Baby at the British Museum

When I began writing this blog, Culturebaby was tiny and I was constantly on the look out for high quality, brilliant books for babies and toddlers to introduce them to art and history. Even 6 years ago there was very little on the history side. I gathered rather a lovely collection about art (see here) and began to piece together an Egyptian version (here and here) but with the exception of the gorgeous One Blue Hippo: An Ancient Egyptian Counting Book and quirky Tickle Tut's Toes there was little else for toddling archaeologists. I was therefore delighted to be approached last year to review the stunning progeny of a well matched marriage between The British Museum and publisher Nosy Crow. The resulting exquisite and fascinating books, which unpacked the collections of the museum in a bright and engaging way, really filled a gaping hole in early years provision for miniature museum-goers and their families. 

The first titles I'd like to talk about form part a series called Early Learning at the Museum. These four sumptuous and well designed board books are full of high quality photographs of items from the BM's collections, showcased against colourful backdrops. Covering Colours, Opposites, 123 and ABC (with others being published since), the books aim to develop the essential areas of learning for little people. I also love that these titles draw from a wide spectrum of the museum's collections from prints and drawings and paintings to textiles, jewellery, pottery and archaeological items. These may be objects found in perhaps lesser-visited galleries which encourage us to look beyond the sarcophagi to other intriguing realms. We journey from Japan to America, Africa to Scandinavia on a single page and are encouraged to look at the objects thematically, numerically, for their colourful properties or for their similarities across the ages or geography. Pitt-Rivers-like, we explore collections by theme, or we see wildly different items juxtaposed for their contrasting qualities.

The absolute winner of the pack for the girls who are now 4 and 6 is 123, which works from 1 to 20 items. The numerical element of this book allows for a kaleidoscopic array of items on many of the pages and the girls love working through it and selecting which item they would choose if given the option. We also play 'guess the oldest item'. Pages with selections of dolls, keys, bags, hats, spoons, cups and rings hold endless fascination.

The titles also come with internet codes for parents linking to further information, and are ripe for use with follow-on activities to discover the items in real life on journeys through the galleries. These I-spy activities are so effective and need little preparation (see here for an example with Tate's Matisse exhibition). I simply cannot rave enough about these brilliant and beautiful books.

Accompanying the Early Learning Series is a fabulous playbook, that suits a range of ages. Mixed-up Masterpieces again features a set of high quality photographs of faces from the British Museum's collections. From ceremonial masks to marble busts, Halloween costumes to figurines, again we travel through the collections meeting a range of characters. As babies finish with simple black and white shapes and begin to perceive colour (see here for why), they begin to be fascinated with faces. This book would be perfect for this earliest of stages; but it is also a creative puzzle for older children. The reader is invited to either discover the correct combination of facial features amongst 2000 combinations, or create their own weird and wonderful combinations.

Finally in the early years set is a new Egyptian title to add to our collection: Mummy! by Lerryn Korda. With the simplest of concepts and aimed at the 0-2 range, I thought when it arrived that it might be a little young for almost 4 year old Culturetot, but she's really taken to it. A little Egyptian girl can't find her Mummy and embarks on a journey on the banks of the Nile to locate her. Along the way she encounters a host of different Mummies - from animal to embalmed  - and finally finds her own. The loveliest feature of this little Board book is that it includes hieroglyph translations of a number of the key words, introducing the tiniest of readers to this most intriguing of languages.

For older children (as well as adults) there is also a beautiful set of several creative colouring books. Again inspired by the collections of the museum and with an inspiration guide at the end, these have been one of the most successful activity books for the girls as they loved the idea. Containing greetings cards paired with an envelope to construct, colour and decorate, and a sticker to seal it all, the girls were able to use this resource to make their own birthday and thank you cards for friends. Given the bonkers prices of greetings cards these days, these are also both excellent value and produce a rather more unique offering from the girls to any recipient. They even have a cute little box for them to sign "coloured for you by..."

Disclaimer: Nosy Crow is working with the British Museum in an exclusive partnership to create a broad range of children’s books to sell to the UK trade and beyond. The British Museum is ‘a museum of the world, for the world’. The books draw on the British Museum’s internationally recognised brand, its unparalleled collection of objects and its world-class expertise. We were sent copies of these books for the purposes of a review. All views are very much our own and we only ever review books we love and recommend.

Swallows and Amazons Forever

Five years ago I wrote about the experience of taking a baby to the Lake District. We go annually and some years the hills and meres are flooded with glorious light. Some years they are simply flooded. At present we tend to holiday in England, and whilst we've loved recent trips to Dorset, Norfolk and Kent, it is to the Lake District with its tempestuous weather and gloriously vibrant natural highs and lows that our spirits belong. Rightly, this summer it was inscribed as a world heritage site. There is no place like it. And it is here that we come closest to our dream of offering our little ladies the sort of authentic childhood that will allow them to feel truly free. The old-school, dam-building, boat-sailing, hill-climbing, nature-loving, camp-building natural education.

Culture-Grandad's favourite childhood book was Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, set around Coniston. I loved the '70's film as a child too and from the age of two Culturetot in particular fell completely and, perhaps unexpectedly for her age, in love with it. Likewise, with the advent of the new film, Culturebaby (now of course no longer that - a rapidly growing nearly six year old) has busily been trying to institute a Wildcat Island in her own school playground. This morning, bleary eyed, she arrived in our bedroom clutching Ransome's sequel Swallowdale. I fear I shall be bulk-buying the DVD as birthday gifts for her classmates.

Last year we hired a boat and channelled Swallow. This year we tracked down a holy grail for Ransome Fans -  Bank Ground Farm - the farmhouse where the children first plotted their adventures and from whose boathouse Swallow was first launched in the 1970s adaptation.

We also visited Blackwell near Bowness (the town featuring as Rio for the eagle eyed). Selfishly I adore this exquisite arts and crafts building and visit annually, but this year we were all delighted to discover that it was running an exhibition about Swallows and Amazons featuring props from the latest film and objects from the Ransome archive (borrowed from Blackwell’s sister museum, the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry in Kendal), a semaphore trail and themed arts and crafts activities. A friend also took part this year in a Wild Cat Island Adventure. This is definitely one for next year's list.

In addition to our specific Ransome-themed adventures we've also been taking the time to live more like the children whilst we've been in the Lakes. We've donned our wellies and explored in all weathers, bathed in rivers (ok not me but the rest of the rabble did), set out on long walks, swung on rope swings, built dams and dens and generally taken the time to stop and look at nature.


Three walks I'd particularly recommend with little ones no longer in back packs are:


1. Walk from Elterwater to Ambleside (or vice versa) and do the return trip on the bus. It is around 4.2 miles and with some short exceptions, it is predominantly flat. The girls had the additional incentive of a trip to the lovely cinema in Ambleside as a reward for their efforts. The route takes you past Elterwater, a waterfall on the River Brathay and near a Roman Fort outside of Ambleside.

2. Pick up a Windermere Cruises Walkers' Ticket and follow a part-cruise and part-walking route from Ambleside. Depending which way you choose, this begins with a ferry ride across to Wray Castle, run by the National Trust. This Victorian mock-gothic building, complete with fake arrowslits, has been set up as a playground for children (of all ages) with dressing-up and games, a Peter Rabbit imaginative play experience, castle building and a great outdoor adventure playground. The Castle also has stunning views over Windermere and a much needed tea shop for this side of the Lake.


From here you walk the 4 miles to the Ferry House. This is a pretty gentle stroll and many also follow a similar route with bicycles. You can hire bikes and trailers from Lower Wray Campsite. We did this last year and it was an enduring enjoyable memory for the girls.

3. A favourite ramble is the walking route up the Langdale Pikes. The walk is quite hard work, with sections that need to be scrambled up, but both children managed it well. Compared to some of the more lengthy walks, this one has a clear target (the tarn), which kept them motivated. This walk really has it all - a river and sections of waterfall, a good climb, stunning views all the way up, and a tarn half way up the mountain which transports you right to Middleearth (you half expect to stumble across the door to the mines of Moria round the corner). For the pre-history buffs amongst you it is also a hugely important heritage site: the Langdale Axe Factory. In the Neolithic period, the 'new stone age' (from 10,000 years ago), people were beginning to learn to farm and stone tools were needed to exploit the land or clear areas of forest. Early Cumbrians mined the hard greenstone in the remote volcanic rocks of Langdale to produce axes, and the evidence can still be found today (though despite being an archaeologist I have sadly never yet spotted an axe as I've treked the pikes). It is unclear whether these particular axes were used for work or whether they had a more ritual significance (they seem at least to have been exported out of Cumbria), but if the latter, it does make sense to me. You can clearly see as you gaze from the mountains across the panorama of the heart of the Lakes below, that this is truly an extraordinary, even other-worldy place. The climb back down always seems a little longer, but there's the promise of a cuppa or icecream at the bottom. The National Trust owns The Sticklebarn pub at the base of the pikes. It's friendly and you know your money goes towards caring for the local environment.

This year we prepared for the Lakes with a back-pack of relevant reading material. We read some Beatrix Potter and about the Stone Age before we went, and took Ransome's Swallows and Amazons with us for bedtime. However, for our walks we wanted to observe as we went and took an explorers kits, complete with binoculars, torch, insect observation pot, tape measure and set of interactive books. For the last couple of years Culturebaby has loved the Usborne spotter guides. We have a couple of vintage ones and some of their new series. We included Wild Flowers, Country Walks and an Insect Sticker Book in our pack, along with a guide to trees. Both Nosy Crow and The National Trust, and Walker Books, have each brought out their own guides to help children learn, experience and really look at nature around them. First up is the excellent accompanying book for the National Trust's initiative to get children to have a more outdoorsy natural childhood: 50 Things to Do Before You're 11 3/4. This is a brilliant idea and the accompanying book allows children to work out what sort of explorer they are (and meet associated characters that journey with them - which is always a winning formula). For each activity achieved from blackberry picking to cycling, climbing a tree to growing butterflies, the child has a space to record the date, any notes and gain a sticker. This was the most used of our guides this year as it can be easily completed on the go. Recently published to accompany this is the Go Wild in the Woods adventure guide. With great illustrations and full of facts it details how to get along in nature. The children are particularly taken with the sections on which vegetation makes good toilet paper and how to determine which animal has been in the area from their tracks and poo. They also received an Out and About Night Explorer set with torch, backpack, measuring equipment and book which covers everything from nocturnal animals and plants to spot to star charts. It's an exciting package and makes an excellent present.

Walker Books' version is similar in intent but different and complementary in execution. The books are based on the classic We're Going on A Bear Hunt, and they include a beautifully illustrated guide to what you may find in nature (this is great and covers topics as wide as the water cycle and weather to rock composition) and a project book based on each of the challenges the children in the classic book face. Little scientists are invited to measure rainfall and observe cloud formations, and there are activities for every season. One parent wondered whether the connection to the childhood classic alongside more advanced scientific content might put off a school child, but I think it would depend on the individual. Culturebaby is rather nostalgic and the theme and well known characters actually captured her interest.

I've found having little ones, rather than proving restrictive, has immersed me in nature more than I may have otherwise been. They want to splash in puddles and ride their bikes in the rain, snow is something to be sought out, autumn leaves are a joy and the first flowers of spring are anticipated and observed. They want to know the names of plants and I've had to reacquaint myself with the long forgotten names of scents. And everywhere I must slow down to the pace of miniature wellington boots. I need these guides as much as the children and the bonding activities they contain will hopefully provide for the children treasured memories like my own, of a childhood spent under the elements.

Disclaimer: We received copies of the new Walker and Nosy Crow books for review purposes. All other materials are our own, as are all opinions.