Working with Young Children in Museums

Abigail Hackett is a Research Fellow at the Education and Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research focusses on the role of place, materiality and the body in young children’s lives in numerous contexts including museums. Her original doctoral research looked at the meaning making of young children in museums and she currently holds a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship entitled "The emergence of literacy in very young children: place and materiality in a more-than-human world." Rachel Holmes leads the Children and Childhood Research Group in the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research activities appreciate the complexity of the contemporary worlds that young children, families and communities occupy. The work she engages with includes the development of theoretically-driven intellectual, as well as diverse empirical, research and evaluation projects. Christina MacRae is a Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University whose research interests lie in the Early Years, and, in particular, in the way that sense, affect and movement express a bodily relationship with the world. Her research has focussed on young children’s learning in classroom contexts as well as in museums and galleries. She has been an Early Years teacher in inner-city nursery schools, most recently in Bradford. Alongside her teaching, she has an interest in art-making and she has also worked as an artist in collaborative projects with young children in schools.

1. Introduction; Part I: Thing-ness and the power of objects 2. Introduction to Part I; 3 The power of objects: little things please little minds?; 4 The thing-ness of wood chips; 5. Bright and Shiny; infants, toddlers and contemporary art at the Ipswich Art Gallery; 6. What emerges in playing in The Corner of artist-curated and created matter; 7. For the love of small stuff: materialising theory in an early years artist residency; 8. Commentary on Part I: On fire; Part II: Museum spaces; 9. Introduction to Part II; 10. Leaving room for learning: University of Cambridge Museums' nursery in residence; 11. The sound of Little Feet at the British Museum; 12. Young children explore Sewerby Hall; 13. Climate, landscape and landmarks: providing spaces for belonging; 14. Navigating, negotiating and lighting up in a nature gallery for under 5s; 15. Commentary on Part II: places along lines of flight; Part III: Time, new experiences and repeat visits; 16. Introduction to Part III; 17. Transport Tots at Streetlife Museum, Hull: a familiar and unfamiliar space; 18. Working off-site with families with young children at the National Gallery of Ireland; 19. Come again! How familiarity leads to repeat visits and confident learners; 20. Healthy Child drop-in and Baby Stay and Play at Manchester Art Gallery; 21. Complicating the narrative: preschooler-led museum field trips; 22. Reflecting on children’s play at the Whitworth; 23. On What Grounds; 24. Commentary on Part III: The lived materialities of the museum – a new research agenda