Amersham Museum Review
Victoria Harlock
A small, local museum in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. It's got lots of hands-on exhibits for kids.
https://freetimewiththekids.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cropped-fb_img_1560834226776-2-32x32.jpg
Free Time with the Kids - Reviews of cheap family days out in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire. Children's activity and craft ideas
There’s something I really like about local museums. They always have weird, funky stuff that you don’t find in bigger museums, they’re quieter and usually the staff are really friendly. Amersham Museum in Buckinghamshire has been on my list of places to review for a little while and this week we went along to check it out. The main reason for going was for their mini museum session. However, we also had the chance to look around the museum itself whilst we were there.

The Museum

Amersham Museum is set in a medieval house on the High Street of Old Amersham. It reopened in 2017 after a massive refurb which extended both the space and the facilities. Very geeky I know, but I love it when local museums like this are housed inside really old buildings. Living history and all that.

Anyway, each room is set around a particular time period in Amersham’s history. There’s five rooms (and therefore age periods). As well as the exhibits to look at there’s also a kids box in each area. These have got books in, toys etc and lots of dressing up clothes that fit the time period. Smallest Child loved these, and I’m never one to miss the chance to wear a silly hat! It’s also nice that there’s something to keep the kids occupied so you can read all about the exhibits. There’s a little dolls house downstairs. Smallest Child has got one at home as well so she made a bee-line straight for that!

It’s quite a small museum but it is interesting, I particularly liked the Tudor hall. It’s also nice that it’s got lots of stuff for kids, with the added bonus that kids go free. If you’re in or near Amersham it’s definitely worth popping in.

Mini Museum at Amersham Museum

The original reason for visiting Amersham Museum was to do a review of their Mini Museum session. These are under 5’s sessions that happen once a month, towards the end of the month. The next sessions are on the 20th March, 24th April and 22nd May. The sessions cost £3 per child and run from 10-11.30. We got there are dot on 10, but we didn’t need to as they’re drop-in sessions. I would recommend getting there sooner rather than later though because the messy play gets cleaned away by 11.

There are various stations set up in the room. There’s all the toys you’d expect at a small playgroup, books, playdough, a messy craft etc. The craft is usually themed around something in the museum. When we visited it was all about clocks. What was nice is that the crafts are tailored to suit the age of the child. The clock above was aimed at the older kids in the group. There’s also a free trail to do around the museum with the same theme. If it’s a dry day there’s a sandpit in the back garden, and you can have an explore of the garden at the same time.

After 11 the messy play is cleared away and then it’s snack time (plus a cuppa for the adults), followed by songs. The lady running the session / sing-a-long was so sweet with the kids, and controlled them really well too. It was quite a busy session, but everyone was really well behaved.

Admission Cost

Normal Museum admission – £4.50 per adult. Children are FREE

Mini museum session – £3 per child. Adults are FREE. This includes entry into the museum

Parking

There is free parking on the high street outside of the museum. This seems to be quite busy so we had to do a few trips round the block before finding a space. That said, there’s a regular turnaround of traffic so you should find a space fairly easily.

Food

There is no food allowed in the museum. There are drinks and snacks provided as part of the mini museum session though.

Toilets

There is a toilet and baby change on site

Our Amersham Museum Review

It’s a sweet, small museum that is surprisingly hands-on for the kids. You’re not going to spend hours in here, but it’s something interesting to do if you’re in the area. The fact that kids go FREE is a real added bonus. Definitely worth bearing in mind if you’re local. You can make a full day of it by combining a visit to Amersham Museum with a trip to the park around the corner.

Our Mini Museum at Amersham Museum Review

This was a really nice session. It’s more than “just” a playgroup because there’s the added interest of looking around the museum as well. It’s based in quite a small room, and there were quite a few children on the day we visited, but that just meant they had to all play nicely together. We stayed for the full session, but you’re welcome to come and go as you please. There were enough of the right kind of toys to keep Smallest Child happy, and that’s the whole point of going!