Working with Young Children in Museums: Weaving Theory and Practice
In the midst of these strange and unsettling times, our book Working with Young Children in Museums. Weaving Theory and Practicehas made its way into the world! Edited by Abi Hackett, Rachel Holmes and Christina MacRae, the book offers an introduction to theories underpinning the work of the museum and cultural sector with young children, together with a wide range of practical case studies.
For the last several years, we have been researching young children’s museum visiting, and writing about the importance of things like place, architecture, movement, repetition and sensory experiences to this audience (e.g. Hackett et al, 2018). We believe that theory and research should help to inform practice in museums, by offering suggestions and critical prompts to the kinds of questions we have listed above. Working with Young Children in Museums. Weaving Theory and Practice (Hackett et al, 2020) aims to offer practical ideas and responses to the question of how we imagine or anticipate young children in museums. In the book, we wrote,
“Good theories should make sense in the everyday. They should become illuminated, transformed and made to shimmer more vibrantly by practice.”
Hackett et al, 2020, p.2
The book then, is a call for, and an introduction to, theories about children’s experience in museums that resonate vibrantly with the things that tend to actually happen when young children explore museums. In particular, we have suggested those theories that foreground the body, movement and the sensory (rather than centring mostly on talk, cognition and memory), are particularly well placed to help us notice and value what takes place between children, spaces and things in museums.
We are particularly grateful to all the amazing museum professionals who have contributed case studies to the book, and offered their insights and top tips to their peers. As a taster, here is the contents list for the book;
Working with Young Children in Museums; Weaving theory and practice
Hackett, Holmes and MacRae
Forward (Barbara Piscitelli)
- Introduction
Hackett, Holmes and MacRae
- Introduction to Section 1: Thing-ness and the power of objects
Rachel Holmes, Christina MacRae and Abigail Hackett
3 The Power of Objects: Little Things Please Little Minds?
Nicola Wallis
4 The thing-ness of wood chips
Lisa Howarth
- Bright and Shiny; Infants, Toddlers and Contemporary Art at the Ipswich Art Gallery
Barbara Piscitelli
- What emerges in playing in The Corner of artist-curated and created matter
Louise Gwenneth Phillips & Roxanne Finn
- For the Love of Small Stuff: Materialising Theory in an Early Years Artist Residency
Lucy Hill and Aisling O’Gorman
- Commentary on section 1: On Fire
Helen Whitty
- Introduction to Section 2: Museum Spaces
Hackett, MacRae and Holmes
- Leaving Room for Learning: University of Cambridge Museums Nursery in Residence
Kate Noble and Nicola Wallis
- The sound of Little Feet at the British Museum
Katharine Hoare and Kate Kelland
- Young children explore Sewerby Hall
Lucy Cooke
- Climate, Landscape and Landmarks: Providing Spaces for Belonging
Clayton and Shuttleworth
- Navigating, Negotiating and Lighting up in a Nature Gallery for Under fives
Elaine Bates
- Commentary on section 2: Places along lines of flight
Ricardo Nemirovsky and Molly Kelton
- Introduction to Section 3. Time, new experiences, and repeat visits
Christina MacRae, Abigail Hackett, Rachel Holmes
- Transport Tots at Streetlife Museum Hull: a familiar and unfamiliar space
Esther Hallberg
- Working off-site with families with young children at the National Gallery of Ireland
Joanne Drum
- Come again! How familiarity leads to repeat visits and confident learners
Victoria Smith
- Healthy Child Drop-In and Baby Stay and Play at Manchester Art Gallery
Katy McCall
- Complicating the Narrative: Preschooler-Led Museum Field Trips
Daniele Carter
- Reflecting on children’s play at the Whitworth
Louisa Penfold and Lucy Turner
- On What Grounds
Alex Thorp
- Commentary on section 3: The lived materialities of the museum: a new research agenda
Kate Pahl and Jennifer Roswell
A recent review of the book described it in this way;
“The book is the first that I have come across that beautifully weaves theory and practice into tangible, useful and practical things that still allows the full complexities, wonderings and stickiness of theory to shine through. The structure, style and content of the book come together in a seemingly effortless quality that draws Ingold’s theory of wayfaring from children walking, running, hand holding, singing and travelling with friends; Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of assemblage shines through a child and grandmother on a bench and Bennett’s ‘thing power’ is brought to the surface by the enticing power of woodchips.”
Boycott-Garner, 2020
You can order the book through Routledge and all good book shops, and use the discount code FLR40 for 20% off.
