Children’s Play Culture and the Role of Museums in Asia

Children’s Play Culture and the Role of Museums in Asia

I attended this session in order to see what other countries in Asia are doing in their museum and how they incorporate play in the exhibits and programs that they do there. It was nice to get a global perspective on the use of play in different cultural situations.

A Children’s museum as a play place for families - South Korea – Gyeonggi Children’s Museum

Opened 2011, Attendance 500,000

Adult-Child Play – focus on the relationship between parent and child

Children in South Korea do not have time to play, always focused on formal educational activities

·     South Korea has a low Child Life Satisfaction

Play Culture in South Korea

·     Video games and digital media

Changes in Family Structure

·     Due to increase dual income families, more children visitors go to the museum with their grandparents

3 events they have done at the library

·     Time travel with play – allow patrons to play with games played in Korea in the past, present, and what might be played in the future (past was most popular)

·     Traditional Games in Other Countries (Various Types of Board Games)

·     Spring Blessing themed event – Writing on big Chicken on the wall, cultural activities based on Korean cultural beliefs on Spring Blessing

Points they focused on:

1.      Increase parent satisfaction with activities
2.     Offer flexible time for families to attend
3.     Provide diverse traditional games seasonally
4.     Develop new programs that all generations can participate together

Role of the museum:

• ·        Enriching diversity play cultures
• ·        Establish educationally desirable play
• ·        Enhance healthy family relationships

Japan -YCAM Yamaguchi Center for the Arts and Media

Media and performing art = Creation

Multi-cultural complex -Has a library, studio, and movie theater

Factors of YCAM -> Create + Share

Education Lab – Focused on media literacy (knowing the future of media)

• ·        Original workshop – learning with the technology (eg. Playing tag with mobile phone camera to learn how to use camera function on mobile phones)
• ·        Sensory Athletics – how body movement interacts with surrounding space
• ·        Kodomo Meetings - Open playground that is redesigned with the kids in a meeting, then after 3 days the playground is built.
• ·        Creating Sports – making new games/sports with children then get to play the game/sports (3 days for long version of program, short version is 90 minutes)

Playing with STAMPS: A Window to the World – Singapore Philatelic Museum

Stamp museum and how to use them to engage them with play

Current play climate in Sinagpore

·        Changes in the society with urban developments have changed how they play

·        New technology is keeping kids at home wanting to play video games

Playing with Stamps

·        Learning about yourself and the world through enlarged stamps from around the world

·        Interactive stamps designs (adding colored rice to stamp design on floor)

What is a Stamp?

·        Archival Record

·        Work of Art

·        Window to the World

·        National Ambassador

·        Official Messenger

Philately – accessible to children, learn about the world without traveling, wide range of topics, connected to human stories

Bringing Stamp Stories to Life

·        Educational value

·        Contextualize with text, object and interactive elements

·        Safe, immersive environment

Visitors as Active Collaborators

·        Experiential, tactile, multi-sensory

·        Activity driven

·        Multiparty interaction

·        Open-ended outcomes

Engaging the whole family

·        Interactive icons and activity guides

·        Talking points signs

·        Place for families to bond and make memories

Play Learning though Stamps

·        Facilitated, age-appropriate programs           

·        Aligning to schools’ areas of interest

“It’s how you make it fun that makes it important.”