Mini Playhouse
Children can create their own worlds in our mini playhouse!
Free to use Tuesday to Sunday | 10am to 5pm
The Mini Playhouse is a free play resource that stands proudly in our Atrium, designed by children at Randal Cremer Primary School and award-winning social enterprise and architect-educators MATT+FIONA.
It's a fantastic addition to the museum and makes the space much more appealing for under 5s
- Family feedback
Co-design story
We wanted children to have a say in how they play at the museum. In co-production with children at Randal Cremer Primary School and architect-educators MATT+FIONA, we decided to design an interactive playhouse.
The children mind mapped and shared experiences of their own homes, before looking at the Room’s Through Time for inspiration. Then, they designed models which were taken away by MATT+FIONA and turned into a modular, accessible playhouse.
During Summer 2023, a weekly residency programme was delivered for families to test out the resource, build dens, use tools such as hammers and drills, and to create their own model designs.
I left the museum so happy – this project hit so many of the curriculum needs! The children are so proud of this space and speak fondly to visitors about the partnership with the museum.
- Teacher feedback
Since then, the Mini Playhouse has taken on many different forms for our family days – from a puppet theatre to a recording studio.
We want to say a special thank you to all the year 4 students at Randal Cremer Primary School, Allysha Jandu and the MATT+FIONA team for helping to realise this project.
We loved our visit – the playhouse provided HOURS of fun/imaginative play.
- Family feedback
About MATT+FIONA
MATT+FIONA is an architecture education organisation that trusts and supports young people to create more inclusive and representative spaces. There are three strands to their work: BUILD, LEARN, and CONNECT.
BUILD projects inject creativity into school and cultural organisations’ programming, with a real-world output: A new temporary or permanent space made by and for young people.
LEARN gives teachers and youth workers the skills, knowledge and confidence to design and deliver their own ‘build’ projects with young people.
CONNECT gives built environment teams the skills, knowledge and confidence to work with young people to build constructive dialogue around placemaking.
Since 2016, MATT+FIONA have worked with leading community and cultural organisations, universities and schools to create and deliver more than 25 buildings, installations and meanwhile spaces, collaborating with more than 4,000 young people and 200 volunteers across the UK.
