Stones, Bones and Stars
 |
|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Melbourne Mobile Mini Museum
A wonderful museum incursion experience
Presented by Greg Stewart
[ BA., Dip Ed., Grad Dip Adol Mntl Hlth RCH / Melb ]
Guide. Nurture. Inspire
_edited_edi.png)
Stones, Bones and Stars
Stones, Bones and Stars is the Melbourne Mobile Mini Museum
Its purpose is to bring unique tactile learning experiences to young people in which they are able to touch, hear the stories and discover the secrets of rare and fascinating museum-quality objects that powerfully connect all of us to the natural and human stories of our planet and help us to know and understand what was, what is and what will be.
The Stones, Bones and Stars Museum collection comprises objects that have been collected across the lifetime of museum curator, Greg Stewart and are focused around 4 main themes of natural and human history :
-
Space (Astronomy)
-
Crystals and Minerals(Geology)
-
Fossils [esp dinosaur fossils] (Palaeontology)
-
Ancient Civilisations [esp Ancient Egypt] (Archaeology)
Stones, Bones and Stars exhibits are often small enough to rest in the palm of your hand - but each one carries an epic story!
In traditional museums, young people can sometimes only view rare objects under glass or behind barriers....
Stones, Bones and Stars puts a dinosaur tooth right into their hands!
And a moon rock!
_edited_edi.png){kind=small}
-
and amazing crystals from all over the world!
-
and part of the iron core of another planet or asteroid!
-
and incredible, 200 million year old dinosaur footprints!
-
and huge megalodon teeth!
-
and 3000 year old ancient Egyptian mummy wrapping!
-
and woolly mammoth bones, tusk, teeth and fur!
-
and tools made by early humans a million years ago!
-
and egg shells from which baby dinosaurs hatched!
-
and a tiny piece of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that carried Neil Armstrong to the Moon and back !
-
and so much more!
These and other wonderful museum objects from the Stones, Bones and Stars collection are presented in special workshops that have been developed by Greg Stewart, one of Victoria’s most experienced and accomplished classroom teachers. Greg has worked for 45 years in schools, hospitals and other special settings, supporting child and adolescent learning, mental health and wellbeing. For the last 9 years he has worked in child and adolescent, inpatient and outpatient programs at the Austin Hospital School in Melbourne.
Greg presents highly entertaining, engaging, inspirational and therapeutic learning experiences which powerfully connect his young ( and not so young ) audiences to the physical presence and remarkable origin stories of the SB&S Mini Museum treasures. Young people have great fun as they work together to unlock the secrets of each fascinating object, while building their knowledge, critical thinking skills, communication skills and social capabilities.
Stones, Bones and Stars workshops have been forged and shaped in the inpatient and outpatient programs of hospital schools, in mainstream schools and adolescent mental health settings, built around the demonstrated power of these special objects and their stories to positively impact learning, engagement, focus, perseverance, respectful listening, individual and group goal setting, communication and emotional regulation.
"When children touch a ‘Stones, Bones and Stars’ treasure, it whispers its story and its secrets to them and they powerfully connect with it – physically, emotionally, imaginatively, intellectually and, sometimes, therapeutically. Tactile magic melds with storytelling magic and 'sciencey' magic to enchant young imaginations….and they become the next part of the story.
It's a story that takes the children on an incredible journey across space and time - perhaps 100 million years back to the age of dinosaurs, or across the Pacific Ocean to the amethyst mines of Brazil or 700 million kms through deep space to the asteroid belt near Jupiter, or 3000 sandy years back to Ancient Egypt. Along the way, they have fun, they listen, they imagine, they talk, they question, they problem-solve, they share ideas and theories and they build their knowledge and skills. They work together and learn together and... perhaps...they are inspired to dream new dreams." "The Whispering Bones" Greg Stewart 2024
Stones, Bones and Stars workshops have been presented in many primary and secondary school classrooms (from Prep to Year 12), in public libraries, hospital school settings, paediatric wards, school lunchtime programs, child and family therapy settings, mental health and other special programs, for private functions and on special occasions. SB&S sessions are very popular across a broad range of ages and audiences and deliver outstanding learning and experiential outcomes for young people.
Stones, Bones and Stars embraces core Learning Area and Capabilities components of the Victorian Curriculum, including the learning areas of Science, English, Humanities and Technology and Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural and Personal and Social Capabilities. It also implements High Impact Teaching Strategies in its delivery.
The duration of Stones, Bones and Stars workshops is very flexible, but they often run from 45 minutes to an hour. They can be presented to one person, small groups, parties, individual classes and multiple (one at a time ) classes across the school day.
Dinosaur Fossils
Quartz Crystals
Another
Fossil
Guitarosaurus
Amethyst Geode
Marine Fossils
Ancient Egypt
Megalodon
Space
Exotic Crystals
Woolly Mammoth
Fred
More Treasures!
Bonnie & Molly
?
Rex
Just some of the Stones, Bones and Stars Collection's 25 black boxes of treasures cracked open!
To Contact Stones Bones and Stars, either email us at stonesbonesandstars@gmail.com
or complete our contact form below.