Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery

Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery opened in 1874 and is one of the Britain’s earliest purpose built museums.

With fascinating Egyptology, fine art, natural and social history collections, a visit is a great way to inspire your pupils and support both teaching and learning in the classroom. We have long experience of working with schools and will help bring your curriculum to life. We know that all classes differ in their needs and abilities and are happy to tailor a session to your particular class.

Contact:

Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Museum Street, Blackburn BB1 7AJ
Tel: 01254 667130

Website: blackburnmuseum.org.uk/learning

Facilities

  • Fully physically accessible
  • Lunch facilities
  • Coach drop off
  • Toilets
  • Gift shop
  • Linked loan boxes
  • Outreach sessions available

Booking & Details

Cost:

Half day session costs £3.00 per pupil
Full day session costs £6.00 per pupil

Self guided visits are free but must be booked in advance

To book:

Call Alys Rouncefield at the Museum on 01254 667130 or email at alys.rouncefield@blackburn.gov.uk
Enquire online at: blackburnmuseum.org.uk/learning

Learning Sessions & Activities

Activity

Art in Science

Discover how our art collections are the products of science, technology and creativity with local visual artist and specialised printmaker, Julia Swarbrick. For KS1 and KS2 students.

  • KS 1
  • KS 2
  • Art
  • History
  • Print Making
  • Science
Find out more
Activity

Fossils

In this session the children get to handle a range of fossil animals and think about the environments the animals might have lived in.

  • KS 2
  • Natural History
  • Science
Find out more
Activity

Inventors and Inventions

The children will spend half a day finding out about the inventors on their doorstep and how they changed their world.

  • KS 2
  • History
  • Local History
  • Science
Find out more
Activity

Life in Ancient Egypt

As well as viewing our mummy, your pupils will use objects from the collection and craft activities…

  • KS 2
  • Ancient History
  • Egypt
Find out more
Activity

Local History (Life in a Victorian Town)

This session introduces the children to changes that happened locally, making Lancashire towns some of the most prosperous in the world

  • KS 2
  • History
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Local History
Find out more
Activity

Portraits

What does a portrait tell us about the sitter? Your pupils will learn to unravel the clues that can be found in the picture of a person.

  • KS 1
  • Art
Find out more
Activity

Printmaking

This half day workshop is a practical printmaking session, where the children will make their very own prints inspired by collections at the Museum.

  • KS 2
  • Art
  • Design
  • Printing
Find out more
Activity

Toys

In this session children look at and play with a selection of old and new toys and explore the ways in which we can tell ‘old’ from ‘new’.

  • KS 1
  • History
  • Victorians
Find out more
Activity

Victorian Fossil Hunters

An introduction to Victorian Fossil Hunters such as Mary Anning, this session is hands on, creative and involves some dressing up!

  • KS 1
  • Fossils
  • History
  • Natural History
  • Victorians
Find out more
Activity

WW2 Home Front

The children will find out about the impact of WW2 on the people of Blackburn, the experiences of children and have the opportunity to handle a selection of objects from the period.

  • KS 2
  • History
  • Local History
  • WW2
Find out more

Additional Activities

Loan Boxes

We have a small range of loan boxes available for hire. We charge £20 per box for a two-week loan. Contact us for more details.

Contact Us

Developing new sessions

If you can’t see a topic/workshop you are looking for please contact us, we have an extensive collection and are happy to work with teachers on the development of new sessions

Contact Us

Special Events

British Science Week

March 2025

To celebrate British Science week Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery have a week of science themed half day sessions inspired by their collections.
Contact Us

Outreach and Digital Sessions

Outreach

We also offer to visit your school with objects from our collections. Typically, a session can last between an hour, and an hour and a half. This involves a talk and a handling session with original objects.

For our outreach sessions, the museum charges £110 for a half day (one session) or £180 for a full day (two sessions) visit.

Digital Workshops

We offer Digital workshops adapted from the sessions we would deliver during a visit to the Museum; see the separate descriptions for details. Each session lasts for between 35 and 90 minutes.

You Tube Channel

Have a look at our YouTube channel – Blackburn Museum; it has short films aimed at schools for use in the classroom. These cover a range of topics and more films are being added.

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