The Fitzwilliam Museum has real Tudor armour in its collection. Create your own 'knight' at the museum with this easy to create, cut-and-colour diorama.
The Ancient Romans did not have electricity. They used candles, torches and oil lamps made out of clay to see in the dark. This activity gives you lots of ideas of how you can recreate an evening without electric lights.
The Padlet is free and has a range of downloadable photos and activities that can be used with or without the Mary Anning loan box. Including a song, an activity led by artist Kaitlin Ferguson, drawing sheets, a biography of Mary and her contemporaries, and images of the fossils in the loan box.
Explore the Padlet
Find out more about our free loan boxes
Explore Kettle's Yard House and galleries with your students in this facilitated visit with open discussion and drawing activities. These facilitated visits are tailored to suit your class year level and learning objectives, introducing students to the unique nature of the Kettle's Yard House and collection.
Introductory tour and drawing activities:
FREE to all UK-based state schools*
£75 per class for fee-paying schools.
Enquire aT Yard School Bookings schoolbookings@kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk
This kit contains all the material you will need to make paint using pigments and a medium just as artists did (before ready-mix paint!). You can construct an experiment for students to explore the role of science in both the artist’s and the scientist’s workshop with reference to the technical analysis of the Renaissance painting, Cupid and Psyche by Jacopo del Sellaio. There is material provided with the kit that supports each of the suggested activities below.
Suggested activities
Online session format
- scheduled for 30, 45 or 60 minutes depending on your preference
- led by a museum teacher and involves close-looking at objects and games
- similar content to our onsite session
Sessions:
Primary
KS1
Stories in Art: Words and Pictures
What is art? How can we understand it? We will look at 3 different artworks together and think about how artists tell stories using pictures instead of words, using the paintings to inspire our own creative writing.
The following taught session is offered for KS5 students:
Anthropology, Archaeology and Identity (90 minutes)
This discussion based session examines the relationship between museums and people, as well as current issues with collection, curation and repatriation. Students will learn how the collections come to the Museum and how we navigate the ethics of display and access.
A museum teacher leads the first 45 minutes of the session. Students then independently investigate the galleries and conduct their own object research.
Museum of Me (60 minutes)
What is the role of museums in society? How should museums use objects to represent other cultures? How do objects help construct and display identity? These are some of the questions that frame this cross-cultural gallery-taught session, which combines critical thinking, self-reflection, discussion, looking and object handling activities.
Ancient Maya (90 minutes)
How did the ancient Maya express their identity? What objects did they use to show their power? What can archaeology tell us about Maya life? These are some of the questions we will discuss while students learn how to read a Maya monument and handle objects from Central and South America.
