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Art and craft activities
Week 4 – Make a Mark Activity
Resources you’ll need
- sheet of paper folded into quarters
- colouring pens or pencils
This week’s family fun art activity also comes from Leanne and the Art Resource boxes. This time, all you need to do is take a sheet of a paper and fold it into quarters. Unfold it again, then in one box draw circles, in another draw wavy lines, in a third draw a spiral then in the fourth try a scribble. Add colour to the spaces you’ve created with your lines. The artist Paul Klee talked about drawing as being like taking a line for a walk – this activity is a great way to practice this!
Easter Egg Hunt Ideas to try at home
Alternative Easter Egg Hunt ideas
We are sorry not to be welcoming you to the museum for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. However, we thought we’d share some alternative chocolate-free ways of doing Egg Hunts that we enjoy.
Have a go at our Easter Egg Letter Hunt – there are 9 eggs, each with a different letter on them. Cut out the letter clues and hide them in different places, or if you haven’t got a printer just cut egg shapes out of paper or card and write letters on them.
The challenge is to find the letters around your home and garden and rearrange the letters to see what word it makes!
There’s some blank eggs so you can have a go at making up your own trail based on different words.
Download the trail sheet here: Alternative Easter Egg Hunt Letters and Blanks
Download the answer sheet here: Alternative Easter Egg Hunt Trail Sheet
Another fun thing to try is an Easter scavenger hunt – this really gets your brain working! Think of a word that suits this time of year – it could be anything like bunny, spring, daffodil etc. Then try and find things in your house that begin with each letter of that word. I’ve had a go with Easter and managed to find …
Egg, Apple, Snake, Triceratops, Envelope, Rock
Don’t forget to share a photo of your word and objects – we love to see how creative you can be.
Have fun, and Happy Easter.
Art and Craft Activities
Week 2 Family Art and Craft – Easter Bunny!
We are sorry not to see you all at the museum for our Easter Family Fun activities. We thought you might be missing the museum as much as we are so why not have a go at the Easter Activity at home?
If you would like to have a go at one of the activities at home, here’s the Easter Bunny Mask Template 1 for our Easter Bunny Mask – it’s simple and fun to make at home.
Resources you’ll need
- sheet of paper or card
- printer (if not you can draw out the template
- glue
- cotton wool and any other materials to make your bunny as fun as possible.
- string or strip of card
All you need is a sheet of paper or card. You can print the template off, colour it in and cut it out. If you don’t have a printer just have a go at drawing it yourself – you can even fold the paper in half lengthways so you just draw half the bunny face, then cut it out while still folded to give you the whole mask!
If you have glue you could add cotton wool and any other materials to make your bunny as fun as possible. Just tie on some string or staple a strip of card from a cereal box on the side to make a handle to hold the mask in front of your face! Happy Easter!!
Takeover Day 2019
On Wednesday 20 November, year 8 students from King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy, took over the running of the museum as part of Takeover Day.
Visitors took part in a tour, activities and a trail all devised and led by the students, and were in charge of our Twitter and Facebook accounts for the day.
Three students were even interviewed live on BBC Essex radio – something they only found out about an hour before going on air.
The 10 pupils worked with staff, in a series of preparations days, to learn more about the day to day running of the museum; they were given a behind the scenes tour, handled objects from the collections, created posters and content for their tours.
Climate change
They themed their take over around climate change, linking it to the current Ice Age exhibition; this period was a natural form of climate change, comparing it to now as more manmade through global warming.
One gallery had been declared a ‘no go zone’ to represent how, through climate change, parts of the world will disappear and be submerged in the oceans. Another gallery was filled with one week’s worth of rubbish to show how much waste each household has and to encourage visitors to recycle as much as they can.
One activity the year 8s run was to make little trees from cork, a cocktail stick, beads and ripped paper. Each tree represented a real endangered tree and was given a label with details of where the tree currently survives and why it is under threat of extinction. This small forest of trees will be on display until the beginning of December.
A word from the students
We asked the pupils what they did as part of Takeover Day, what they enjoyed and what they learnt that surprised them about working in a museum – here are their answers:
Mark: I did the tours [and enjoyed] all of it.
Rhianna: I was posting on social media updating Twitter and Facebook for the public and update our #takeoverday . I enjoyed making captions and doing the social media.
Obinna: I did a tour, [and enjoyed] doing tours and being on the radio.
Dmithry: I did the tours with Mark, [enjoyed] all of it and [learnt that working in a museum] is really fun.
Joni: I took part in the tree activity. I enjoyed making trees and helping others make them. I was surprised that I was going to be on the radio.
Louie: I advertised outside, I had a go at a tour, I spoke to the chairman and helped people make trees. [I enjoyed] speaking to the chairman 1 on 1 (I found that really exciting). I’m quite good at advertising and drawing people in.
Lilly: We learnt about climate change and we done tour and other jobs that people who work here do. [I enjoyed] everything. I learnt a lot about climate change and how people work in the museum.
Rhiannon: I was posting on social media updating Twitter and Facebook about our takeover day. I enjoyed making the different captions for our tweets and taking the pictures, I also enjoyed spotting our woolly mammoth. I learnt how much work, effort and time goes into the takeover day.
Archie: I made trees, helped with snakes and ladders and made a poster. [I enjoyed] making trees. [I learnt working in a museum] is easy.
Epping Forest District Museum – Take Over Day 2019 
Epping Forest District Museum – Take Over Day 2019 
Epping Forest District Museum – Take Over Day 2019 
Epping Forest District Museum – Take Over Day 2019 
Epping Forest District Museum – Take Over Day 2019
Takeover Day
Takeover Day is a national celebration (created by Kids in Museums) of young people’s contributions to museums, galleries, arts organisations, archives and heritage sites. It’s a day on which they work alongside staff and volunteers to participate in the life of the organisation or venue.
To find more, visit https://kidsinmuseums.org.uk/takeoverday/
Singing in the Wilderness
Where: St John’s C of E Primary School, High Road, Buckhurst Hill, IG9 5RX
When: Saturday 29 September
Time: 3pm – 7pm
Price: Free (some activities may be charged for; all money raised will go to the school)
Everyone welcome
Epping Forest District Council’s Museums, Heritage and Culture team and St John’s C of E Primary School, Buckhurst Hill are hosting an event to celebrate the life and work of local artist Walter Spradbery.
In 1938, Spradbery and his wife Dorothy held an ‘Open Air Social’ with stalls, sideshows, donkey rides, traditional dances and art displays. This will be recreation of that event on its 80th anniversary.
There will be a specially choreographed dance performance by Flux Dance Collective who has been working with pupils from the school to create a piece inspired by Spradbery. A historical interpreter will play the role of Walter Spradbery, leading tours into the wilderness to visit the site where the house once stood. The day will end with a fun performance by Impropera, the world’s only improvised Opera Company. Buckhurst Hill Community Association will have an art display, and there will be a small exhibition about Walter Spradbery.
The Wilderness
He lived next door to St John’s C of E Primary School, in a house known as ‘The Wilderness’ from 1929 – 1969. The site is now part of Epping Forest and a stone plaque marks where the house once stood.
This event is part of a programme of activities for the ‘Walter Spradbery, Artist in War and Peace’ exhibition, at Epping Forest District Museum, Waltham Abbey; on display from Saturday 21 July to Saturday 22 December 2018. For more information visit http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/museum
Walter Spradbery
Spradbery is best known for his poster designs for London Transport, one of which was recently used on the new signboards marking the boundaries of Epping Forest. He and his wife, opera singer Dorothy D’Orsay, also held many musical and opera performances in the gardens of ‘The Wilderness’ for the local community.
Spradbery was also a committed pacifist. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War, receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his bravery in rescuing injured comrades under intense enemy fire.
Adult art workshops at Epping Forest District Museum
Adult art workshops at Epping Forest District Museum.
For the first time Epping Forest District Museum is offering art workshops for adults, led by professional artists this September, as part of the Paths Unseen project.
Poetry workshop
In this adult workshop you will create beautiful and powerful written works of art that will capture your thoughts, feelings and memories using poetry techniques with performance poet Keely Mills. You will also get a chance to develop written, performance and craft skills.
Where: Epping Forest District Museum, 39 – 41 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1EL
When: Saturday 23 September 2017
Time: 10:30am – 3pm
Price: £20 (includes materials)
Booking required
Illustration workshop
Lead by illustrator Jef Winter, in this adult workshop you will discover the fun of drawing and learn how to draw faces using just numbers to create different emotions, break down barriers of what illustration is and how ‘happy accidents’ can make works of art.
Where: Epping Forest District Museum, 39 – 41 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1EL
When: Saturday 30 September 2017
Time: 10:30am – 1pm
Price: £15 (includes materials)
Booking required
Three Acres and a Cow
Connecting the Norman Conquest and Peasants’ Revolt with fracking and our housing crisis via the Enclosures and Industrial Revolution, the show draws a compelling narrative through the people’s history of Britain. Part talk, part folk club sing-a-long; come and share these tales as they have been shared for generations.
Where: Lopping Hall, 189 High Road, Loughton, IG10 4LN
When: Saturday 21 October 2017
Time: 6pm (meal)
7pm (performance starts)
Price: £5 (£9 with a meal)
Booking required
Booking information
To book your place visit https://eppingforestdc.bookinglive.com/ or call 01992 564226 (Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm).
Paths Unseen project
Paths Unseen shows how poetry can be a shared sociable activity. Over the past 18 months performance poet Keely Mills and illustrator Jef Winter have engaged with many individuals and groups from across the local community enabling them to write, tell their own stories and share their work in their own voices.
Inspiration has also come from local folklore, encouraging museum audiences to consider art as a medium for rediscovering local history.
The exhibition is at Epping Forest District Museum until 30 September 2017.
Paths Unseen project has been funded by Arts Council England.
Museum on the Move reopens
Epping Forest District Museum reopened it’s doors to the public on Saturday 19 March 2016 after a 2 year long Heritage Lottery funded redevelopment.
The bells of Waltham Abbey Church rang as reenactors from the 44th East Essex Regiment marched up Sun Street towards the museum.
Party atmosphere
A party atmosphere was enjoyed by all who came to celebrate the museum’s special day. They were treated to a jive dance demonstration and a morris dancing display by the Chingford Morris Men in Sun Street.
Over 750 people visited the museum, they enjoyed activities including decorating eggs in the new community space, and were given access to all the museum’s new galleries for the first time.
Welcome back
Museum staff were thrilled with the positive feedback they received. Comments include “Big improvement, proud to live in the Abbey” and “Welcome back! We’ve missed the museum and love the new look!”
Museum on the Move
The museum team also celebrated the reopening of the museum by making a film showing what has been going on behind the scenes. The ‘Museum on the Move’ film also features as part of the museum’s first temporary exhibition all about transport through history.
Epping Forest District Museum reopening date confirmed!
After a two year long Heritage Lottery Funded project, the reopening of Epping Forest District Museum is on the horizon. The museum would like to welcome members of the public to the museum on Saturday 19 March 2016 from 10am to 5pm to see the fantastic improvements and changes that have taken place on site.
With a new community room for schools, groups and activities, a lift making all galleries accessible to the public for the first time and the chance to see behind the scenes the museum will be a unique offer to both local people and the wider community.
The museum team are now in the process of reinstalling the objects in the six new galleries ready for the reopening in March, with a much greater number of objects going on display than ever before.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Epping Forest District
On 9 September 2015 Queen Elizabeth II claims the title as Britain’s longest reigning monarch, having reigned since the age of 25.
She acceded the throne in 1952 following the death of her father and has reigned during a time of great change in technology and the transformation this has had on the world.
Queen Victoria previously held the title of longest reigning monarch.
The Epping Forest District has a number of connections with Queen Elizabeth II, including a visit she made as a Princess prior to acceding the throne.
She made a visit to Grange Farm in Chigwell in 1951 and was the first person to sign the visitor book there. The Museum is lucky to have this in the collection and below you will see her signature.
Grange Farm Visitor Book
Grange Farm Visitor Book
Grange Farm Visitor Book
Grange Farm Visitor Book
Princess Elizabeth at Grange Farm
The Museum also has a collection of images showing street parties and events for Queen Elizabeth II coronation.
Here is a small gallery of images:
Epping Street Party
Epping Street Party
Elizabeth coronation procession
Waltham Abbey church decorated for coronation
Epping Street Party
