A History of the World in 100 Objects

Today we caught the "A History of the World in 100 Objects" exhibition at the Perth Western Australia Museum before the site closes for 4 years for refurbishment. Other sites of the museum remain open. We got in free which was great. The museum was very crowded because of the free entry but this worked in our favour. The children were very engaged with the exhibition because they were forced to slow down by the crowds and this really gave time to focus.

One of our favourite objects was this lyre inlaid with precious stones.

It was great to discover that the children remembered history "lessons" from a few years ago and related them to the exhibition.

This metal hand was interesting. It appears to have a broken finger and unusual nails so was probably cast from a real person.

This small seat was used by the tribal leader whilst in a drug induced communication with the spirits.

Wood cut

It was fun to try to work out what things were or what they could be used for before reading the label. We thought this could be a giant gold guitar or a huge key! It's really a standard for carrying in ceremonial parades.

We discussed how the labels could help us find out more or draw our attention to details we hadn't noticed. The label for this object explained that the sculpture was made from decommissioned weapons from a war.

Part of the aim of visiting the exhibition was to see how objects are displayed by museums so we can work on our own museum. The kids came up with a great plan to start this project by building a museum in Minecraft complete with cabinets, objects and labels.

Check back soon to see what we make.