read more about knowing your audience in our Creating Family Friendly Interpretation resource.

Once you’ve selected your age groups, have a look around for inspiration and see what others have produced. Across the sector you’ll see all manner of ways of engaging families, from trails to backpacks, lanyards to resource packs.

Budget

Any resource that you create will incur a cost – whether that’s a staff member’s time or purchasing materials. You’ll also find that over time your trails, laminates, packs and content will need replenishing and reprinting.

Before you start creating your resources, make sure that you have budgeted for this. There’s nothing worse for a family than seeing a resource advertised and it’s either out of stock, or items are missing from it. With backpacks, think just how many you’ll need available at peak times and with trails, how many you can expect to get through during busy holiday periods.

Also think about production costs – if you’re working with a designer, you’ll need a clear brief to allow them to quote for it. Remember to include a couple of rounds of amendments – usually once your team has had a look and changes need to be made. South West Museum Development has a useful resource on producing briefs for freelancers.

Think about this before you decide which route to go down. Perhaps it’s a paper trail as you know that you can budget printing costs into your annual forecast, or maybe it’s a laminated lanyard produced in house as you know you can cheaply reproduce them. Don’t forget to think about seasonal trails too, to keep your repeat visitors interested.

Quick tip: complex folds, cut outs and fancy shaped paper trails cost more to produce than simple ones. It’s cheaper to buy in bulk if you have somewhere to store excess trails.

Creating your content

Whichever route you go down, think carefully about what your resource will cover. Here are some top tips for creating great content:

  • Consider using a mascot as a guide. Museum Tales produced this under 5s backpack resource with mascot Abi the Lion at Bath Abbey. This is always useful, particularly with smaller children. You can then use your mascot to highlight other family friendly areas, and even sell your mascot in the shop as a keepsake.
  • Keep the content unique to your venue to allow families to learn more about your collections. They can do a generic colouring in sheet or wordsearch anywhere – so link into your content. Take a look at this National Museums Scotland trail for inspiration.
  • Keep the route and activities non-linear. Children rarely walk in a straight line! Keswick Museum have created an I Spy Trail which can be completed in any order if you choose to.
  • Try to cover a variety of learning and play styles. This means ensuring a variety of activities, rather than just relying on one such as counting items. You can find out more about play styles in this Play Wales resource and even take an online test to find your own learning style.

What self-guided resources might look like

There are so many fantastic examples of self-guided resources out there. Have a look at these links to get you thinking.

Under 5s

5-11s

Over 11s

SEND Families

We want all families to be able to access our collections. Creating SEND resources opens up your venue to even more children.

If you’re new to creating SEND resources, or want some inspiration, visit the SEND in Museums website. This site is packed full of information, advice and inspiration to help you to create your own packs, sensory maps and communication tools.

Practicalities

When you create a great trail or backpack, the last thing you want to do is find it’s not being handed out to families or that items are unavailable or missing. Mitigate this by working with your team to create the packs and communicating through the development phase – working together to plan how resources will be handed out and collected in. Explain why families are so important to your venue (they’re your future ticket holders!) and how handing out these resources sets the tone that you are family friendly.

Creating a crib sheet for the front desk team, explaining what the resource is, what it contains, how to replenish items and who it’s aimed at can really help people who are a bit nervous about engaging with families. You can also book bespoke front of house training through Kids in Museums to help get your team onboard.

As with any resource, it’s also vitally important to keep your materials accessible. Bright colours and illustrations are fantastic and can really appeal to families, but remember to keep access principles in mind to ensure that your text is legible and meets best practice recommendations.

Finally, if you’re purchasing materials for backpacks such as toys and handling items – make sure that they are age appropriate. Buying from UK stockists provides some protection, with times clearly labelled by age and meeting British Standards for safety. Age appropriate resources are essential to avoid choking hazards or injury. You might also want to make items available in your shop as a take home souvenir.

Test, Test, Test

Finally, when you’re producing any resources for families, don’t forget to write with them, not for them. Perhaps you can set up a focus group to test out your ideas, or ask local families to comment on your resources to ensure that they’re fit for purpose.

Further reading/ Useful resources

The great news is, there are loads of places to go for help when it comes to producing family friendly resources. Here’s a quick reading list to keep you going:

Kids in Museums often offers free trails for museums and galleries to use during half term in partnership with publishers. These are usually often on a first come, first served basis. Make sure you are signed up to the Museum Mailing List to be notified of upcoming opportunities.

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