Years
EY, R, 1, 2
Paid

Communication: Now and Then

Experiences

Communication: Now and Then

Suitable for Early Years, R, 1, 2

Humans communicate constantly through speech, action and body language, but also technology. Explore the history of communication in this play-based learning experience. Students will learn about how communication occurred long ago and how it developed into what we know today. They will then ponder what might come next.

Book your Museum in a Box

Booking Information

Cost:

  • $80
  • $55 equity pricing*

*Equity pricing is available for rural, remote, and government category 1-4 schools.

Loan Period

Three weeks, including transport time.

Collection

Schools can arrange to collect and return kits to the following locations:

  • Migration Museum, 82 Kintore Ave, Adelaide, 5000. Collection hours 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday & Sunday.
  • Level 2 Security House, 233 North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000. Collection hours 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

Please indicate on the booking form if you would prefer to pick-up or return the kit on a weekend, we will try accommodate this request where possible.

Delivery

Schools may choose to organise a courier, at their own expense, to pick-up and return kits. Couriers can collect and return kits to the following address:

  • Level 2 Security House, 233 North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000. Opening Hours 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

If you are regional or remote school please indicate on the booking form if you would like us to help arrange delivery via Australia Post.

Payment

An invoice will be generated upon the return of the Museum in a Box kit.

Cancellations & Late fees

Cancellations must be made three weeks before your booking start date; cancellations after this period may incur the full cost of hire.  In the case of late returns, we may charge a late fee of up to $80.

Return Process

Museum in a Box kits must be returned as near as possible to the condition they were sent out in, and in accordance with the return information provided in your booking. Excessive disorder may incur an additional administration cost. Some general wear and tear is expected; however, we will ask borrowers to cover the costs of replacing lost or damaged items.

Availability 2025

Please note that the table is indicative only and that there be a delay in displaying available dates.

Term 3
Weeks 1 to 3 Monday 21 July to Friday 8 August Booked
Weeks 4 to 6 Monday 11 August to Friday 29 August Booked
Weeks 7 to 9 Monday 1 September to Friday 19 September Available
Term 4
Weeks 1 to 3 Monday 13 October to Friday 31 October Available
Weeks 4 to 6 Monday 3 November to Friday 21 November Available
Weeks 7 to 9 Monday 24 November to Friday 12 December Available

Availability 2026

Please note that the table is indicative only and that there be a delay in displaying available dates.

Term 1
Weeks 2 to 4 Monday 2 February to Friday 20 February Available
Weeks 5 to 7 Monday 23 February to Friday 13 March Available
Weeks 8 to 10 Monday 16 March to Friday 3 April Available
Term 2
Weeks 1 to 3 Monday 27 April to Friday 15 May Available
Weeks 4 to 6 Monday 18 May to Friday 5 June Available
Weeks 7 to 9 Monday 8 June to Friday 26 June Available
Term 3
Weeks 1 to 3 Monday 20 July to Friday 7 August Available
Weeks 4 to 6 Monday 10 August to Friday 28 August Available
Weeks 7 to 9 Monday 31 August to Friday 18 September Available
Term 4
Weeks 1 to 3 Monday 12 October to Friday 30 October Available
Weeks 4 to 6 Monday 2 November to Friday 20 November Available
Weeks 7 to 9 Monday 23 November to Friday 11 December Available

About Museum in a Box

Museum in a Box is brought to you by the History Trust of South Australia with generous support from the Thyne Reid Foundation. Each box takes a curriculum-aligned approach to exploring the history of South Australia. Museum in Box brings history to life by providing opportunities for students to interact with objects from the past and discover their stories.

Curriculum v8.4

Early Years

OUTCOME 4: CHILDREN ARE CONFIDENT AND INVOLVED LEARNERS

  • Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.
  • Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating
  • Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

OUTCOME 5: CHILDREN ARE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS

  • Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts.
  • Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.
  • Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.
  • Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking.

Reception

HASS Inquiry Questions:

  • What is my history and how do I know?
  • What stories do other people tell about the past?
  • How can stories of the past be told and shared?

HASS CONTENT DESCRIPTORS

  • ACHASSK013 How the stories of families and the past can be communicated, for example, through photographs, artefacts, books, oral histories, digital media and museums.

Year 1

HASS Inquiry Questions:

  • How has family life changed or remained the same over time?
  • How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past?
  • How do we describe the sequence of time?

HASS CONTENT DESCRIPTORS

  • ACHASSK030 Differences and similarities between students’ daily lives and life during their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods.

Year 2

HASS Inquiry Questions:

  • What aspects of the past can you see today? What do they tell us?
  • What remains of the past are important to the local community? Why?
  • How have changes in technology shaped our daily life?

HASS CONTENT DESCRIPTORS

  • ACHASSK046 How changing technology affected people’s lives (at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past).

Curriculum v9.0

Early Years

OUTCOME 4: CHILDREN ARE CONFIDENT AND INVOLVED LEARNERS

  • Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.
  • Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating
  • Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

OUTCOME 5: CHILDREN ARE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS

  • Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts.
  • Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.
  • Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.
  • Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking.

Reception

HASS Focus:

  • My personal world.

HASS Content descriptors

  • AC9HSFS01 Pose questions about familiar objects, people, places and events.
  • AC9HSFS02 Sort and record information including pictorial timelines and locations on pictorial maps or models. 
  • AC9HSFS05 Share narratives and observations, using sources and terms about the past and places.

Year 1

HASS Focus

  • How is my world different from the past and how can it change in the future?

HASS Content descriptors

  • AC9HS1K02 Continuity and change between aspects of their daily lives and their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods. 
  • AC9HS1S03 Interpret information and data from observations and provided sources, including the comparison of objects from the past and present. 
  • AC9HS1S04 Discuss perspectives related to objects, people, places and events. 

Year 2

Focus

  • Past and present connections to people and places.

HASS Content descriptors

  • AC9HS2K02 How technological developments changed people’s lives at home, and in the ways they worked, travelled and communicated. 
  • AC9HS2S03 Interpret information and data from observations and provided sources, including the comparison of objects from the past and present. 
  • AC9HS2S04 Discuss perspectives related to objects, people, places and events.

What are you looking for?