With its tall walls and loud and busy reception and shop, Lisburn Museum’s entrance may seem overwhelming to young children. So, on arrival, children are greeted by a puppet (Flaxie) who introduces them to the building and objects. Each child is also given their own puppet for the duration of the visit so they feel they are joining in an experience. Flaxie is a reference to our permanent Flax to Fabric exhibition, which tells the story of Irish linen and flax production in Europe. Here, visitors can watch expert spinners turn coarse flax into fine yarn or try the spinning wheel for themselves. To help tell this story to children, we made an animation which families can view before a visit. This was inspired by a child asking their mother if they could go inside the museum, and her comment that ‘children are not allowed in there.’ The museum wants to help change this perception. We have a nursery action group to help develop ideas for our Flaxie Buds programme, which is aimed at under sixes and based on curriculum needs or bespoke requests from nursery providers.
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