Press Releases

Make something inspired by the art in the museum with the popular art cart in the art galleries. Or why not look around the contemporary ceramics exhibition Fragile and make your own pot. Look at the new Welsh Dinosaur display and then make your own fossil to take home. Or fancy being a rock star? Why not dress up like a star and take your photograph inspired by the Chalkie Davies photography exhibition. There is also a bug hunt in the Urban Meadow outside, or storytelling and an opportunity to follow the museum trail – pick up a trail to guide you around the museum as you solve clues! Most of the activities are drop in –however visitors are advised to book on arrival for the fossil casting workshop.

Families and Schools Together (FAST), a Save the Children programme, is an award-winning early-intervention programme that brings parents, children, teachers and the wider community together, to make sure children get the support they need to fulfil their potential at school – and in life. 

Eleri Evans, Learning Manager at National Museum Cardiff added:

“Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales is committed to providing cultural activities for children, young people and families.”

“It is vital that families get the support they need and this is a special day of organised activities but it’s also an opportunity to introduce the Museum and its collections to new families who may never have visited before.”

“From art to natural history, there's plenty of free activities and workshops for families and children to enjoy at National Museum Cardiff, all year round.”

Mary Powell-Chandler, Head of Save the Children in Wales said: “FAST makes a huge difference to the families that take part. By bringing together those key elements in determining a child’s success, their school, their family, and the community, FAST ensures that children are given the support they need to thrive. Working together with the Museum has been wonderful; we hope families will be enthused by what the Museum and Save the Children have in store for them.”

Save the Children will also be promoting a downloadable free story starter pack for families to use to help parents engage in conversations with pre-schoolers at the event.

Read On. Get On. is a coalition of organisations in partnership with Ladybird have created activities aimed at helping families chat with their children to develop their language skills.  The Ladybird story starters feature much loved children’s characters including Peppa Pig, Ben & Holly and Topsy & Tim in every day fun situations and are available to download for free from the Read On. Get On. Website this week.

For more information on Read On. Get On. and to download a Ladybird story starter pack please visit www.readongeton.co.uk

Admission to National Museum Cardiff is free thanks to the support of the Welsh Government.

Amgueddfa Cymru operates seven national museums across Wales. These are National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon, Big Pit: National Coal Museum, Blaenafon, National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre, National Slate Museum, Llanberis and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.

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For further information please contact Lleucu Cooke at National Museum Cardiff on 02920 573175 or lleucu.cooke@museumwales.ac.uk.

About Read On. Get On:

Reading is the key to unlocking a child’s full potential and one of the best routes out of poverty for our poorest children. Yet in the UK today too many of our children, including 40% of our poorest children, leave primary school without being able to read well . Our mission is to ensure, that by 2025, every child is a confident reader by age 11. Read on. Get on. will galvanise the nation so that everyone plays their part in making this happen. The full list of members include: Achievement for All, Beanstalk, Booktrust, Harper Collins, I CAN, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), National Literacy Trust, Publishers Association, Reading Agency, Save the Children and Teachfirst.   For more information visit www.readongeton.org.uk

About Story Starters:

Read On. Get On. has teamed up with Ladybird and Penguin and invited popular children’s characters Peppa Pig, Ben & Holly and Topsy & Tim to create family ‘story starters’ – activities with pictures and words to help get toddlers ready to read. These simple activities will help parents bring the joy of reading and creating stories into children’s lives and show that any time is story time – whether it’s on the bus, in the coffee shop, playing in the park, or in the doctors’ waiting room. We’ll also have loads of resources and hints and tips on our website developed by early language experts to help parents help their children boost their language and reading skills.