Workshops
Discover our range of engaging in-person workshops, suitable for GCSE, KS3, BTEC, A-Level, Higher Education, and Primary School groups.
Â
Our interactive sessions bring the curriculum to life, challenging students to explore how brands shape – and are shaped by - people, culture, and society.
Through tutor-led group discussion, access to our handling collection, creative design activities, and student-led presentations, our workshops offer enrichment and insight into recognisable brands and their histories.
Smoothie Lab
Developed in partnership with innocent, Smoothie Lab provides an insight into the various considerations and choices that are made when developing a product. The workshop explores how successful brands influence customer behaviour as well as an in-depth analysis of branding strategies. Find out more about Smoothie Lab here.
Curriculum links include:
-
GCSE Art and Design, Food Preparation and Nutrition, Media Studies, Business, History
-
A-Level: Product Design, Food Science & Nutrition, Business
-
BTEC: Business Studies, Entrepreneurship
- HE: Marketing, Business, Corporate Branding, Strategic Management
Available for:
- Â Â Â Â GCSE
- Â Â Â Â A Level
- Â Â Â Â BTEC
- Â Â Â Higher Education
Brand Evolution Challenge
Students learn about the purpose of packaging and the development of supermarket brands from Victorian times to the present day. After undertaking research from the Museum’s collection, students work in groups to improve packaging designs in relation to consumer habits and market trends.
Curriculum links include:
- GCSE & KS3: Art & Design and Business
- BTEC: Creative Media Production: Print-Based Media
- A-Level: Graphic Design & Business
Available for:
- Higher Education
- GCSE
- Further Education
- Key Stage 3
Customer Profiling
Students discover how and why brands develop a customer profile. While working on a given product, students produce an in-depth profile of both its typical customer and an alternative customer. Students then create posters to compare the needs of these different markets, thus improving their understanding of how a brand might position itself.
Curriculum links include:
- GCSE: Business, Art & Design, and PHSE
- BTEC: Enterprise, Marketing, and Business
- A-Level: Business, Economics, and Graphic Design
Available for:
- Higher Education
- GCSE
- Further Education
Sustainability in Packaging
A workshop with environmentalism at its centre, this one hour session will help students to explore historic and contemporary packaging created by our favourite brands, before investigating alternatives to single-use plastics and high waste levels. Students then design their own products looking towards the future with sustainability as their focus.
Curriculum links include:
- Science, History, Geography, Citizenship & Design, and Technology
Available for:
- Higher Education
- GCSE
- Further Education
- Key Stage 3
- Primary Schools
Gender in Advertising
This workshop focuses on the construction of gender roles and encourages learners to be critically aware of the social and ethical impacts of design and advertising throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Students produce a poster for a product that demonstrates an increased awareness of gender stereotypes in the media. This workshop has strong links to our Adwomen exhibition, opening 8th November 2024, which students will get a chance to explore as part of the session.
Available for:
- A-Level
- Higher Education
- Further Education
Graphic Design & Packaging
Similar to the Brand Evolution Challenge, this creative workshop encourages students to think about how packaging graphics have changed over the years and how graphics are used to communicate key messages to the consumer. Students work in groups to improve on the graphics of a current UK product.
Curriculum links include:
- GCSE: Art & Design and Business
- BTEC: Creative Media Production; Print-Based Media
- A-Level: Graphic Design and Business
Available for:
- Higher Education
- GCSE
- Further Education
Chocolate Product Devising & Branding
A maths and enterprise-focused interactive session in which learners brand and market a new chocolate product. After costing their product according to which ingredients to include, learners decide how to invest their marketing budget in relation to their target audience.
Curriculum links include:
- KS1, KS2: Numeracy, Literacy and PHSE
Available for:
- Primary Schools
Chocolate Packaging Design
A creative design workshop which introduces students to the purpose of packaging before asking them to create their own chocolate bar products. Students conduct market research in the collection before creating chocolate packaging designs targeted to a specific audience.
Curriculum links include:
- KS1, KS2: Literacy, Art & Design and Numeracy
Available for:
- Primary Schools
Consumer History
Featuring consumer items from over 150 years of British consumer history, learners are split into groups to work together as detective historians to explore the materiality, imagery, and narrative of objects. This session enables students to use consumer history as a tool to understand chronological social history.
Curriculum links include:
- KS1, KS2: History, Art & Design and PHSE
Available for:
- Primary Schools
KS1 Toys & Games
Explore the Time Tunnel searching for toys of the past. This workshop involves a tour of the museum focused on describing toys, their materials and properties. Children will take inspiration from the collection to then design and describe their own toy. Topics include everyday materials and British history and the session is designed to build skills in communication, literacy and design.
Available for:
- Early Years
