Details
Age group: 7-11 year olds.
Available: All year, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Length: 120 minutes. Please allow more time after your visit to explore the galleries and public spaces.
Group size: minimum of 10 participants.
Key Skills
Visual and verbal literacy, communication skills
Workshop outline
This workshop investigates the patterns hidden in the texts, images and spaces around the British Library. Participants will consider the ways in which patterns help us understand the world around us.
The workshop begins by looking at images of patterns that are part of everyday life, including natural, habitual, architectural and ritual-based patterns. Creating our own pattern vocabulary, we will talk about words like symmetry and repetition, natural and manmade, random and ordered.
We then explore the ideas that can be revealed to us by patterns, looking at the scientific, musical, religious, literary and historical items in the John Ritblat gallery. We will go ‘pattern spotting' in the building, looking closely at architectural patterns and movement of people in the space.
The session finishes with the group using objects to create sculptural patterns. We discuss these artworks and de-code them, thinking about how our viewpoint affects how we see patterns.
Post-visit activities
Look at Islamic patterns in these animated stories:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/sacred/stories/
Delve deeper into patterns by using these questions to spark a group discussion:
What patterns do you encounter in your everyday life?
How are patterns useful?
How can patterns help us think?
How can you use patterns to remember things?
Why do we make patterns out of things?
Can you list some patterns that everybody knows?
How can you use patterns to understand others?
How to book
Our How to Book page has further information about our booking process. To make your booking or for further information about our workshops, please contact the Learning Team on +44 (0)20 7412 7797 or email us at learning@bl.uk.
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