The Wonder Room

The Wonder Room is a magical new playscape co-designed with the children and families at Grangetown Primary School and inspired by the rich industrial heritage and vibrant and varied collections of Tees Valley’s museums.

At Kirkleatham Museum from 7th August – Early 2026, Tuesday to Sunday 11am – 3pm.

The Wonder Room is a magical new playscape co-designed with the children and families at Grangetown Primary School and inspired by the rich industrial heritage and vibrant and varied collections of Tees Valley’s museums.

Theatre Hullabaloo artists, Lucy Cassidy and Ella Deacy, have been collaborating with Reception children and their families at Grangetown Primary School to help shape the design of The Wonder Room.

Together they have played with silly glasses, crawled through tunnels, made rainbows and invented some very unusual creatures. This playful process, with resources and ideas inspired by some of the weirder and more wonderful elements of the museum collections, has helped our design team, Roma Patel and Rachel Clementine, to create a fantastical playscape for children and their grown-ups to investigate together.

Designed especially for children under five, The Wonder Room is a space where curiosity leads the way, and play becomes a form of storytelling, invention, and exploration.

Drawing inspiration from the region’s history of shipbuilding, steelworks, railways, and innovation, the playscape transforms these themes into hands-on, sensory-rich experiences tailored to early childhood play.

Peek through a coloured porthole, tread carefully along a silly sound walk and investigate the tunnels – big and small – looking out for the ones that hold magic whispers!

Create new worlds with light tables and shadow play, magnifying glasses and mirrors, lenses and cogs. There’s wonder for babies too, with soft areas of black and white for snuggles and tactile objects for crawlers to discover.

The Wonder Room is a collaboration with Tees Valley Museums Group funded by a Reimagine Grant from the Art Fund, Borderlands Creative People and Place, Arts Council England and Tees Valley Combined Authority.

It begins its journey across Tees Valley at Kirkleatham Museum from 7th August until early 2026 after which time it will go on to tour to each of the partner museums;-

• Kirkleatham Museum
• Dorman Museum
• Hartlepool Museum
• Hopetown Museum
• Preston Park

Please visit this website for more information about visiting Kirkleatham Museum, including prices, opening times and access information.

The Creatives
Co-Creation Artists : Lucy Cassidy & Ella Deacy
Designers : Roma Patel & Rachel Clementine (Makers of Imaginary Worlds)
Senior Production Manager: Ali Rigby-Roberts
Sound Designer: Wayne Walker-Allen
Carpenter : Tom Williams
Creative Technologist: Matt Little
Seamstress: Debby Sturman
Builders & Makers:
iFabs Metal Fabrications
Bea Baldwin
Alex Ervin
Lauren Hanna
Adelle Iversen
Lorna Schuckert

Theatre Hullabaloo would like to thank John Beeley, Heather Minto and Ellen Bissell from Tees Valley Museums Group and to the staff at Kirkleatham Museum for their support of this project.

A huge thank you to the children and families of Grangetown Primary School and their wonderful teacher, Rosie O’Neill.