This Autumn we have been working with researcher Abigail Hackett from Manchester Metropolitan University to explore how families with young children aged 5 and under use and experience the museum.  We hope that this will help us to identify the strengths of our museum for young families and to understand how we can cater for them even better in the future.

We arranged for a group of local families to come to the museum for a visit once a week for four weeks. We worked in partnership with NLC Adult Community Learning to recruit families.  Sarah Johnson, Family Learning Development Assistant attended visits and assisted in their smooth delivery. We were also very grateful for the support from Rae Twidale at Westcliff Drop- in who helped to recruit families and provided free transport.

Over the course of the four visits Abigail observed what the families did at the museum.  She…