We have a range of exhibitions, drop-in activities and exciting events that take place in the museum and gardens.
Events and Activities
The Potters of Harlow – Sat 19 Sept 2026
11 – 4pm
Celebrate Heritage Open Day with us and discover local pottery history! We’re thrilled to welcome heritage potter Jim Newboult, who brings his potter’s wheel and 30 years of replica-making experience to Harlow Museum. Watch Jim throw replica Metropolitan Ware pots live and learn all about the unique features of this craft.
Handling Station: Get up close with history, discover rare pieces of Metropolitan Ware from our stores that are not currently on general display.
Hands-on Crafting: Shape your own air-dry clay pinch pots to take home or decorate a biscuit using traditional Metropolitan Ware patterns.
Cake Stall: Enjoy a selection of delicious homemade cakes, muffins and cookies. All proceeds support the ongoing conservation of our museum artefacts.
Harlow Civic Society: Browse a fantastic selection of pre-loved titles at their second-hand book stall.
Free entry (Heritage Open Day event) | Drop in | For all ages
Please bring cash for the stalls, and consider walking or using public transport as parking is limited.
Home Education Roman Afternoon
Thursday 24th September | 1 – 3pm
A session designed for Home Educators aged 7+ (and their siblings), focussed on learning about the Roman period in Harlow.
A range of activities related to the Roman period will be available to experience. Children can have a go at roman mosaics, making a votive offering from clay, handling real and replica roman artefacts and playing a roman focused board game. Older children may be interested in Roman coins and the many excavations of Roman sites in Harlow over the years.
Younger siblings are welcome to attend but the content will be aimed at 7+.
You need to purchase 1 ticket / child of 7 and above. If you are only bringing children under the age of 7 you need to purchase at least one ticket to book your place. Tickerts are £4.25 / child. The session will run from 1 – 3pm but you can leave earlier if you need to.
Celebrate Lady Patricia Gibberd’s 100th Birthday!
Saturday 17th October Saturday, 17th October | 10.30am – 2pm
Lady Patricia Gibberd would have been born on this day 100 years ago. Her passion for the arts helped build Harlow’s impressive sculpture collection. To celebrate, come and make a pop-up card inspired by sculpture.
Free, drop-in. Suitable for all ages – young and old.
Kids Take Over the Museum – Saturday 21st November
11am – 2pm
Are you aged 5 – 18? Do you have a collection that you would like to exhibit in public? For one day only kids are taking over Harlow Museum’s galleries with their own collections. Come and view their displays and meet the collectors.
If you have a collection that you would like included in the exhibition, please email annalise.taylor@harlow.gov.uk (or get your adult to do so on your behalf)
Free, drop-in. Suitable for all ages – young and old.
Exhibitions
Puzzles, Pedals and Play
Museum at Home
If you’ve enjoyed your visit to the museum why not download one of our free printable activity sheets you can do at home.
Make Your Own Pin Hole Camera
In the 16th century, some artists used a ‘camera obscura’ (Italian, meaning ‘dark room’) with a small opening, and later a lens which would project an image of the brightly lit outside scene into the camera. A pinhole camera uses this same principle on a much smaller scale, ask for a work sheet if you are interested in making one at home.
Download here
Binary Code Challenge
Decode a message written in Binary code, and even write your own coded message. Binary code is how computers use and transfer data. Invented in 1689 by Gottfried Leibniz, it is still essential to programming today.
Download here
Make Your Own Telephone
Make a simple telephone and communicate using vocal vibrations.
Download here
Be a Digital Camera
Did you know that digital photographs are made up of coloured pixels, and the colours that they are are coded in binary? Use binary code to colour the pixels in the image, what do you see when you have finished? could you make your own pixel image?
Download here
Make a Movie
Enjoy watching your own moving image by making a zoetrope, experiment with your own image ideas.
Download here