Taking the Kids™
Making Museum Going Fun
Thank goodness for the rain. Thunderstorms are even better.
They’re the perfect opportunity to hit a museum on vacation or at home.
The kids are already groaning at the mere mention of museum? I hear that in my house too. Don’t give up. They’ll change their tune when they see how many cool activities museums have for kids and their parents this summer from Washington DC to California. Here’s how to make museum-going fun for your gang. Hopefully, they’ll learn something along the way.
- THINK HANDS-ON and go to the Association of Science-Technology Centers’ website at www.ASTC.org to link to hundreds of science and children’s museums around the country. Buy a family membership to your local museum (averaging $75 or less for the year) and visit some 250 other major science and children’s museums free. For links to art museums, go to the Art Museum Network at www.amn.com, the official website of the world’s leading art museums. Look for special family programs and children’s activity rooms. Even the Smithsonian in Washington has them.
- TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR of the museum you’re going to visit so the kids can scope out the exhibits they’d most like to see. Browsing the museum’s website - often there are areas just for kids - should rev up their enthusiasm for a visit.
- STOP AT THE ART MUSEUM GIFTSHOP when you arrive and buy postcards of the “must see” sculptures and paintings. Have a scavenger hunt to “find” the art in the museum.
- LET THE KIDS LEAD and follow them to exhibits and areas of the museum that excite them whether dinosaur bones, modern art or mummies.
- DON’T TRY TO SEE IT ALL especially with younger children. They won’t want to move from the children’s area anyway. Tour one exhibit or two and when the kids’ interest flags, leave, even if you’ve only lasted an hour.
There will always be another rainy day.
By: Eileen Ogintz
