What was your play pilot?

Our initial plan was to organise a Halloween themed play day during the October half term in collaboration with Wrexham Play Team. Our event would have been restricted to 30 children per session, with grown-ups having to social distance in line with Welsh Government guidelines for outside events at this time.

Unfortunately we had to cancel our play day at the end of September. As a local authority museum, we could not encourage large gatherings in light of the increasing restrictions which we were facing.

Due to the time frame involved, the decision was made to create online play sheets during ‘5 Days of Play’. The play sheets would list between four to five play suggestions on different themes, such as loose parts, colours, outside, Halloween, and autumn. These were designed in house and posted on all of our social media during the week days of half term.

As not everyone has equal access to the internet, or even play resources, we placed a bid with the Welsh Museums Federation to cover the cost of 60 play bags for families who would really benefit from them, which was successful.

Play dough, paint, paper bags and all manner of lovely things were duly ordered, packed and delivered to three partners in time for half term: Wrexham Food Bank, Given To Shine (food bank), and AVOW Play Team Plas Madoc. ‘5 Days of Play’ was aimed at families with children up to the age of 11.

Budget

££

£1,000 including design and print of play sheets.

What would you consider your level of experience in creating playful interventions in museums prior to the project (1 being the least experienced and 5 being the most)?

2.5

Why did your organisation choose to take part?

We are a family friendly venue, but we still have a long way to go and are keen to encourage more local families to visit us by offering different and accessible activities that appeal to them. We also want to ensure our staff and volunteers are aware of the benefits of play and embed play within our organisation moving forward.

We are keen to ensure play is factored into our plans and policies moving forward in line with our vision for the new Welsh Football Museum, which will hopefully become part of Wrexham Museum in the not too distant future.

What did you achieve?

In some respects, this is quite difficult to answer. We had little to no interaction from families via our social media platforms. We know our play posts were shared and viewed, but only a couple of families sent us images of what they had been up to, so we don’t know if anyone participated with ‘5 Days of Play’ or what they gained from it.

Feedback from both foodbanks was that families were surprised and thankful to receive the play bags. The Plas Madoc play team staff were on leave during half term so were unable to post on their Facebook page, offer guidance, or remind their members to actually play using the play bags.

We are not known (yet!) for being a playful museum and have never undertaken anything like this before, especially on social media, so perhaps in time, we can produce more play sheets (say once a month) to promote what we do and will be doing in the future.

Lessons learnt

Don’t try and do too much. We had three weeks in the end to produce the play bags and sheets, so try and plan for a couple of scenarios! I am thankful though we did have a backup otherwise we would have had to cancel our play plans entirely as Wales entered a two week lockdown at the start of half term.

In the future I would engage more with families and other organisations to promote what we were planning to do and seek their suggestions and ideas.

Play is play and that is the outcome. Not everyone in our museum could see the point of a play day, especially Halloween themed, so it was quite difficult to change minds. Given more time, we’ll offer staff play sessions. Funnily enough, our volunteers were more keen than some staff.

Don’t be too prescriptive. I rewrote the play sheets following feedback from Wrexham Play Team as I was writing the play suggestions with a set outcome, and it took me a while to change my thinking and perspective to enable curiosity and play for play’s sake.

Top tips

  • Prepare to adapt!
  • Ask for help from other organisations or individuals who are experienced in play.
  • Seek out additional funding if needed.
  • Start small in line with your organisation’s vision.
  • Consult with families.
  • Garner as much feedback as possible. Volunteers can help with this or try to use collection methods that encourage play.

 

The Play in Museums in a Socially Distanced World project was made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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