The Ostrich Egg

At the Horniman Museum

in the Discovery for All sessions on a Sunday morning

we are allowed to get objects out of the cabinets for visitors.

Allowing people to handle objects,

touch them, look at them from every angle, feel the weight of them

and probably most importantly encourage more talk about them

than if they were just sat behind glass.

There are the usual objects that capture the public's imagination

like the hedgehog, the squirrel, masks, dolls from around the world and the sharks jaw.

I'm always asked to get these things out.

With the object most asked for being the Puffer-fish,

a dried out, hollow, very spikey, puffed up puffer-fish.

Then there are the objects that people hardly ever notice.

In museums these are called 'silent objects',

the less conspicuous objects.

Such as the Ostrich Egg.

Asked for today by a family of five.

It was cold, it was white (ish), covered in tiny dots, "like an orange"

and felt much less fragile than you would have thought.

Kid: "What's inside? Is there a chick inside?"

Mum: "No, it's like our eggs, you know, with a yolk."

Kid: "Why is there a hole in the end"

Me: "That's to get what's inside out. Like blowing eggs."

Mum: "I wonder how many pancakes you can make using that egg?

Between these lot, they have about four each,

I make pancakes every Sunday morning."

I comment on how nice this is, try and cadge an invite.

"Nice for them, I've got to get up and make them,

and do the washing up too."

Mum is smiling, it obviously is a much loved family tradition.

As for what gives 'silent objects' a voice?

Well in this case, breakfast.

I sent them off to the natural history gallery to double check it was an Ostrich Egg.

You can see the holes,

must have needed quite a bit of puff to blow those eggs.

Sometimes though, you get a chick.

Discovery for All is in the Hands On Base in the Horniman Museum

every Sunday and sometimes in the school holidays.

Details on their website here.

If you're interested in my posts on those 'loud' objects, the ones that get noticed most often,

and would like to see more of whats in the Hands on Base in the Horniman Museum,

here are the links:

The hedgehog and the squirrel, here.

Masks, here.

Dolls from around the world, here.

A sharks jaw, here.