Engaging Young Minds: Museum Education for Children Under Five

The museum’s play-based learning environmentThis research explores the Museum’s play-based learning environment as a transformative space for children under five, highlighting a significant shift in the role of museums. Traditionally focused on preserving and displaying artefacts, museums now actively engage visitors. A prime example of this evolution is the Postal Museum’s outreach initiative, which includes the “Post and Play” program. This initiative offers interactive activities to spark curiosity and foster a love for learning among young children. Through this approach, children and their families can explore educational content while playing, underscoring the importance of interaction and engagement in early childhood learning. To gather diverse perspectives on these interactions, this qualitative study plans to adopt an interpretivist strategy employing semi-structured interviews. The insights gained will be synthesised through thematic analysis, allowing for the identification of common themes and offering recommendations for enhancing play-based educational opportunities in museums. This aligns with existing literature that underscores the value of interactive learning environments (Mukherji and Albon, 2023). The research used a non-probability sampling method, selecting subjects without random sampling (Bryman, 2016). The approach includes observing four sessions over four weeks with fifteen children under five and their parents. It aims to target a culturally diverse group, comprising 10 to 20 children and 5 to 10 participating parents in each session.