In my opinion, there is no better way to spend a windy bank holiday Monday than making museum cakes at the Museum of London.
When I explained to families attending the Edible History activity that we would be printing with a printer that uses food colouring and icing instead of ink and paper some of the children almost fell off their chairs in astonishment. After choosing an image of a museum object, enhancing it using Picnik, and waiting eagerly for it to be magically printed on icing, participants had a happy, sticky time gluing their pictures onto fairy cakes with icing squidged from a tube. We had provided a range of images of objects that are all on display, and this encouraged families to explore the galleries thoroughly. As one boy said, “I’m going to find the object that’s on my cake, and then, when I find it, I’m going to EAT it!”
I had been really looking forward to this activity, and the families all seemed to enjoy it too. One parent declared “this has made my weekend!” The combination of artefacts and cake is clearly a winner.
Rosie Fuller, Museum Learning and Education Consultant 