taking kids to museums

In school, I had a required course simply called "The Museum." One of the big topics of discussion in that class was that of kids in museums. It's something that many museums struggle with, actually. We certainly want our children to be exposed to art, but often the expense of kids' volume and energy is too much. While there are great kid-centered museums out there (try the City Museum if you're ever in St. Louis), restricting parents to kid-centered museums seems a bit unfair and, well, restricting.

The Washington Post today offers a great list of tips for taking your kids to a museum, specifically modern art centers such as the Whitney, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. These are simple and easy, covering topics such as when to go, what to bring, and what to do. Personally, having been a museum-visiting kid once myself, I appreciate number 6, "Feed the beast," and number 7, "Make gravity your friend," although number 4, the tip about activities (Try visual scavenger hunts, remembering that directions like "point out paintings that are mostly blue" will work better than "find a postmodernist commentary on anomie.") is good, too.

Check it out!

Photo from Kids in Museums which, incidentally, is a fantastic movement in Britain to make the country's museums more kid-friendly.