Express & Star

Youngsters get up-close to Dudley Museum’s most ancient artefacts

Children were able to get up close to some of Dudley Museum’s most ancient artefacts – including huge dinosaur bones and the gaping the jaws of a shark.

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The museum, based on Tipton Road, hosted a special dinosaur day for visitors during the Easter break - where youngsters could experience some of the most exciting parts of history.

They also sat down to enjoy dinosaur-themed arts and crafts, a dinosaur trail, and other fun activities.

Kate Figgitt, education officer at Dudley Museum, said it was a ‘really lovely day’.

She said: “We have this dinosaur day annually now - sometimes twice a year. It’s part of our JAM club – juniors at museums – we’re trying to get more children, families, toddlers even babies involved in the museum.

Cloe Boycott age 20 from Wolverhampton

“Everyone loves dinosaurs, and it was just lovely. We had about 800 or 900 people through the door from 10.30 to 2.30 - it was just super. And we had such positive comments on Facebook.

The museum hosts plenty of other free activities throughout the year, such as fossil examining, dinosaur talks, and information about Dudley’s history.

Kate added: “It was a real team effort – we are a small team and everyone just worked so hard. We had volunteers here on the day, and post-graduates from Birmingham University who helped us. We had crafts, a talk on how to be a dinosaur, and more. “It was one of those real positive experiences. We just loved it.”

The museum has been open for 18 months now – and staff are doing all they can to boost visitors numbers.

Keeper of Geology Graham Worton with a shark jawbone

There are free activities every Saturday for people to get involved with.

Visitors can bring their fossils to ‘Fossil Finds’ on May 11 and June 8 to discuss them with the keeper of geology from 10.30am to 12pm.

And an ‘Unearthed’ interactive talk will also take place on the same dates from 2 to 3pm - with one on ‘Which came first, the dinosaur or the egg?’ and ‘Tropical Dudley’.

Visit dudley.gov.uk/see-and-do/museums for more information.