Our kids devour museums. When we enter a new city, they always ask what museums are available and how many we have time for. I know not all kids share this museum madness, here are some tips to help foster that museum-love in your family.
Most kids don’t want their vacation to feel too much like school. This is why museums sometimes get a thumbs down from kids. As parents we’ve neither pushed nor tried to disguise the educational aspect of a museum.
Hit their high interest areas. Our oldest loves any museum with art or astronomy, middle–anything dead or science, youngest–anything live or kid-friendly.
Split up. Some days our younger two need down time. On those days one of the parents will go to an art museum with our oldest. The younger two will go to some art museums, but it doesn’t sing to them the way it does our oldest. For her to take her time and enjoy the museum to the fullest, we take her alone and let her immerse in the art at her leisure.
Don’t overdue it. Children have limited energy and attention span in one day. Hit the most interesting exhibits when they are fresh, and work your way down in order of what you want to see.
Let Go of the idea that you will see everything. Focus on what you did see rather than what you didn’t. This is more
difficult for some type A personalities, speaking from experience, of course.
Take a break and come back. On occasion we have gone out for food and a power snooze. Or go outside and run some stairs, race up and down some ramps, you’ll feel better and so will your kid.
Break rules, but only the little ones. We are snack sneakers. When we are feeling hungry and there is no food readily
available, we sneak gummy bears into our mouths, or lifesavers or raisinets. We once dropped a gummy at the feet of a room guard, she winked and turned the other way while we scrambled to pick it up.
Get out when the going is good. This is connected closely to don’t overdue it. Having exhausted, overly tired kids will not foster their love of anything. So hit the highlights and leave before blisters form, the tired sibling bickering starts, and you can get to food before low blood-sugar insanity sets in (that one is for me).
Don’t over process the experience when it’s done. Our kids dislike that immensely. They say it’s a poorly veiled attempt at making everything educational, such a crime. So we don’t usually regurgitate the day for their benefit. Ironically it doesn’t stop them from doing it anyway, without our prodding. They talk about the most fascinating parts for them, ask more questions, make the rest of us rank the best and lamest exhibits, and discuss the many new pieces of this world they “didn’t” just learn about.
If your kids don’t like museums, chances are you haven’t been going to the good ones. Interactive museums capture kid’s imagination more than those that focus on observation. Even museums which aren’t largely interactive will often have a small section tucked somewhere in the basement for kids–you just have to find it. Most modern museums have gotten the message and are implementing as many interactive exhibits as possible in various creative
ways. We have found that Children’s Museums have the most interactive exhibits, followed closely by Science
Museums for older kids which often include robotics labs. Space Centers will keep the entire family fascinated.
With some careful selection of good museums, not over-hammering the educational aspect, keeping it fun, leaving
before exhaustion, will have your kids craving the museum experience instead of dreading it.