On Sunday 29th June, Eton College Natural History Museum hosted an all-day Family Learning Event (FLE) attended by 17 families from three central Windsor schools .
For the first time, the museum featured ‘Great Explorers’ as its theme for an FLE, based upon the collection of tribal artefacts recently donated to the museum by Robin Hanbury-Tenison OE.
Families were able to pursue a trail around the museum following in the footsteps of Sir Joseph Banks OE, Constantine Phipps OE and Charles Darwin, as well as Robin Hanbury-Tenison.
They then had chance to make headdresses inspired by those worn by tribes from the Xingu region of Brazil and produce pottery featuring the animal life of Amazonia like that manufactured by the Juruna tribe. They also had the opportunity to listen to musical instruments used by the Penan people of Sarawak and then make their own music in response to what they had seen and heard.
As ever, the feedback for the event was very positive and a testament to the Museum’s continuing collaboration with the Clewer Cluster of Schools and the Artswork Museum Learning Project. The input of three undergraduate Science Ambassadors from Royal Holloway, University of London, was also welcome.
