I volunteer at The V&A Museum of Childhood. I assist with visitor services and events, but I also am part of the 'Ask Me' programme which helps to give the visitor's hands-on experience with the collections.
Museums have a tough job: preserve the art, but make it accessible at the same time. It is hard, especially for children, to imagine the use and purpose of an object in a glass case, so the 'Ask Me' role I play allows visitor's to handle and use replicas so that they can better appreciate the relevance of the object.
I work with optical toys section, discussing their history from Zoetropes to flip books to Eadweard Muybridge. Having a background in 19th century Art History (an era where modern optics developed), I really enjoy being able to teach children and adults about how these objects evolved into modern photography and film.
The V&A and their Museum of Childhood are very interactive museums and that is one of the things I love most about their programmes. For more information on the Museum of Childhood click here.