Teaching News

10 Great Museum Sites for International Museum Day

Posted: 12 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT

International Museum Day takes place on May 18. It aims to raise awareness about how important museums are in the development of society.

Although it may be too late to organise a trip to a museum, there are some wonderful museum websites online that children can learn from. Here are ten of our favourites:

1) The British Museum has a huge site that is full of information and activities. Their Young Explorers area has creative crafts to try, videos to watch, games to play and a great interactive map that teaches children about different objects in the museum. Their Ancient Greece site is also a wonderful place where children can do independent research.

2) The Tate Kids site has lots of interactive activities that children can complete online, as well as craft activities that can be tried offline. The activities have difficulty ratings so that teachers (and parents) can match them to their children’s age / ability. There are also a number of lesson plans that can be used, as well as a feature that allows children to create their own gallery of images.

3) The Royal Air Force Museum has some wonderful virtual tours that let children explore the museum online. They also offer free teaching resources and activity sheets that can be downloaded for use by schools.

4) The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre is a great place to find out about Roald Dahl and his books. Their site has information about the author, as well as a quiz to test your knowledge. There is also a downloadable file that includes information about characters who were in the original drafts of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ but not in the published book. The Get Creative page has advice about writing from other authors too.

5) I had a fantastic time when I visited At-Bristol last year. It is an exciting Science museum that has lots of hands-on exhibits and live shows to watch. Their site offers a number of resources for teachers, as well as games and interactive tools to explore.

6) The Science Museum includes an Online Science area that has lots of challenges and games to try. There is also a guide to lots of the objects that can be found in the museum.

7) The UK Space Agency has a special Discover and Learn section on their site that has lots of information about the Solar System, Space History, Satellite Technology and more. Their pages are great for research and often feature embedded videos to help children to learn more about space.

8 ) The Smithsonian site is enormous! There is a wonderful Kids section that has animal webcams, interactive challenges, printable activities and separate mini-sites that teach children about different sites. Highly recommended!

9) Show Me has lots of fantastic games, activities and resources from lots of different UK museums, galleries, heritage and science centres. It’s a great site that is well worth exploring, whether you’re a child, a parent or a teacher!