: Learning

Hi Bulb Buddies! There’s something in the air at the moment, as winter begins to turn into Spring. You may have noticed blooming flowers, chirping birds, and longer days? These are some of the earliest signs that springtime is coming! Let's dive in and explore some of the exciting changes that you might notice as this season draws closer.

What is Spring?

Spring is one of the four seasons that we experience each year. It comes after winter and before summer. During spring, the days become warmer, and nature starts to wake up from its winter snooze. In the UK Spring begins in March, so it’s still a few weeks away. But there are lots of signs that it’s coming. 

The Early Signs of Spring:

• Blossoming Flowers: One of the first signs of spring is the appearance of colorful flowers. Keep an eye out for daffodils, crocus, tulips, cherry blossoms, and many more as they start to bloom and paint the world with their vibrant hues.
• Singing Birds: Have you noticed the cheerful melodies filling the air? That's the sound of birds returning from their winter migrations and singing to attract mates or establish territories. Listen closely, and you might even hear the distinctive songs of robins, sparrows, and finches.
• Buzzing Bees and Butterflies: As the flowers bloom, they attract busy bees and fluttering butterflies. These important pollinators play a crucial role in helping plants reproduce. Watch them flit from flower to flower, collecting nectar and pollen.
• Greening of Trees: Look around, and you'll notice the leaves on trees starting to unfurl. Spring brings new growth, transforming bare branches into lush green canopies. It's a sign that life is returning to the land.
• Warmer Weather: Bid farewell to chilly days as spring brings warmer temperatures. It's time to shed those bulky winter jackets and enjoy the gentle sunshine.
• Baby Animals: Spring is a time of birth and renewal. Keep an eye out for baby animals like ducklings, lambs, and bunnies as they make their debut in the world. You can watch for new lambs on the LAMBCAM from 1 March: Lambcam 2024 (museum.wales)
• Rain Showers: Don't forget your umbrella! Spring often brings showers that help nourish the earth and support new plant growth. So, embrace the rain and splash in the puddles.
• Longer Days: Have you noticed that the days are getting longer? That's because spring marks the time when the Earth's axis tilts closer to the sun, giving us more daylight to enjoy outdoor adventures.

Spring is truly a magical time of year, full of wonder and new beginnings. So, grab your magnifying glass, put on your explorer hat, and venture outdoors to see how many signs of spring you can spot! One might be your bulbs, have they started to grow? Can you see what colours your flowers will be yet?

You can share your photos via email or on Twitter by tagging @Professor_Plant

If this is your favourite part of the investigation so far, maybe it will inspire your entry to the BULBCAST video competition! More details on this can be found here: Bulbcast 2024 

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies,

Professor Plant

Amgueddfa Cymru has worked alongside Flying Start to invite families with young children to explore our collection through themed play, craft, and sensory activities as part of our Family and Early Years Learning Program.

For many families, there can be anxiety and hesitance around bringing their young children to museum spaces, and so our Saturday sessions are designed to relieve that concern by providing our younger visitors with safe, supervised spaces and interactive resources that encourage their curiosity, inquisitiveness, and learning. 

Occurring monthly, each weekend invites a different theme that relates back to an area in our museum collection, such as ‘Dino Discovery Day’, ‘Under the Sea’, ‘Minibeasts in the Garden’, and ‘Ice Age’. We use our Clore Discovery Centre as the base for our Family Saturday sessions, and families can freely drop in throughout the day and have the opportunity to explore our vast handling objects collection.

We aim to give our families a safe and welcoming environment to spend time together, make memories and to experience the museum in a unique way that supports the needs of our young visitors and their families.

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I'm excited to announce the launch of a new competition for those participating in the Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation. 

I've attached a helpful guide that can be your handbook for completing this challenge. 

There's also a video introduction here:  

Video entries should be about 30 seconds long and shared over Twitter or by email by 22 March.

We can't wait to see what you create!

Get casting Bulb Buddies!

Professor Plant & Baby Bulb

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I wanted to give you a heads up about an exciting new competition that will be launching soon!

It's a chance for all groups participating in this year's Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation to show off their fantastic filming and storytelling skills! You'll be asked to work in groups to produce 30 second videos exploring what you've enjoyed most about the Investigation. 

I'm looking forward to sharing more information with you and seeing what you all create! 

Watch this space for further updates soon...

Best wishes,

Professor Plant

Last year we celebrated Adult Learners Week in September, alongside other learning providers across Wales. 
We were excited to deliver activities across all 7 museums within the  Amgueddfa Cymru family, building on existing offers and piloting new sessions and activities.
At St Fagans we were able to develop a full programme of activities which took place throughout the week, including crafting taster sessions and workshops, mindful nature walks and opportunities for Welsh and English learners. 
The Amgueddfa Cymru programme was promoted via the new Adult and Community Learning section of our website, with the individual site offers also appearing on their main What’s On listings page. We were also able to promote our programme via the Adult Learners Week platform, supported by the Learning and Work Institute, as well as ensuring we ran a comprehensive social media campaign in the run up and throughout the week, across X (Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
As part of this work, we also promoted our series of virtual craft tutorials and taster sessions and the self-led learner resources we offer. 
We worked closely with partners including Dysgu Cymraeg Caerdydd, Menter Caerdydd, Adult Learning Wales and Creative Lives to ensure our programme was tailored to the needs of the learners we hoped to attract and was enhanced by the richness that partnership working brings.
Over the course of the week, we saw a total of 160 people take part in the learning opportunities on offer at St Fagans and a total of 331 people across Amgueddfa Cymru as a whole. This marked our biggest ever Adult Learners Week, of which we are very proud. Take a look at some of the highlight here: https://youtu.be/lgKtmLHr1_Q 
We wanted to ensure we collected feedback from learners to help us develop and improve our adult learning offer across the organization. 
Here’s a sample of some of the learner feedback we received: 
“Wonderful, positive, creative environment.” 
“Learning a new skill is fun and fulfilling”.  
“Very social and therapeutic experience”  
“I really enjoyed the workshop. Very fun and positive experience. Facilitators were really friendly and found it really therapeutic and sociable.”  
“Very much enjoyed – great opportunity to learn a new skill. Great teacher. I feel very chilled now.” 
“Thoroughly enjoyable and interesting walk – saw things I’d never noticed previously.” 
“Yn agordrws i fydhudol.”  
“I really enjoyed the Mindful Nature Walk at St Fagans. I learnt a lot and would recommend it! It was great to have someone so knowledgeable leading the session.” 
“Friendly environment, not at all intimidating, so if you want to try something new go for it!” (willow weaving bird feeders) 
“Empowered! A great way to learn a new skill.” 
“Great fun! Just go do it, you will enjoy learning a new skill!”  
“Dw i’nmeddwl bod digwyddiadauyn y Cymraeg yndddaiawn.”  
“I have always wanted to make an autumn wreath and the course gave me the confidence. It was an inspirational course.” 
The tuition was fantastic. There was help when needed but given enough space and time to try and do it yourself.”  
“Very much enjoyed drawing again after 20 years. Must get back into it now!” 
“I thoroughly enjoyed the sketching session at St Fagans and the encouraging nature of the group.”  
“A motivating, supporting and encouraging session which was led excellently by Marion and Gareth and so well hosted by Loveday.” (Sketching workshop at St Fagans with Creative Lives).  
“It feels so wonderful to try something new and see the results so quickly.” (Enamelling taster session).  
Legacy programmes: 
As a result of the piloting opportunities Adult Learners Week provided, we have since been able to launch 3 new regular Adult Learning programmes at St Fagans and National Museum Cardiff. 
Our monthly Audio Described Tour programme (alternating monthly between the two museums and shortly to launch at the National Roman Legionary Museum in Caerleon, with a view to extend to other sites as and when capacity allows).
Our new monthly Sketching Group at St Fagans, in partnership with Creative Lives (and building on the success of the wonderful National Museum Cardiff Drawing Group). So far we’ve held 3 sessions. Our first attracted 6 people, our second 8 and our third 24! Feedback has been so positive and word is spreading far and wide. If you’d like to join us next month please do so. All the info can be found in the link above. 
New termly Bore i Ddysgwyr Cymraeg Welsh Learner Mornings in collaboration with Dysgu Cymraeg Caerdydd and Menter Caerdydd. Last term we welcomed 35 Welsh learners to the museum to take part in a session on Welsh Christmas traditions. We’re looking forward to welcoming an existing group of Welsh speakers and learners on 25^th January for Dydd Santes Dwynwen where we’ll be exploring the Welsh Love Spoon collection and then the next Bore i Ddysgwyr Cymraeg. 
The 6 commitments enshrined in our 10-year strategy Amgueddfa2030 are embedded throughout our adult learning programme, specifically that of inspiring creativity and learning for life. 
We look forward to continuing to grow our adult learning offer and hope to welcome you in 2024 to one of our museums to take part in an activity or enjoy using one of our self-led learner resources!