We were so excited about hosting the Mammoths of the Ice Age exhibition here at the museum that we decided to share our excitement through a mini-outreach programme. We ran a series of visits to community groups around Edinburgh and worked on exciting in-depth projects with Knightsridge Primary, West Lothian and the Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital.
We travelled to community groups with our boxes of skulls, teeth and even a real elephant poo. We told Ice Age tales of Mungo the mammoth: poor Mungo has an identity crisis – he doesn’t want to be a mammoth anymore! This leads him on a journey to find other animals he might like to be instead. He makes new friends and when a fire sweeps through the woods, he saves the day, realising it’s not so bad being a mammoth after all.Afterwards there was a craft activity where the children decorated a cotton bag in a cave painting style.
Above: Conor Hull, Community Engagement Officer, showing a little girl elephant poo at Dads Rock, Westerhailes (left). Mungo and his new friends (right).
We visited…
- Murrayburn Childminders group
- Circle Haven, Craigroyston x2
- Lone Parent Scotland Fathers’ Group
- Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre
- Gilmerton Community Centre
- Dads Rock, Westerhailes, WHALE Arts
- Knightsridge Primary School (P3)
- Carrickvale Community Centre
- Royal Mile Primary (P1)
Across these nine different organisations we reached 177 kids and 150 adults. Seven out of the nine groups decided to come along and visit the exhibition as a result of the outreach.
After our visit to Knightsridge Primary, the class decided to base all class work for the next 11 weeks around the topic. They transformed their classroom into an Ice Age cave, complete with cave paintings.
They designed their own beasts by mixing and matching real Ice Age animals and they even wrote their own story – the next chapter in Mungo’s adventures!
You can also download the story here [PDF 1.3MB].
Two classes from the school came in to visit the exhibition on 25thMarch. To top it all off we asked our good friends Macastory to come out to the school and perform the show they performed at the National Museum of Scotland over the February half term.
It was a roaring success – lots of fun, while painting a fascinating picture of life in the age of the mammoths.
The feedback from the groups has been extremely positive. Here’s what some group members had to say:
“I thought I’d let you know in end of session feedback the group you visited with the Ice Age outreach said it was the best session! They would like more of the story plus craft as they particularly enjoyed it!”
“The visit to Museum was fantastic. Lots of things to see and touch”
“I’ve been telling everyone about it, and telling them to go to the Museum!”