Qatar Children’s Museum launches family workshops on social media
متحف قطر للأطفال يطلق ورش عمل عائلية على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي
The Peninsula
The Qatar Children’s Museum (QCM), now being developed by Qatar Museums (QM), announced yesterday that it will be hosting daily workshops on its Instagram account that families can participate in using everyday materials found in their home.
The sessions invite families in Qatar to incorporate playing and learning in their daily weekday routine and engage with the museum’s staff who will be present to facilitate the sessions live.
The content is suitable for both Arabic and English-speaking audiences and is being launched before QCM even begins construction, to aid families that are sheltering at home during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
QCM has already inaugurated a Learning and Outreach Department, which has engaged the community through workshops for children and their families at popular events such as the Doha International Book Fair. In response to the challenge that families are facing during the pandemic, the museum has shifted its work online, but plans to provide the same warmth and support that audiences have come to expect from the museum.
QCM will be sharing an activity video at 3pm, Sundays to Thursdays, designed to encourage all family members to get involved. During the live one-hour workshops, QCM’s staff open the door for virtual audience participation and will be on hand to answer questions, make suggestions and curate an exchange of ideas between families. The team will also invite families to share their creative explorations, which could be featured on the museum’s Instagram page.
The fun and educational workshops will include art, crafts, literacy, science, and cooking among other topics and the activities planned include painting with bubbles, making plastic from milk, crafting tissue paper flowers and upcycling plastic containers to jewelry. QCM will share instructions and lists of materials required on their Instagram account (@ChildrensMuseum.QA) prior to each activity, so families and their children can prepare in advance.
Essa Al Mannai, Director of QCM, said, “Even though the Qatar Children’s Museum is still in the development phase, we have felt that our mission of nurturing each child’s creativity, imagination, and love of learning is too important for us to wait until we open our doors. We are already working in the community, and we feel we are needed even more at this challenging moment, when the spread of COVID-19 is forcing people to self-isolate. We thank Qatar Museums and its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, for encouraging us to step forward in this way.”
The QCM will be the first institution of its kind in the gulf, enriching the lives of children and their families by providing an unparalleled space for learning through open-ended play, exploration and experimentation. The new museum is being designed to nurture, challenge and inspire our children, fueling their creativity and encouraging their empathy and understanding. A variety of stimulating, interactive and accessible indoor and outdoor experiences will offer families the opportunity to have fun by playing and learning together.
The QCM is being created to advance the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030 for human, social, economic and environmental development. With programming that will offer each child an opportunity to learn through play, the QCM will nurture the future leaders and caretakers of Qatar.
أعلن متحف الأطفال قطر، الذي تتولى متاحف قطر مهمة إنشائه، عن تقديم ورش تفاعلية لأفراد العائلة عبر صفحته على موقع إنستجرام (@ChildrensMuseum.QA) من الأحد إلى الخميس كل أسبوع.
تتضمن الورش أنشطة تفاعلية باللغتين العربية والإنجليزية تجمع بين متعتي التعلُّم والمرح باستخدام أدوات منزلية بسيطة، وستقدَّم الورش عبر خدمة البثّ المباشر التي تسمح للمشاركين بالتفاعل الحي مع اختصاصيي المتحف.
وتهدف هذه المبادرة الرقمية التي أطلقها متحف الأطفال قطر، إلى مساعدة العائلات التي تلتزم بالجلوس في المنزل، للوقاية من وباء «كوفيد 19» المنتشر حالياً.
وقال عيسى المناعي مدير متحف الأطفال قطر في تصريح بالمناسبة إن متحف الأطفال قطر، لا يزال قيد التطوير، غير أننا استشعرنا أهمية واجبنا المتمثل في تعزيز إبداع جميع الأطفال وتحفيز خيالهم وزيادة شغفهم بالتعلم، فقررنا المبادرة وعدم الانتظار حتى نفتتح أبواب متحفنا للجماهير. وأوضح المناعي أن للمتحف نشاطا قائما بالفعل في المجتمع، و»لكننا نشعر بازدياد الحاجة إلى مساهماتنا خلال هذه اللحظات الصعبة، التي يضطر فيها الناس لملازمة بيوتهم بسبب انتشار وباء «كوفيد – 19».
جدير بالذكر أن متحف الأطفال قطر لم يُجرِ البدء في إنشاء مبنى مخصص له بعد، ومع هذا يضم قسماً خاصاً بالتعليم والتوعية، وينشط القسم مجتمعياً من خلال تنظيم العديد من المبادرات التي تستهدف الأطفال وعائلاتهم، في فعاليات شهيرة مثل معرض الدوحة الدولي للكتاب.
