Friday 17 October 2008

Boat making at the Maritime Museum

As always a day couldn't be better if is started with a trip on the Docklands Light Railway. This trip ended in Greenwich hoping to catch a sight of what is left of the Cutty Sark and take in a trip to the Maritime Museum. The museum is in the very impressive surroundings of the Royal Naval College, designed by Christopher Wren, which is always worth walking around on a nice day.

We only visited a small amount of the full museum on the ground floor; the only real hands on exhibits in this was a wave machine showing how waves form and break going up a beach, the Buggies all like to play with this. However, this was not the only thing that captured their imagination. An exhibition of the trans-Atlantic liners gave plenty to talk about, an exhibition of arctic exploration and a steam engine from a small boat also gave a lot.

So to the boat making; this was a paper craft affair along the cutout and glue together, the event was very popular and some kids made very creative models the Buggies, on the other hand, decided to keep things simple shunning even a deck for any would be sailors to walk about. Sadly, like many such events no real attempt was made to bring the museum into the activity, making boats could have been at the local children's centre and both Buggies would have got just as much out of it.

In conclusion a good museum for the Buggies and one we will visit again but if I'm looking for creative arts and crafts I would prefer something like the art trolley at the Tate.

What: Boat making
Where: National Maritime Museum
Getting there: Walk from "Cutty Sark" tube station or get the river boat to Greenwich; map
Cost: Free
Again: Definitely will visit the museum again to see the other exhibitions.
Try:
Arts and crafts: The art trolley at the Tate
Transport and boats: London Transport Museum, Science Museum, London Canal Museum
Top tip: Go on a nice day, although the museum is indoors the area is very nice to walk around.

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