Your Pre-visit Briefing

Learning Team 5 Apr 2024

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Your Pre-visit Briefing

MoPA is founded on the belief that more play and creativity will paint a brighter future. Our Museums cater to children aged 1 to 7 and they champion unstructured, imaginative play that’s driven by the child. This approach is centred on open-ended inquiry and collaborative meaning-making. MoPA’s educational philosophy aligns seamlessly with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Victorian Curriculum, ensuring the strongest and most relevant learning foundations. We take immense pride in our recognition as global leaders and innovators in the fields we play.

When your little learners arrive at MoPA, they will generally require no encouragement to dive in. Everything you’ll find in the space is thoughtfully designed to allow children to safely discover and explore independently, without the need for instructions or cues. What might come as a surprise is that MoPA is not just a realm for little ones; it’s a place designed for families to explore and learn together. Every exhibit you encounter will allow for collaboration, and actually offers opportunities for both you and your child to engage in play and learning together.

Research indicates that children’s earliest development occurs through their connection to communities, especially their families, who serve as their initial and most influential educators; and so you will play a pivotal role in your child’s learning and growth during each MoPA visit.

Play may not come as naturally to some adults as it does to children, and parents often seek guidance on how to facilitate their little ones’ interaction with various exhibits. While you may spot me wandering the museum floor in my ‘expert in early learning’ t-shirt (please say hello, if you do!), ALL of our wonderful educators are capable of pointing you in the right direction in this regard. At any time during your visit, please don’t hesitate to ask us questions.

Our Museum’s are jam-packed full of exhibits and activities, but here are some of my personal favourites that will help you get your play-based experience started:

The Blue Block Room

This STEM-inspired exhibit encourages critical thinking while experimenting with engineering concepts. Collaborative building offers richer opportunities for your child to articulate observations and derive new meanings from their creation, and as a caregiver, you can prompt your child to identify shapes, angles, and patterns that provide stability to the structure. Or how about a family building challenge? Using 15 pieces, can you build a contraption that transports us across time? You’ve got 10 minutes.. GO!

Star Studio

Lights, camera, action! The Star Studio offers numerous learning opportunities, including increased confidence, creative expression, voice animation, and character development. By actively participating in this performing arts exhibit, you can help your child develop the capacity to present ideas to an audience through embodied expression and role-play. Why not encourage your child to dress up the adults in costumes, assign character names, teach dance moves, and stage a family performance? Participation from adults will deeply enrich your child’s experience here in the Star Studio – plus, it’s FUN!

Art Wall

Resembling a more traditional museum display, The Art Wall offers a range of learning moments, and is the chance to introduce your child to the world of art. Interact with the unique exhibits, mimic the displays, and discuss what you notice in each artwork. Whether identifying aesthetics like colours, textures, and shapes or forming opinions about preferences and why, these group discussions greatly benefit your child’s cognitive development and overall understanding of how broad our interpretation of the arts can and should be.

Zoom Room

Set up a family Zoom Room race! Time how long each car takes to get from start to finish. Who won? What shape was the track or car that they used? Did that help them win? How about the size and shape of the car – did that help? Try a few rounds using different tracks and sized cars to test out the differences. By actively using questions in this exhibit, you can prompt your little one to make new connections about the basics of physics. And as they compare the different race results, they consolidate new understandings about the effects of push and pull and an object’s shape and size.

Cinema Room

Need a break? Head to the Cinema Room, grab a beanbag, and read a book together. There’s nothing like finding a moment of stillness to savour the magic of MoPA. Taking time as a group to regulate energy and emotions in a low-sensory space underscores the importance of reflection, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence for your child. And if it’s ultimate peace you seek, be sure to find your way to our cocoon-like privacy rooms for time-out, silent feeding, prayer, or just some good quality quiet time together.

Remember, it’s okay for your visit to be entirely child-led. Depending on what captures the interest of your little one, you may explore some of these areas during one visit, and other areas next time. Embrace your child’s natural inclinations to unfold and enjoy the journey with them.

The learning potential in these spaces is boundless. Whether it’s socially developing through role play with new or old friends, dialogue and group games with fellow guests, cognitively developing with problem solving and critical thinking, or physically developing by increasing fine motor skills, coordination, balance and stamina – the learning opportunities at MoPA really are limitless.

If you’re interested in more ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our amazing MoPA Educators on the floor during your visit. We relish discussing all things related to play-based learning and creative exploration.

We cannot wait for you to dive in and experience all the ways your family can play together.

No matter what age, we’re always learning!

Dr. Jed Burgess
Head of Learning | MoPA

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