The National Trust has spent £2.2m redeveloping a museum that explores childhood experiences from the 18th century to the present day. It reopened at the end of March in the old service wing of Sudbury Hall, a stunning 17th-century house set in an equally beautiful park.
The subject of childhood is huge, especially when explored across centuries. The museum has tackled this by creating seven galleries that each explores a particular area of childhood: Home; Work; School; Baby; Outdoor Adventure; Toys; and Stories and Imagination. There is also a temporary exhibition space.
Within each gallery, visitors are encouraged to compare and contrast childhood experiences across generations. The museum has doubled in size by installing a new first floor and you could easily spend a couple of hours absorbed by the eight galleries.
The entrance gallery, Outdoor Adventure, poses many questions to encourage people to reminisce: Were you part of a gang of adventurers? Did you have a secret den? Questions like these, combined with familiar objects such as rollerskates, a bucket and spade, a Mobo horse, penny farthing and toy trains, brought smiles of recognition to the faces of many visitors and put them in the right mood to explore the rest of the galleries.
This Museum of Childhood is not just for families. Its strength is that it appeals to people of all ages and provides opportunities for visitors to share childhood experiences with each other. An example of this was a mother pointing out her old Brownie uniform to her daughter and then gleefully discussing how it compared with the uniform today.
Although based on the premise that people enjoy looking back at their childhood, the museum acknowledges that not all times are happy for children. Serious issues are introduced, such as the fate of young evacuees during the second world war and the affect of natural disasters on children across the globe.
The museum also highlights problems that we might think are historic, but are still prevalent today. The International Labour Organization estimates that one in six children around the world are child labourers and this includes kids in the UK.
The idea that beliefs and values start at home is explored using handling displays of religious and world-culture objects. Visitors
are encouraged to respect the difference between religious objects and toys. The diversity of the modern family is explored through a community-created display of drawings of the different people that children live with.
The museum successfully presents a holistic picture of childhood, but with a light touch, which avoids overwhelming visitors with content. And each gallery differs in style and has a different quality to offer, which helps to maintain engagement.
But there is a lot to get through, and visitors would benefit from a better introduction to the whole museum. The first gallery could have done more as an orientation space by enabling visitors to choose a route through the museum and telling them what was to come. But as it is, people tend to follow a linear path and may not be prepared for the scale of the museum.
The first two galleries, Outdoor Adventure and Work, have less to engage with than the later galleries. But there is interesting content in these areas for those visitors who read wall graphics. Some adults found time to read the timeline of child labour while their children were preoccupied with crawling through the chimney sweep experience.
This timeline presents some intriguing facts: When were boys under 10 and girls banned from working in mines? 1842. When were schools introduced for five to 11 year olds? 1870. When was the school leaving age increased to 16? 1973.
The Home gallery has a greater impact due to an object-rich, central display case crammed full of games and costumes played within the home. On the ceiling is an impressive, upside-down display of three bedrooms from different periods: Victorian, the 1980s and a modern bedroom. Children of the 80s will relate to this display, which features Snoopy, a Scalextric set and Dennis the Menace comics.
The focus of the School gallery is a re-creation of a Victorian classroom, complete with a costumed interpreter playing the role of a stern teacher. The bell rings and visitors are summoned to class and presented with a slate pencil and board to write on. The experience lasts about 20 minutes and is well worth it.
The Baby gallery is twee, exhibiting old wooden high chairs and baby grows, with very atmospheric background music and an area of toys for babies to play with. Those children older than five or six years couldn't get out fast enough, calling it "babyish", while their parents left very reluctantly.
The Toys gallery is intensely object-rich and benefits from a significant collection donated by the Betty Cadbury Trust. It is fascinating to see that some toys have changed a great deal, but others have hardly changed at all.
In many, the materials and technology used have been updated, but the ideas are the same. Visitors learn how teddy bears got their name, and are reminded of recent toy crazes such as the Care Bears, Cabbage Patch dolls and, more recently, the Teletubbies.
The Stories and Imagination gallery has a different feel. It uses illustrations from well-known stories, such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and paraphernalia from Star Wars, Dr Who and other popular adventures.
It also displays a culturally diverse section of puppets and the stories attached to them. Visitors are encouraged to work a string puppet and make up their own stories using a selection of props found in a treasure chest.
The combined experience of the galleries communicates that childhood experiences haven't changed that much over time. There are opportunities to play games, listen to children's radio and oral histories and to take part in hands-on activities throughout the museum.
But the main interactivity is the conversations between visitors, fuelled by reminiscence, nostalgia and awakened imagination.
Vicky Brightman is the head of learning at the Horniman Museum, London
The subject of childhood is huge, especially when explored across centuries. The museum has tackled this by creating seven galleries that each explores a particular area of childhood: Home; Work; School; Baby; Outdoor Adventure; Toys; and Stories and Imagination. There is also a temporary exhibition space.
Within each gallery, visitors are encouraged to compare and contrast childhood experiences across generations. The museum has doubled in size by installing a new first floor and you could easily spend a couple of hours absorbed by the eight galleries.
The entrance gallery, Outdoor Adventure, poses many questions to encourage people to reminisce: Were you part of a gang of adventurers? Did you have a secret den? Questions like these, combined with familiar objects such as rollerskates, a bucket and spade, a Mobo horse, penny farthing and toy trains, brought smiles of recognition to the faces of many visitors and put them in the right mood to explore the rest of the galleries.
This Museum of Childhood is not just for families. Its strength is that it appeals to people of all ages and provides opportunities for visitors to share childhood experiences with each other. An example of this was a mother pointing out her old Brownie uniform to her daughter and then gleefully discussing how it compared with the uniform today.
Although based on the premise that people enjoy looking back at their childhood, the museum acknowledges that not all times are happy for children. Serious issues are introduced, such as the fate of young evacuees during the second world war and the affect of natural disasters on children across the globe.
The museum also highlights problems that we might think are historic, but are still prevalent today. The International Labour Organization estimates that one in six children around the world are child labourers and this includes kids in the UK.
The idea that beliefs and values start at home is explored using handling displays of religious and world-culture objects. Visitors
are encouraged to respect the difference between religious objects and toys. The diversity of the modern family is explored through a community-created display of drawings of the different people that children live with.
The museum successfully presents a holistic picture of childhood, but with a light touch, which avoids overwhelming visitors with content. And each gallery differs in style and has a different quality to offer, which helps to maintain engagement.
But there is a lot to get through, and visitors would benefit from a better introduction to the whole museum. The first gallery could have done more as an orientation space by enabling visitors to choose a route through the museum and telling them what was to come. But as it is, people tend to follow a linear path and may not be prepared for the scale of the museum.
The first two galleries, Outdoor Adventure and Work, have less to engage with than the later galleries. But there is interesting content in these areas for those visitors who read wall graphics. Some adults found time to read the timeline of child labour while their children were preoccupied with crawling through the chimney sweep experience.
This timeline presents some intriguing facts: When were boys under 10 and girls banned from working in mines? 1842. When were schools introduced for five to 11 year olds? 1870. When was the school leaving age increased to 16? 1973.
The Home gallery has a greater impact due to an object-rich, central display case crammed full of games and costumes played within the home. On the ceiling is an impressive, upside-down display of three bedrooms from different periods: Victorian, the 1980s and a modern bedroom. Children of the 80s will relate to this display, which features Snoopy, a Scalextric set and Dennis the Menace comics.
The focus of the School gallery is a re-creation of a Victorian classroom, complete with a costumed interpreter playing the role of a stern teacher. The bell rings and visitors are summoned to class and presented with a slate pencil and board to write on. The experience lasts about 20 minutes and is well worth it.
The Baby gallery is twee, exhibiting old wooden high chairs and baby grows, with very atmospheric background music and an area of toys for babies to play with. Those children older than five or six years couldn't get out fast enough, calling it "babyish", while their parents left very reluctantly.
The Toys gallery is intensely object-rich and benefits from a significant collection donated by the Betty Cadbury Trust. It is fascinating to see that some toys have changed a great deal, but others have hardly changed at all.
In many, the materials and technology used have been updated, but the ideas are the same. Visitors learn how teddy bears got their name, and are reminded of recent toy crazes such as the Care Bears, Cabbage Patch dolls and, more recently, the Teletubbies.
The Stories and Imagination gallery has a different feel. It uses illustrations from well-known stories, such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and paraphernalia from Star Wars, Dr Who and other popular adventures.
It also displays a culturally diverse section of puppets and the stories attached to them. Visitors are encouraged to work a string puppet and make up their own stories using a selection of props found in a treasure chest.
The combined experience of the galleries communicates that childhood experiences haven't changed that much over time. There are opportunities to play games, listen to children's radio and oral histories and to take part in hands-on activities throughout the museum.
But the main interactivity is the conversations between visitors, fuelled by reminiscence, nostalgia and awakened imagination.
Vicky Brightman is the head of learning at the Horniman Museum, London
Project data
Cost: £2.2m
Funders: Heritage Lottery Fund £1.6m, Betty Cadbury Trust, National Trust South Derbyshire Centre
Design: Haley Sharpe Design
Display cases: Click Netherfield
Cost: £2.2m
Funders: Heritage Lottery Fund £1.6m, Betty Cadbury Trust, National Trust South Derbyshire Centre
Design: Haley Sharpe Design
Display cases: Click Netherfield
