Three cultural institutions in Limerick City have developed an online game to engage young learners while the doors of schools and museums are shut. Play with The Three Muses is a new online resource for children to discover the visual art collections of The Hunt Museum, Limerick Museum and Limerick City Gallery of Art through quizzes and games, created by ArtStories, an Italian educational games maker.
You can test your memory with Limerick Lace, create a colourful fruit poster, paint a Paul Henry skyline, or quiz yourself about artworks from the three collections.
The response of Anna, age 9, who tested the game was: “I liked the quizzes and the memory lace game. It’s a really fun way to learn.”
According to Iain Burns, Teacher at Limerick’s Scoil Ide: “Certain games can help children’s motivation and learning. Play With The Three Muses is one of those games. It offers a playful learning experience for children to help them engage with art.”
Adam Stoneman, the coordinator of the Three Muses Joint Education Project realised that many of the new online resources produced during the lockdown were not sufficiently interactive and struggled to compete for attention next to online games or videos.
He said: “We became painfully aware that the kids without home printers or laptops were losing out yet again and wanted to address this gap with something accessible on a phone screen, as well as producing something that was entertaining so helping the desire to learn.”
Play with The Three Muses leads the way in Irish museums and galleries use of digital platforms to connect better with audiences remotely during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
The game is playable on a laptop, iPad or smartphone. To play the game go to huntmuseum.com/play-the-three-muses.
The Three Muses programme is supported by The Friends of the Hunt Museum and Limerick City and County Council, sponsored by Affinity Credit Union and Unity Credit Union.