Outreach sessions

The sessions are delivered at your venue and can be tailored to meet your group's particular needs and interests. 

The sessions are free and normally last between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours.

Below are just a few examples of the sessions we have to offer.

Meet the Museums

This fun, hands-on session provides a great introduction to the world of the Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums. Get your hands on real objects - from ancient Egyptian artefacts to dinosaur fossils. This session gives a taster of some of the amazing and inspiring collections from our venues.

Session time: 45 minutes to 1 hour.

What is it?

An introductory session looking at some of the weird and wonderful things that you can find in our collections. Handle a series of mystery objects and use your detective skills to discover what they are and what stories they have to tell.

Session time: 45 minutes to 1 hour.

What is it made from?

From socks made from bamboo to shoes that used to be car tyres, there are lots of objects in our collections that are made from unusual materials. Use all of your senses to guess what each of these fascinating objects is made from.

Session time: 45 minutes to 1 hour.

As well as the introductory sessions, we can deliver object-handling session based around different themes, With such varied and inspiring collections to draw from, the range of themes on offer is almost unlimited. Here are just some that have been used by groups in the past:

• Animals
• Art
• Art History
• Communication
• Currency
• Dinosaurs
• Egypt
• Everyday objects
• History of Medicine
• Insects
• Masks
• Money
• Seeds
• Stories
• Textiles

All of these sessions involve handling museum objects. Other hands-on elements can be included as appropriate, for example:

• make your own paint
• cast your own fossils
• write like an Egyptian
• make an astrolabe
• and much more...