Mansfield Museum

The last year has seen a huge number of developments aimed at making Mansfield Museum one of the area's key providers of activity opportunities for children, families and anyone else looking for an engaging, enjoyable way of passing an afternoon.

XplorActive

The transformation kicked off last November with the opening of XplorActive, the hands-on environment gallery.

Schools

This was followed swiftly by the launch of a brand-new free schools programme. The six different sessions are aimed at Key Stage 1-3 and last from two hours to a full day. In its first term over 1000 pupils in forty groups from more than twenty schools took part in these active, fun sessions. As one teacher wrote: 'Best day out we've had.'

Brownies

At the same time, we're now receiving regular visits from Cubs and Brownies on weekday evenings and Saturdays. These have come from as far afield as Chesterfield and Rotherham and have used their structured tours to work towards Environment, Collector and Habitat badges.

ArtBeat

Nor is the development aimed solely at groups. During the summer holidays we offered two dozen different art, craft and drama workshops to almost 300 local children as part of our ArtBeat series. Activities ranged from sowing miniature gardens, through recycled drum orchestras and freaky fairytales to five-star bedroom accessory design.

Families

Casual visitors are equally well catered for. Children (and their parents) can try their hand at a variety of gallery trails; play our XplorActive Xpedition board game; make brass rubbings of our crafty creatures; fashion a finger-puppet or make a mask with our PuppetPack.

Party!

September saw the first birthday party to be held at the Museum. The young guests played games, went on a gallery treasure hunt and made a mosaic to take home.
Celebrations

In October we celebrated Children's Book Week with free storytelling and book illustrating. For the Big Draw a gallery full of families painted their houses and added them to The Street Where You Live, a giant piece of pavement art.

Theme Weeks

During Victorian Week local children experienced lessons in a long-ago schoolroom and discovered for themselves the hard grind of washday in a 19th Century home.

Coming soon

With future plans including sleepovers and celebrations of Children In Need, as well as visits from Star Dome, there's never been a better time to be a child - or a parent - at Mansfield Museum.

So if you're a child, a parent, a teacher, a carer or a group leader, why not ask to be put on our mailing list? Then you'll be sure not to miss a minute of the fun and games at Mansfield Museum.

Growing Bolder

And it's not just families we provide for. Those in their golden years are equally well looked after.
If you're 55+ with new found time on your hands and looking to broaden your horizons, workshops run by the Museum and its partners can help make lifelong learning a reality for you. Growing Bolder means rolling up your sleeves and having a go: at art, crafts - and much more besides.
Growing Bolder sessions run every other Friday. Classes are friendly and open to anyone wanting to develop a new interest or refresh an old one. And, apart from developing skills and interests, Growing Bolder is a great way of meeting new friends.
Everyone is welcome
Go on... Be Bold!

Escapes

Escapes is the Museum's ever-changing programme of temporary exhibitions. All tastes are catered for in displays ranging from photographs of football icons to embroidery via model railways and local artists' competitions.
Isn't it time you got to know your local museum a little better?

Mansfield Museum
Leeming Street
Mansfield
Notts
NG18 1NG
01623 463088
mansfieldmuseum@mansfield.gov.uk