China Session Information

This full day session can be taught:

• at the Oriental Museum 
• as outreach in your school 
• as an online session 

The content of these sessions does vary as we have the galleries to use at the museum, but we try to keep them as similar as possible.

 Visit to the Museum:

Please note: due to gallery redevelopments, we will not be able to offer this session at the museum from September 2023 until after Easter Break 2024. Once we have more specific opening dates, we will share.

• Object Handling and Investigation – a circle time object session where the children can see, hold and explore objects and their symbolism from our collections. Can they work out what they are and what they are used for? 
• Gallery Explore and Learn – explore our Chinese galleries and find out lots of information from them. 
• Tangrams – learn about our Chinese bed and try to solve some of our traditional Chinese tangram puzzles. 
• Dragon Dancing – enjoy helping one of our Chinese dragons to dance. 

Need to know:

• The day at the museum runs from 10am – 2.15pm approximately and is entirely taught by members of our Learning and Engagement Team.  
• The maximum number of children we can take on one day is approximately 60 children.  
• The cost of the visit is £6 per pupil, and free for all accompanying adults. 
• Lunch can be eaten in our classroom spaces, or if the weather is good and you would like to, we do have a small grassy area where you can sit and have a picnic.

Directions to the Museum

 An Outreach Day at School:

• Object Investigation – a circle time handling session where the children can see, hold and explore objects and their symbolism from our handling collection. Can they work out what they are and what they are used for? 
• Burial Goods – the children learn about what kind of things the dead would be buried with throughout Chinese history, and meet our replica terracotta warriors! They can then create a clay burial good of their choice. 
• Tangrams – learn about our Chinese bed and try to solve some of our tangram puzzles. 
• Dragon Dancing – enjoy helping one of our Chinese dragons to dance. 

Need to know:

• For an outreach day, we aim to arrive at school to begin teaching at 9.30am, fitting in around the established school breaks of your school, until approximately 20 minutes before the end of your school day.  
• We can teach up to three classes on the same day on outreach, but early bookings are essential so we can allocate the required number of staff to make it possible. 
• The cost for outreach is £5 per pupil, with an additional flat rate charge of £20 towards transport costs. 

Online Session:

• Object Investigation – explore some of the objects from our collection and try to form a theory about what they are. 
• Animal Symbolism Game – the Museum’s Chinese collection is covered in animals. Explore the significance in this interactive game.  
• Meaning of the Dragon – Discover what animal parts make up a Chinese dragon, see our dancing dragon and play an action game. 

Need to know:

• An online session is two hours in length.  
• Session times are 9.30am – 11.30am and 1pm – 3pm, but we can accommodate slightly different timings. Please ask at the point of booking if this is something that would be helpful for you.  
• You will need to book a short test call with us to check that you can see and hear us on the whiteboard in your classroom. These are available at 3.30pm, 3.45pm and 4pm. 
• We ask that you book separate sessions for each of your classes so we can keep them as interactive as possible. 
• You will be sent an email with resources to print out before your session. 
• The cost of the sessions is £45 per class. 

Session costs