Relaxed Opening @ The National Museum of Computing, Milton Keynes

Join us for a Relaxed Opening of The National Museum of Computing for families and individuals who require a quieter and calmer environment to experience our Museum.

This sensory-friendly event provides a way to explore and enjoy TNMOC outside of general opening hours. The event is suitable for individuals or families with members who have sensory processing differences, autistic spectrum conditions or other sensory needs.

The recommended time to see the exhibitions is approximately two hours, but this varies from visitor to visitor.

Special adjustments will include:

• Fewer tickets are available, so the galleries will be less busy than usual
• A small Quiet Room will be available in our Library, near the Museum exit
• You can download a Sensory Map from our Accesibility webpage
• A print copy of the Sensory Map will be available onsite during the Relaxed Opening. Please ask a member of staff at the ticketing desk for a copy

What visitors say about our Relaxed Openings:

“A huge thank you for organising the relaxed session. It makes a huge difference to families like mine to be able to get out.”

Our boys both loved it… Ordinarily, after a few hours one son is on edge, on the verge of overload. They say living with autism is like living life in a disco … I want to comment about your staff, … They were utterly brilliant. Patient, understanding, and tremendously knowledgeable, they explained things in such an accessible way, that there was always someone available.”

Activities on the day:

Self-Guided Museum Explorations:

Our ticketing desk give you all the important information about the self-guided explorations available at TNMOC. Some trails are digital (please bring your own device), and some are paper-based. Trails offered at the Museum are:

• Robot Rescue! (6-10 years) – Explore the Museum and find all our mini-bots before their batteries run out and they’re lost forever! Grab a worksheet to record all of the mini-bot locations and fill in the missing words to identify a secret message which can only be deciphered using our Enigma machine!
• Treasure Hunt (6+ years) – Become a geo-cacher using the Adventure Lab app and hunt for treasure boxes around the Museum. Decode our computer-related ding-bats to find the missing letters that form an anagram and win a small prize in our shop.
• Codename: Cipher [Enigma & The Bombe] – The year is 1940 and you have been invited to Bletchley Park to assist in the war effort. Your first assignment is to catch the undercover spy operating out of the UK known only as Codename Cipher.
• Internet Explorers – Are you ready to become an Internet explorer? Delve into the evolution of networked communication and connect with the history of how the Internet revolutionised communication and interaction.
• Women in Computing – Discover the inspirational achievements of past and present women in computing and explore their impact on the industry.