Children’s museum in Bethnal Green to reopen with festival and rebranded as Young V&A

It opens on July 1 with an A-to-Z of activities using its collections in a new way to “connect” with today’s youngsters.

Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and authors Liz Brownlee, Bob Raczka, Valerie Bloom and Michael Rosen have lent their literary magic to create works inspired by objects on display at the Bethnal Green venue.

Brownlee creates visual poems in the shapes of objects like Beatrix Potter’s beetle sketches and Mary Poppins’ iconic umbrella from the Disney movie.

Raczka uses wordplay for poems about kings and queens and a 19th-century bronze bust of Queen Victoria. A 1960s dolls’ house inspires one of Bloom’s poems about homes for animals, while Rosen takes on the most challenging letter ‘X’ in an ode to an X-Ray of a puppet from TV’s Clangers programme.

“We have reimagined the way collections can be used with younger audiences,” Young V&A director Dr Helen Charman said.

“This is a new home for fun and creativity to inspire the next generation with letters, words and numbers that support language development and social connections.”

Young V&A is also staging a free summer festival on July 8 and 9 with performances by Britain’s Got Talent finalists IMD Dance, east London’s Grand Union youth orchestra and Marawa’s Majorettes hula-hoopers.