Stories to inspire: Imperial War Museum North hosts a half term filled with fascinating family fun

Throughout the October half term, IWM North is hosting a wildly entertaining range of free family activities, from live performances and design studios to camouflage camps and adventure missions.

Story Seekers: Camouflage & Disguise deploys visitors on special missions to seek out objects focused on illusion and deceit within the museum’s Main Exhibition Space. After gathering deep intel and finding all the Story Seekers trail objects, successful agents get a special Camouflage Unit badge to take home.

The Camouflage Unit (22-28 Oct) – an acting team of expert illusionists and creative designers – host a camp teaching the expertise in deception and visual trickery that was utilised in North Africa during the Second World War. Guests can try out code-breaking, sample desert disguises and discover how mirrors were used during 1942’s Operation Bertram. Produced in collaboration with immersive theatre company Tea Dance For Little People, families will assist the team in creating models before embarking on deception operations used in the Battle of El-Alamein.

Elsewhere, families can drop into the Dazzle Design Studio, which explores the experimental camouflage artwork of Norman Wilkinson, whose bold ‘Dazzle’ patterns allowed the Royal Navy to conceal entire battleships from the enemy. In the Dazzle Design Hub, visitors can create their own disorientating concealment patterns before testing their optical illusions through a ‘high-seas telescope’.

We Were There (25-27 Oct) is a stunningly poignant series of family days in which visitors can meet IWM North’s Veterans. Located throughout the museum, IWM’s esteemed guests are on hand to recount vivid, moving first-hand recollections of war – from driving tanks to evacuations – and offer profound insight into its impact on the lives of those who survived it.

Finally, if you can’t visit during October half-term, IWM North’s Story Seekers series runs every weekend throughout the year, calling on prospective adventurers to engage their superior imaginations..

For more information on the incredible array of events at IWM this October, click here.