This summer, Tyne and Wear Metro is continuing its partnership with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) to provide families with a low-cost way to enjoy a great value day out visiting Tyneside‘s museums and galleries.

Tyneside’s museums are holding as number of high-quality, low-cost events at family destinations across South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead that are all near a Metro Station. Metro also offers free travel for children under 11 when they are travelling with a fare-paying adult.

Ways to Play is a campaign inspired by the range of ways a child can play, which encourages children to be active, creative and imaginative.

Metro teamed up with TWAM for the Ways to Play campaign in the summer of 2021, since when it has received recognition at last year’s North East Culture awards when it won Best Arts and Business Partnership, the best Not for Profit Marketing Award at last year’s North East Marketing Awards.

In May this year, the campaign was shortlisted for Partnership of the Year at the Museum + Heritage Awards.

Stephenson Steam Railway

• One of the highlights of this summer’s Ways to Play programme is heritage train rides at the Stephenson Steam Railway every Thursday and Sunday during the school holidays.

Discovery Museum

• At Discovery Museum visitors can view a whole range of life-size and intricate models of ships and boats, or join a session to learn about crafts and the North East’s boats and ships, decorate a sailboat magnet, or design your their wooden ship.

Make & Take Thursday: Metro Hat Making

• Carriage No. 4001 from the first prototype Metro train has been donated to the Stephenson Railway Museum, and on Thursday, 27th July, visitors can make their very own Metro Car hat.

Make & Take Thursday: Bio Blitz

• On Thursday, 10th August, visitors can join the Environment Records Information Centre Northeast (ERIC) to learn how species are recorded and identify using the iNaturalist App. Visitors can also find out about the work that local conservation groups are doing, and after seeing how many species of plants, animals and fungi they can find that live on the site, they can have a go at recording them.

Make & Take Thursday: Train Print Making

• There are many different trains on display in the Stephenson Steam Railway Museum, and on Thursday, 17th August, visitors can have a go at printing their own train design.

Make & Take Thursday: Creative Clay Making

• With many different trains on display at the Stephenson Steam Railway Museum and animals living around the site, on Thursday, 24th August visitors can create their own model of one of the trains or animals that live alongside the railway tracks.

Make & Take Thursday: Nature Painting

• With so much natural history around the Stephenson Steam Railway Museum, on Thursday, 31st August, visitors can create and paint their own nature picture using natural materials such as leaves and twigs.

Ways to Play at the Stephenson Steam Railway are just a few of the events in the programme. Among others there are events at Discovery Museum, Great North Museum, Shipley Art Gallery, Arbeia Roman Fort, Hatton Gallery, Segudunum Roman Fort, and South Shields Museum and Art Gallery.

Further details about all the events can be found on the Ways to Play website at https://www.twmuseums.org.uk/ways-to-play