Spring Museum Trail: Over 11s
Welcome to our digital Spring Museum Trail for young people aged 11 and over and their families.
Instructions
Follow the clues, find spring themed objects and take part in a series of fun challenges with your family.
The trail has been designed to do at your house, so please remember to follow the government guidance and stay at home.
All the clues are based around the museums that were shortlisted for our Family Friendly Museum Award 2019. Solve the clue at each stop and select one of the clue answers below to continue the trail.
Enter our competition
We will be giving away a bundle of brilliant activity books from Quarto to one lucky winner.
To win, share your pictures of the Stop Five Challenge with us on social media using #SpringMuseumTrail and tagging @kidsinmuseums.
Entries close on Sunday 10 May 2020. Good luck! Read the full terms and conditions.
If you have any questions about the trail, please get in touch: [email protected]
Clue answers
During the trail, you will be given five clues and asked to select the correct five links from the following:
- Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Dunfermline
- The Devil’s Porridge Museum, Eastriggs
- Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
- London Transport Museum
- Museum of Liverpool
- Parc Howard Museum, Llanelli
- The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
- Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge
- University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge
- Valence House Museum, Dagenham
The links will help you to answer questions and move through the trail.
Stop One
Clue
Which museum’s name is a bad breakfast food?
Got the answer? Scroll up, click on the trail stop above you think is correct. Then answer the following question:
Question
Why were children eating carrot lollies at Easter in 1942?
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Expand for the answer
Chocolate was rationed during World War II. Instead of chocolate eggs, carrots on sticks, like lollies, were sold in shops as an Easter treat – as seen in the Devil’s Porridge Museum blog.
Challenge
What new vegetable and fruit flavour combinations can you create to make ice lollies, fruit juices or smoothies?
Stop Two
Clue
Which museum in East London contains objects which relate to the local area?
Got the answer? Scroll up, click on the trail stop above you think is correct. Then answer the following question:
Question
Who won the trophy for the best rabbit at the Dagenham Town Show twice between 1962 and 1980?
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Expand for the answer
The trophy can be found at Valence House Museum. It was won by J.R. Edwards in 1966 and in 1968.
We wonder if it was one of these rabbits.
Challenge
As a lot of major sporting events have been cancelled this year, could you create your own home games and award prizes to your family? For example, who can run the fastest, jump the longest or do the most keepie uppies?
Stop Three
Clue
Which museum is full of buses, tube trains and trams?
Got the answer? Scroll up, click on the trail stop above you think is correct. Then answer the following question:
Question
What Greek goddess is featured on this poster?
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Expand for the answer
It’s Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring.
The poster is part of the London Transport Museum collection.
Challenge
Spring is full of lovely smells, like fresh flowers and warm hot cross buns. What things in your house smell fragrant? Collect up a lot of different scented things from around the house. These can be nice-smelling, or not! Cover them with tea towels or ask your family to wear blindfolds made from things like scarves. Can the people in your house guess which smell goes with what object?
Stop Four
Clue
Which museum is part of a famous university and has animals in its collection?
Got the answer? Scroll up, click on the trail stop above you think is correct. Then answer the following question:
Question
Famous naturalist Charles Darwin found this large egg in Uruguay. Which bird laid the egg?
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Expand for the answer
The egg came from a spotted nothura, which is a species of tinamou, a group closely related to other flightless birds, like the ostrich.
The egg is one of many that can be found at the Museum of Zoology.
Challenge
Staff at the museum think this egg looks like a chocolate creme egg and it is the same size too. Eggs were often collected and kept in cabinets in the home since the 17th century. These were like mini museums. Can you create your own museum which reflects your personality? This could be in a box, Lego or even Minecraft.
Stop Five
Clue
Which museum is located in the city where the Beatles came from?
Got the answer? Scroll up, click on the trail stop above you think is correct. Then answer the following question:
Question
What iconic 1970s car accessories can be found in this Ford Escort?
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Expand for the answer
A furry dice and nodding dog can be seen in the Ford Escort from the Museum of Liverpool.
Challenge
The colour of the car reminded museum staff of a daffodil. Find a variety of weird and wonderful yellow-coloured items at home and arrange your items together. Take a photo, paint or draw the arrangement.
Send us a photo of your arrangement or drawing on social media and you could win a bundle of activity books from Quarto.
Share your photos on social media using the hashtag #SpringMuseumTrail and tagging @kidsinmuseums.
Entries close on Sunday 10 May 2020. Read the full Terms and Conditions.
Good luck!
Well done – you’ve completed our Spring Museum Hunt!
For more fun activities to try at home, take a look at our weekly round-ups.
