A museum is inviting children to take part in the country’s largest museum project to date.
The Booth Museum of Natural History, in Dyke Road, Brighton, is one of more than 500 museums taking part in The Wild Escape, produced by Art Fund, an art charity.
It aims to inspire hundreds of thousands of children to visit museums and respond to the threat to the UK’s natural environment and biodiversity by looking for animals featured in museum collections and creating their own wildlife artworks.
The event will take place on Saturday, April 22, which is Earth Day.
Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
At the Booth there will be storytelling sessions with a focus on positive stories about the natural world, craft sessions to make useful items from sustainable resources to help local wildlife, object handling sessions with our curators and a puppet show introducing Mr Booth and his amazing museum.
The first hour of Earth Day, from 10am to 11am, will be a ticketed quiet opening, making it accessible to people with any additional needs.
Workshops will be delivered by the museum’s team of learning assistants who are trained in special educational needs and disabilities and will have resources such as fidget toys and ear defenders available.
Activities for the day are aimed at seven to 11-year-olds.
The Wild Escape is the largest collaboration yet between the UK’s museums.
More than 500 museums are taking part, organised by the Art Fund in partnership with the WWF, the RSPB, the National Trust and English Heritage.
“This will be a fun day with a serious message. There will be lots of activities for families to do at the Booth but will also be a great opportunity to learn more about nature and discuss the future of the environment and nature with young people,” said Hedley Swain, chief executive of Brighton and Hove Museums.
Jenny Waldman, the director of Art Fund, said: “514 museums all around the country have come together to show the power museums have to inspire children to create artwork to help animals, birds and insects escape the museums and return to their natural habitat.”
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