This October half-term, the Brunel Museum is inviting Southwark’s smallest inhabitants to a special storytelling session.
Bedtime Stories for Very Young Engineers was a project dreamed up by award-winning materials engineer and writer Dr Anna Ploszajski and engagement professional Dr Steve Cross, generously funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Steve and Anna noticed that there was a lack of diversity in the engineering workforce (12% are women, 9% are from BAME backgrounds), and wondered where this stemmed from. They read that by age six, children already have ingrained biases about who can do certain types of jobs. So, Steve and Anna decided to do something about it, by targeting children via a medium they already love – the bedtime story.
“I’m so excited to be bringing our engineering bedtime stories to one of London’s most engineering-y locations! Our storytellers are some of the UK’s coolest engineers, and I feel very proud of them for writing such inspiring stories for young people. It’s always true that ‘you cannot be what you cannot see’ – well, I hope lots of young people will come and meet our engineers and see for themselves what being an engineer really looks like.” – Dr Anna Ploszajski
The project trained 30 diverse engineers from across all sectors of UK engineering in storytelling and performance skills. The engineers wrote bedtime stories about their areas of engineering aimed at 2-5 year olds, from building bridges and fixing satellites to befriending computers and inventing wonderful machines. Once edited, the engineers were filmed reading their stories aloud, and the videos released for free on YouTube. Anna and Steve hope that by showing young children not only what engineering is, but who engineers can be, more young people today will see making, fixing, improving, maintaining and innovating as ideas for their futures.
Now they are taking their YouTube tales to toddlers in real life, in a special session at the Brunel Museum. The Brunel Museum tells the story of the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel dug under a river anywhere in the world. It was Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s first project, working alongside his father Marc Brunel.
“Since Isambard Kingdom Brunel learnt how to be an engineer working on the Thames Tunnel, we think its really important to continue that tradition of learning. We’re so pleased to be able to provide that learning for all our visitors, from the biggest to the smallest” – Katherine McAlpine, Brunel Museum Director
Friday 28 October | 10am to 12noon | Free but bookable
Join us for a morning of stories from some of the UK’s most entertaining engineers. You’ll hear about flying, fixing, making, solving and even building bridges out of cheese. One thing’s for sure – you’ll be too excited to sleep!
Suitable for ages 2-7
About Bedtime Stories for Very Young Engineers
Bedtime Stories for Very Young Engineers was created as a series of bedtime stories that will enthral and inspire children, freely available on YouTube. The stories were written by a cohort of storytelling engineers. Revolutionising the bedtime story from princesses and dinosaurs to the bedtime story from princesses and dinosaurs to problem-solvers and inventors.
Smelly Trail
Saturday 22 Oct to Tuesday 25 October | 11am to 5pm | Included in Museum entry
Follow your nose all the way to the Brunel Museum this October half-term and sniff out the story of the Thames Tunnel. Discover the smelly side of the Docklands, as you try identify the precious cargo from olfactory abilities. Sniff out the secrets of the SS Great Eastern – once the biggest ship in the world!
Suitable for ages 7-11 (but younger and older siblings are very welcome!)
Included in entry to the Museum. A £10 Family ticket admits up to 2 adults and 4 children.
The Brunel Museum, Railway Avenue, Rotherhithe, London, SE16 4LF
October Half-Term Opening times
Saturday 22 October to Tuesday 25 October
11am – 5pm
Tickets: £6 / £4 conc. / £10 family / Free for under 5s
020 7231 3840
