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Please Touch Museum
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an article written by Peggy Ashbrook, discusses how the “exploration of materials happens on a daily basis” when children play. They are exposed at play to artificial and natural surfaces and use many types of materials to create artwork and structures. They use Legos to erect structures. They learn very quickly when the snow is wet enough to create a snowball. Through their natural observations and experience, they are able to determine natural materials as well as artificial or man-made materials and use their senses of touch, sight and smell to gather the appropriate data to make these determinations. The article suggest that a class should experience materials by creating a “please touch museum” or a collection of materials by creating a “supply box” that include materials that others may touch, feel smell and sense and that they can share with others. They can experience these materials and then be able to write down their observations and listing their properties and characteristics.
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Hi Nicole! I'm Morgan Strickland and currently a preservice teacher studying at the University of Arkansas. This activity sounds wonderful because students are invited to interact with the 'museum.' I remember going to museums as a child and always wishing I could touch things. Now is the chance! This activity sounds like a great way for students begin understanding how to observe and take note of those properties and characteristics. On my first day in my Teaching Science course this semester, our professor filled black film cases with unknown objects, such as dried pasta noodles, rice, paper clips, etc. They were all common classroom items. We had to leave the cases closed and use our senses to find a partner with the same item inside their film case. We all tried shaking and rolling our cases to see if the sounds matched. We were observing! The two activities are similar in that the sk students to strike their intrigue and truly think about what they are interacting with. Thank you for sharing the link to the article of yours!
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I love the idea of students making important observations on their own, without being directly taught by the teacher. I think children these days learn so much more through creating their own learning experiences through their senses and it sticks so much more than a worksheet. So the idea of a 'please touch museum' is definitely something that I would love to use in my classroom. Thank you so much for sharing this article!
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That is a awesome idea and such a cool way to get the children participating and exploring with their senses! Have you found one of these museums? If so, did you children seem to participate more?
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That is a great idea! Having as much hands on things for kids to experience will help them develop their curiosity and help get them into experimenting and inquiry early.
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What a wonderful teaching tool: A Please Touch Museum. Even in older, elementary grades, I feel this would be so beneficial. Sometimes as students get older, not as much hands-on may happen. As an adult as well, learning hands-on by doing can be so effective. Thank you for your wonderful post and the great reminder!
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I really like the idea of children learning in a hands on way. Children are so curious of everything around them. I also agree with how through their natural observations they obtain knowledge. I love the idea of a please touch museum in the classroom. This allows students to observe, touch, and experiment with different objects and materials.
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