While museums may have been closed for the last few months, many varied museums used it as an opportunity to create fun, inspiring and engaging activities for families to enjoy at home. After receiving hundreds of nominations, Kids in Museums has announced their shortlist of 26 museums around the world in the running for Family Friendly Museum Award From Home:

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Kids in Museums has run the annual Family Friendly Museum Award for the past 15 years, recognising the most family-friendly heritage sites in the UK. This year, they asked families and museums to share what they thought was the best online activity for families during lockdown.

More than 400 nominations from all over the world were received, for a huge range of activities, from films and quizzes to games and crafts. An expert panel whittled down the nominations to a shortlist of 26 museums that have gone the extra mile to support families.

“We have been blown away by the standard and amount of great content that museums have produced to entertain families and promote their wellbeing during lockdown,” said Alison Bowyer, Executive Director of Kids in Museums.

“Museum staff have adapted quickly, learning new skills and making the best of limited resources to create inventive new activities for different ages.”

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Family Friendly Museum Award From Home Shortlist

Best Film

• Cooper Gallery, Barnsley – Wow Wednesdays
• Florence Nightingale Museum, London – Meet Miss Nightingale
• London Fire Brigade Museum – The Great Fire of London
• National Football Museum, Manchester – Kicking Off Your Creativity
• University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge – Zoology Live! Online Festival

Best Social Media Activity

• Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft – Virtual Museum Club
• National Museums Liverpool – My Home is My Museum
• National Museums Wales – Minecraft Your Museum
• The Novium Museum, Chichester – Virtual Roman Week 2020
• Royal Academy, London – attRAct weekly challenges

Best Website Activity

• Historic Dockyard Chatham – Museum from Home: Arts Award Discover
• The Mary Rose, Portsmouth – Things to Make and Do!
• Museum of Cardiff – My Museum
• National Galleries Scotland – Home is Where the Art is
• National Videogame Museum, Sheffield – Create Your Own Pixel Art Character

Going the Extra Mile

• Colchester and Ipswich Museums – Museum From Home activity packs
• Dacorum Heritage – Stockpiling Stories
• National Science and Media Museum, Bradford – Distributing Printed Learning Resources to families in BD5
• Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle – Something to smile about: supporting families in East Newcastle
• The Whitworth, Manchester – Still Parents

Best International Digital Activity

• Andy Warhol Museum, USA – Warhol Making It Videos
• Glazer Children’s Museum, USA – [email protected]
• The Glucksman, Republic of Ireland – Creativity At Home
• The Museum of Childhood Ireland Project – Project 2020 Together, Le Chéile
• National Gallery Singapore – #SmallBigDreamersatHome
• Rijksmuseum, Netherlands – Key Challenge

Over the summer holidays, family judges will try out all the activities and their feedback will decide a winner and highly commended award for each category. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Lead image © The Glucksman, Ireland. Photo By Tomas Tyner, UCC.

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Have your say! Have you visited any of the museums in the running for the Family Friendly Museum Award From Home? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!