The Museum of Vojvodina has one of the oldest pedagogical services in the Republic of Serbia. Museum pedagogues and educators create programs for different categories of audience, but the most beautiful and favorite programs are those created for the youngest visitors.
Although several publications for children have been published, for the first time we are trying to present the museum world to children through a picture book Who’s been nibbling?. A worm, a moth and a mouse live in the Museum and feed on museum artefacts. They enjoy it because they have a lot of tasty food, but they are often very loud and get into trouble because of that. The emphasis is on the protection, preservation and importance of cultural heritage, through a humorous story. Children will find out who damages museum objects and who protects them.
Picture books are an important part of a child’s life. Children connect the illustrations with the read text and thus better understand what they see in the Museum. Children can take the picture book home and remain in the museum world even when they leave the Museum building. While looking at a picture book, they ask questions, get answers and learn, develop critical thinking, research spirit and love for culture and art. Funny story in verse and attractive illustrations make this picture book the ideal first museum literature for children.
The objectives of the project were:
- Developing and fostering the need and habit of visiting cultural institutions in children.
- Development of a new museum audience. The picture was distributed to preschool institutions so that kindergarten teachers can introduce the concept of museums to children and prepare them for their first visit to cultural institutions.
- Bringing museum content closer to visually impaired children. The illustrations of the three main characters were translated into tactile images, and the poem was translated into braille.
Writen by Tatjana Ljubojević, Museum of Vojvodina