10 fun activities to add to your Augmented Reality trails

Check out these 10 fun activities you can add to your tours and trails on the Gamar platform. Each of these activities has a unique role to play in the trail; from getting people to observe objects and spaces around them more closely to simply encouraging a bit of creative fun.

1. Quizzes

An image quiz enables visitors to answer questions based on their environment and learn new information in the process. The Painting Trail in the Geffrye Museum contains several image quizzes that ask guests about the furniture or paintings in the room to encourage guests to interact with their environment.

Text quiz activity from the Paintings Trail at the Geffrye Museum, London

Quiz your guests on content that is in the description panels of your exhibit. The Lord Nelson trail in the National Maritime Museum quizzes guests on aspects of Lord Nelson’s life based on the paintings and the description panels. For example, there is a quiz that asks visitors to guess Lord Nelson’s height by carefully looking at his navy uniform on display. Giving your guests a multiple choice answer ensures that even if guests get the wrong answer at first, this will draw their attention to the correct answer and give them a memorable fact to take home.

I for one will never forget that Lord Nelson’s dog was named Nileus!

Text quiz from Legend of Nelson trail, National Maritime Museum

2. Comment

Encourage your guests to share their thoughts on your exhibit. Ask guests about information in your exhibit to quiz them and encourage them to search for facts. This will engage your guests in the content and inspire them to think further about their experience.

The Chocolate Museum asks guests about their chocolate tasting experience. This encourages guests to think about the subtle differences in the chocolates that they taste.

Comment activity from ChocoTale trail at the Chocolate Museum, London

3. Diorama

Let your guests create a collage of their favourite characters or content from your exhibit. The In the Night Garden trail at RHS Garden Wisley let visitors create scenes with their favourite characters. Although you can no longer play the trail in the RHS garden, it is still available on the Gamar app!

Diorama activity from ‘In the Night Garden’ trail, RHS Wisley gardens, UK

4. Scan for an Animation

With the Gamar platform, you can make an animation appear when guests scan a particular object. This is quite a powerful activity where you can reconstruct ancient historic sculptures, bring paintings to life, tell stories, or make sculptures talk. These animations can provide clues in a mystery tour or even let your guests unlock hidden secrets in your spaces. It is entirely up to your imagination.

‘In the Night Garden’ trail, RHS Wisley gardens, UK

5. Puzzle

Create a puzzle out of an image in order to allow guests to interact with a painting or artefact. You can decide the difficulty level of the puzzle by simply specifying whether it is 2x2 or 3x3 etc. The Paintings Trail in the Geffrye Museum takes a painting of a shattered vase and asks guests to put the vase back together.

Puzzle activity from ‘Paintings trail’ Geffrye Museum, London

6. Drawing Board

The drawing board inspires your visitors’ creativity. Draw guests’ attention to a specific object and ask them for their input. The Geffrye Museum shows guests an animated painting of a garden and then asks them to draw their ideal garden.

Drawing activity from a trail on the Gamar app

7. Photo

Allow your guests to take a picture of themselves with an animation or static image and share it on social media. Encourage your guests to tag your organisation to increase website traffic! The Florence Nightingale Museum allows visitors to take a photo with a traditional nursing outfit.

Photo activity from ‘Dive & Design’ game, V&A Museum, London

8. Decorate a 3D Object

Draw visitors attention to an object and allow them to decorate it themselves.

‘Decorate a 3D object’ activity from ‘Paintings trail’ at the Geffrye Museum, London

9. Musical Instrument

Add musical instruments along your trail to encourage guests to interact with your exhibit in innovative ways. Gamar partnered with In the Night Garden to create a trail with characters from the popular children’s television show. In the trail, kids are able to play several mini-games including an AR bubble popping game and a ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ piano tutorial.

Piano activity from ‘Paintings trail’, Geffrye Museum, London

10. Video and Audio Clips

An audio clip can allow guests to hear sound bytes of the individuals featured in your museum. The Florence Nightingale Museum has a clip of Florence Nightingale herself speaking to guests about her passion for helping others.

Add a short video to your trail to show your guests an engaging representation of a static object in your exhibit. The British Museum included video clips of animals in their Animals of Early Egypt trail to let guests see how these animals act in their natural habitats.

Video activity from ‘Animals of Early Egypt’, a game to be played in the Egyptian gallery, British Museum

There are several minigames that you can include in your trails and tours which can be made custom to your needs. The sky’s the limit.

Learn more about the Gamar platform here and find out your favourite ways to play!