Friday Fledgling sessions will resume after the holidays Discover the benefits of outdoor learning and child-led play! Come and join in with activities inspired by the themes and collections of the museum, enjoy exploring nature, our mud kitchen, water play, sand-pit and more. Each session also includes story-telling, craft activities singing and a snack. All [...]

This October half term, enjoy workshops, trails, activities, crafts and more on the theme of ‘Light and Sound’ Book a place on Museums, My Way (a ‘Light’ themed session for neurodivergent visitors of all ages) Book one of our Object Exploration sessions on the theme of ‘Light,’ (for aged 5+) Book a place on special […]

The Rats are Back! This October half term (from Tuesday 26 October), try out our brand-new ‘Rats and Dairy’ trail. Rats like to eat cattle feed, milk, cheese and butter, so it was really important to keep them out of dairies! As you explore the galleries can you spot the rats and the objects they’ve […]

Autumn inspired things to do at the museum, outdoors and at home For age 5+, choose from one of 3 Autumn Activity Packs (£3 each): Conker craft, Little Mouse story, a recipe and little mouse colouring sheet. Clay craft, outdoor bingo and word-search Cosy silhouette craft, recipe and little mouse colouring sheet For under 5s [...]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: have fun and be inspired! The family events team at the museum have always set themselves the challenge to be as environmentally low-impact as possible. Come along and have fun discovering ways to turn something discarded into something cherished to take home with you through creative crafts, trails and fun play in […]

Join us for a weekly Outdoor learning session for pre-schoolers in the fantastic urban garden at the MERL Discover the benefits of outdoor learning! Come and join in outdoor activities inspired by the themes and collections of the museum. Enjoy outdoor play and explore the natural environment. Each session involves story-telling, craft activities and singing. […]

VISIT THE MERL FOR FUN ACTIVITIES AND MORE! This Summer, enjoy trails, activities, crafts at The Museum of English Rural Life! Discover our Summer Family Activity Packs for all ages (from £2 per pack)  Have a go at a variety of gallery and garden trails including our woodland brass rubbing trail  Free make-and-take and other [...]

This new trail introduces 13 objects from our collections which illustrate the theme ‘Edible England’. An illustrated booklet provides more details about the selected objects and can be used alongside or independently of the ‘Edible England’ trail sheet for children. On this trail sheet, children can have fun spotting all 13 objects and the knitted […]

This pack includes everything you need for a MERL-tastic summer! These packs are suitable for families with children aged 5+. £5 per pack. Inside the fabric bag, you will find a booklet which includes: spotter sheets for the galleries and outdoors recipes from our archive for you to have a go at colouring sheets wordsearch […]

Range of Little Mouse Explores activity packs (24 Aug – 5 Sept) Before we can begin Friday Fledglings sessions again, Charlotte and Fong, our Friday Fledglings session leaders, have been working hard to develop some new weekly-changing activity packs, which are available to purchase at our museum shop for £2. This summer Little Mouse has […]