Year 5 enjoy morning at The Story Museum

Stories are everywhere, and are best shared. That was the message Year 5 came back with after their trip to Oxford this week.

A morning at The Story Museum began with all fifty-four children curled up on a giant bed while they helped the storyteller retell the story of Anansi and the Pot of Stories.

This was followed by adventures in the settings of some well-loved children’s books. The children hung from the rigging of Treasure Island’s ship, walked through a wardrobe of fur coats into the winter woodland of Narnia, and cosied up in front of Badger’s fireplace from the Wind In the Willows. Their creativity fired up, they planned stories based on the African Anansi folktales, and then told each other tales spun from the Story Spinner. Our Story Museum guide said that our group was one of the most imaginative she had come across.

A short walk through Oxford then took Year 5 to the Pitt Rivers Museum. On the way, the children were able to admire the colleges where Lewis Carroll, Jonathon Swift and Michael Rosen studied and taught, as well as passing the famous Bodleian Library.

The afternoon was spent amongst the artefacts and curiosities which cram the walls of the Pitt Rivers. Our knowledgeable guides helped the children explore the world of African kings. They looked at leopard tooth necklaces, robes with crocodile heads and ‘talking’ drums (which they were able to play with aplomb after their lessons in African drumming with Mrs Izard this term). They learned the many stories which such artefacts reveal, about the lives of different people in far-flung parts of the world. Do ask them to share those stories with you.