The Post Office

Early Years programme session plan

For children aged 3 - 5 years, one hour
Maximum group size of 30 children to be split into 2 groups on arrival. Groups will spend 30 minutes in the Post Office and 30 minutes in the streets and then swap over.

In the Post Office

For up to 15 children, thirty minutes.
Led by a facilitator

Session objectives

• By means of specially designed activities children are encouraged to take part in a range of activities which support their early development.

Session outline

• Introduction to the Post Office gallery as a place to have fun
• Facilitator will read a short story unique to Milestones' - Jennifer's Birthday - and encourage interaction at key points
• Explanation of some of the other activities in the Post Office that children, with their adult helpers, can take part in.
• Dressing Up
  We have a mixture of T-shirts, trousers, jackets, sleeveless jackets, visibility sleeves jackets and hats - like the ones real post-people wear. Children are welcome to choose some of these items to wear. Clothes are kept in plastic boxes.
• Role Play
  Our Post Office counter has scales for weighing, a till for payment, an adjustable clock and a globe of the world. We also have a range of letters to post into the post box, sort in the sorting trays and deliver through the door. There are also pencils and our very own post cards.
• Sorting
  Our sorting rack has a range of resources to sort: by texture, by colour, by size. Sorting resources are kept in boxes under the rack.
• Magnetic Frieze
  Magnetic letters, numbers and Postman Pat to play with!
• Creative Play
  Try climbing inside our big parcel or driving the Post Office van!
• Quiet Play
  Puzzles, pairs game and a range of books are available for children who would prefer a quieter activity.
• Conclusion
  Near the end of the 30 minute session children will be invited to feed our hungry Post Box, then to spend the last 5 minutes putting resources away, ready for the next group.

I Spy for Little Eyes

For up to 15 children, thirty minutes.
Led by adult helpers with group.

Session objectives

• To provide a visual activity appropriate for young children to help them focus and explore the museum.

Session outline

Group divides into smaller groups and each has a laminated I Spy for Little Eyes activity sheet or a range of flash cards.

One side of the activity sheet has five line drawings of exhibits in the Victorian Streets for children to look for. The other side encourages children to look for exhibits of various colours. The flash cards have the same drawings one to each card.

At the end of the one hour session, when all children have tried both aspects of the Programme, you are welcome to continue exploring Milestones. Please bear in mind there may be other groups of children booked onto specific programmes which include resources in the museum streets.

You will be visiting Milestones - Hampshire's living history museum to support young children participating in The Post Office, a one-hour programme to help children explore and learn through creative play.

Milestones is a large, modern building which houses recreated streets and buildings from the Victorian period and the 1930s.

The person organising the visit will give you a timetable for the day, as well a copy of the museum's Guidelines for Education Groups.

A facilitator will meet you on arrival and you will be taken to store your coats and bags, and use the toilets before you begin. A full thirty minutes is put aside for this, though the session will start earlier if everyone is ready.

Once in the museum, half of the group will explore the Victorian streets for half an hour with the help of a simple activity sheet or flash cards with drawings of some of our objects. The other half will accompany the facilitator into the Post Office gallery.

The facilitator will introduce the gallery as a special place for young children to bring grown ups to, read Jennifer's Birthday (Milestones' big book) and then encourage the children to explore the gallery with their grown ups - there's dressing up, role play, puzzles and books, sorting... The last 5 minutes is tidy up time. After half an hour, the two halves of the group swap.

At the end of the programme, you have what we call free time until you leave the museum. You are welcome to visit other areas of the museum, but please remember there may be other pupils on programmes there who are using resources they have booked.