Children and Families
The Mosaic Rooms runs a playful and rich programme of events and activities for children and families which includes one-off half term and summer free workshops led by incredible artists. Children and families are always welcome. Why not play in our bookshop play area or go into the garden? You can email learning@mosaicrooms.org to find out more.
Upcoming family events
Saturday 16 September, 2–4pm: ‘Carving Other Ways’ by Rose Nordin from STUART
Saturday 14 October, 2–4pm: Lesson Plan Workshop by Collective Space Black (Details to be announced soon)
Self led play: Lesson Plans
‘Yalla Seeding‘: In this lesson plan, Palestinian artist Mohammad Saleh invites you to to learn about his work in Palestine and the practice of seed bombing. Use this lesson plan to create your own seed balls using clay, compost, and wildflower seeds.
‘You Draw My Hum’: In this lesson plan, British-Iranian artist Nia Fekri shares how to compose and visualise sounds. Use this lesson plan with a friend, and make music with drawings using pens, paper and everyday materials.
‘Carving Other Ways’ by Rose Nordin (STUART) In this lesson plan, Rose Nordin explores the possibilities of collective play and imagination to identify obstacles and imagine other ways to around them.
Collective Space Black (Details to be announced soon)
Tools for Solidarity play installation by RESOLVE Collective
Open Tues – Sun 11-6 until 5 November – FREE
The Mosaic Rooms has commissioned RESOLVE Collective for the 2023 Family Artist and Outdoor Play commission.
There are four ‘tools’ in The Mosaic Rooms’ Garden as part of RESOLVE Collective’s Tools For Solidarity: ‘PRESS!’, ‘CONNECT…’, ‘NURTURE?’, and ‘#COMMUNICATE’. Together, they aim to help explore and question the solidarities that children express in their everyday lives, through tactile play and co-creation. All four ‘tools’ are from recycled materials from previous exhibitions at The Mosaic Rooms and others salvaged from the local area. Each tool responds to moments from a series of workshops led by RESOLVE Collective at Earl’s Court Youth Club in London and with three school groups at the A.M. Qattan Foundation in Ramallah, Palestine. The tools are interactive and you are encouraged to play and work with them to grow the installation. They also each bare their own reciprocal ‘act of solidarity’ in their design process, involving material exchanges with local libraries, returning local ‘weeds’ to the soil, using donated fabrics, and celebrating the ingenuity of young people in Palestine.
A wider artist ecology will contribute to the project by devising self-led play guides for the Tools for Solidarity installation through public sessions. These ‘lesson plans’ invite partners and participants to reflect on ‘solidarity’ and what this means for them. Traces from these contributions will activate the garden as a site of making and learning for everyone.
The Mosaic Rooms Family artist for 2022, Sahra Hersi, brought her thoughtful architecture and play practice to deliver our outdoor play commission last year, The House of Many Ways, following our first – The Dancers’ Garden by Alaa Satir. You can read more about Sahra’s family artist commission here.
Play Area
You can visit anytime to play and explore with creative materials and sensory play activities. You can also attend one of our family workshops which are delivered by professional artists and play specialists.
Sensing our Way: A new commission for sensory-led family play by The Mosaic Rooms
The Mosaic Rooms are excited to present a new commission by Sarah Marsh to make a new series of objects and interventions which will activate The Mosaic Rooms and create a space for sensory-led, interactive, child-led play.
Join Sensory Wednesdays from 11am – 2pm every Wednesday – an open and welcoming space for families where children can explore our wonderful new collection of sensory objects.
Squish Station (Every Sunday)
You can now find Squish Station; a new interactive clay-play area in our bookshop every Sunday.
Researcher and gallery-based educator, Dena Bagi, has created prompts to help guide an interaction with clay. Dena is interested in how clay can connect us with our bodies, strengthening our innate relationship with the earth. She believes touching clay can help us become mindful, or connected, to fell better in a fast-paced — and sometimes scary — world. Sit down, squish, and create with clay. Leave your creations behind so that they can sit alongside those made by others and inspire the next people that come along.
Designed for children aged 4-11, but suitable for all.
Sign up to The Mosaic Rooms Creative Learning Mailing List to be the first to find out about our upcoming family events.
Families online
You can enjoy some creative activities from The Mosaic Rooms at home. Watch here videos on our Vimeo page.