Have you been, like me, on the fence about taking your young children to the art museum?
We are quite museum goers already but so far I have chosen only museums that are interactive or kid-friendly. From my experience, starting out with interactive science centres, toy museums or ones that provide hands-on activities is the ideal path to nurture your child’s love for the museum. After all, the most important thing for young children is to familiarise them with museums and make them see that museums are fun. Then, how about art museums? They are full of priceless artwork that are not to be touched, and the atmosphere is usually silent, almost solemn. Any mischief can have grave consequences.
Go during special events
Check the website of the art museum you’re planning to visit. Alone, I would prefer going during less crowded times, but a larger crowd would make the museum not so quiet nor intimidating for a child. Dare I say, they will somewhat mask your child’s misbehaviour and loudness. More importantly, during special events they usually have more fun activities in place, some aimed at families and children – so the visit will not just be a linear walk looking at rows and rows of artwork.
We went to the Städel Museum during their Open House event last weekend. The entrance was free, there were free guided tours every half an hour with different themes including ‘family tours’ which were aimed for children, and there were activity corners for children. Nina had the opportunity to create her own art with provided materials. Perfect!
Pep Talk
Talk to them before setting foot inside the museum. Remind them of these 3 important things: walking feet, inside voice, and do not touch or stand too close to the paintings. I feel like I had to remind Nina especially of the last point because we usually go to interactive museums where items that are not supposed to be touched are placed behind glass compartments. She’s not one to run around or scream inside a museum anyway, but I did remind her to speak a bit quietly just as we do in the library.
Move at your children’s pace
I know you would want to enjoy the artwork on display as well, cherish every detail and read the descriptions… but try to move at your children’s pace. Let them look at paintings that pique their interest and pass the ones they’re not interested in. If they want to circle back to a room you already explored to look at the same paintings again, let them. If they want to skip an entire room, follow them. Let them lead and enjoy the visit.
Note: some smaller paintings are hung too high for them to observe properly – I realised this when I was kneeling down next to Nina to talk about the paintings to her. I could barely see the painting high up there plus the glare from the lighting. So I carried her in my arms to look at these. She definitely looked at them more closely when she was actually able to look at them properly.
Open discussion about the artwork they’re interested in
Model to them that you are there to savour the art, not just glance past it. Point out interesting bits, open discussions about the artwork they’re looking at… oh, what is that lady wearing? Do you see the dog in that corner? Oh, I like this one a lot because…. They will soon start asking questions and uttering their own opinions in no time. Nina did ask a lot of questions and make some brutally honest comments about the paintings….
Keep them close and keep an eye on them
Nina is quite a well-behaved girl but with all these priceless artwork around us, let’s not risk it. Curiosity can get the best of them and make them touch something. Accidents can happen. Have you seen those viral videos where kids trip and break priceless artwork? That would be a nightmare! Not to mention it would be a surefire way to traumatise them into never stepping into a museum again. Just… play it safe.
Quit when you’re winning
End the visit as soon as your child loses interest in looking at more artwork.