EYFS Activities: Let's go to… the National Maritime Museum

Our sessions typically start with a walk around the museum and a visit to a particular artefact. The collection includes a replica of Nelson's Ship and the jacket he was wearing when killed at the battle of Trafalgar, and a gallery devoted to polar exploration.

Today, we are focusing on the optic (lantern) from the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, Scotland, which was built by Robert Louis Stevenson. It stands on the second floor outside the gallery and slowly rotates, reflecting and refracting the light. We climb up a big flight of stairs or take the lift to reach it. I chose the lighthouse optic as a focus because lighthouses have a cylindrical shape and a tall tower, as well as the potential for playing with light and dark. In terms of more conceptual thinking, safety, protection and warnings are ideas associated with lighthouses that may resonate with toddlers and pre-schoolers. We admire the optic and do some Sustained, Shared Thinking (Siraj, 2018). Some children observed that it is going round and round and looked for the wheels. Some children know that the lenses are made of glass, others spot the light that it casts onto the walls. Lots of conversations about disaster and rescue are initiated.