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Make a mini museum

Work together to create a captivating cardboard box display featuring your favourite things.

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You’ll need

  • Glue sticks
  • PVA glue
  • Scrap card
  • Coloured pens or pencils
  • Craft materials (for example, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, stickers)
  • Cardboard boxes (shoe boxes work well)
  • Collections (like books, coins, shells or stamps)
Some of the instruments often used in bands - like keys, a guitar and drums - displayed inside a shoe box.

Before you begin

  • The week before the meeting, ask everyone to bring in a collection they’re making at the moment or some objects they’d like to make into a collection.
  • Run the activity Section collection prior to this to allow everyone to present and discuss their own and each other's collection. 
  • Remind everyone to bring in a spare shoebox or cardboard box to use for the activity.

Become a curious curator

  1. Ask everyone to give a short description of their collection. They can join together with other people with similar collections, or work using only their own.
  2. Distribute a cardboard box to each team or individual.
  3. Give the following brief:
    Your collection has been chosen as the star attraction for a museum. Before it’s constructed in full, create a model to show how the exhibition will be laid out. By yourself, or in groups, prepare a miniature exhibition of curiosities. These could be things you’ve collected, like coins, stamps, books or shells, or things you've made, like friendship bracelets or drawings. 

Build a shoe box museum

  1. Before starting your model, think about how you’ll lay out the exhibition:
    • Do the objects need to tell a story?
    • Do the objects need to be displayed in a certain order?
    • What information about the objects will you share? Captions, films, signs?
    • How will visitors find their way around your exhibition?
    • How can you make the experience exciting for visitors?
  1. Begin construction of your mini exhibition, making it as exciting and eye-catching as you can.
  2. Once your exhibitions are complete, view each other's creations. What might you do differently next time?

Reflection

To create your shoe-seum successfully, you need to work as a team. How did you agree on the design together? Think of a really useful contribution one of your teammates made. Has this inspired you to create more shoe-seums to display another collection?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Provide floor plans of existing exhibitions to use as inspiration.

Some members of the team may require support when laying out their exhibition. It might help to think of examples of real-life ones they are familiar with.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Cubs Collector Activity Badge
Scouts Hobbies Activity Badge

If you’d like a more permanent way of displaying your collection, why not create a shelf or display cabinet? This could count toward the Cubs or Scouts DIY Activity Badge.