What has a huge number of very interesting venues with incredibly interesting stuff to do? That’ll be Summer at The Museums
Summer at the Museums continues this month, serving up more great, low-cost events for the whole family to enjoy. Running until 3 September, it’s hosted by the University of Cambridge Museums, a group that includes The Polar Museum, The Fitzwilliam and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, to name a few. There’s a huge programme of fun to get stuck into, from old-fashioned games to high-tech computer wizardry. Here’s a taster of what’s in store.
Fun & Games: Under fives can bring along their favourite teddies and listen to storyteller extraordinaire Marion Leeper at the Norris Museum on 16 August – there will also be the chance to meet some very old teddies indeed, and to join in with activities. On the same day over at Denny Abbey & Farmland Museum, find out about the life of a professional joker in Jester Around, where you can follow the joke trail and make your own juggling balls. On the 17th, take a trip back in time for some Victorian seaside fun at Ely Museum, complete with piers, parasols and a Punch & Judy show. A rather more recent slice of history is being recreated over at Burwell Museum in Summer Crazes and Comics on the 10th, where you’ll experience summer, 20th century style. Expect tie-dying, space-hopping, cartoons and a bit of dancing.
Creative: If your kids have a creative streak, there’s plenty of arty, crafty fun in store which they’ll adore. Have a go at traditional Victorian crafts at Burwell Museum on 17 August, make gargoyle masks out of clay at All Saint’s Church on 1 August, and create Roman mosaics at St Neots Museum on the 24th. You can also make mineral charms to hang in your window or on a necklace at the Sedgwick Museum on 19 August.
Techy: If you’ve got a future digital tycoon on your hands, there’s plenty of techy fun to tempt. Over nines can build their own adventure game using Twine, a tool for creating interactive online stories, on 23 August at the Centre for Computing History. There are hours of entertainment to be had building fantastical tales of dragons, spaceships or spies, which your friends can then play on! Also at the CCH, you can design your own games controller using unexpected items on the 3rd, and build yourself an electronic dice on the 2nd. Another highlight is sure to be the family engineering mornings at Cambridge Museum of Technology (2 and 23 August), when you can join the Cambridge University Engineering Department and work together as a family to design, build and test a rocket.
Nature lovers: There’s a crop of events inspired by the natural world, too, from a glimpse into the lives of animals in the coldest parts of the world at the Polar Museum on 29 August, to an insight into the feathered friends of the Fens on 9 August with Fenland Birds at Wisbech & Fenland Museum. You can also join in with an atmospheric dusk tour of the Botanic Garden on 11 August, learn how to be eco-friendly with your pets at Ely Museum on 24 August, and listen to the tale of the scared lion at the Museum of Classical Archaeology on 17 August.
Times and prices vary. For the full programme, visit museums.cam.ac.uk
