6 Ways to Engage Kids at Museums

Going to museums can be a great opportunity for your kids to be exposed to a wide variety of environments and items that they otherwise would not get to experience, often, kids get overloaded or easily distracted.

Ways to Engage Kids at Museum Visits

Here are some great tips or activities that you can do with your kids to help keep them engaged while they are exploring museums and exhibits. 1. Ask your kids to put themselves into the scene at the exhibit they are visiting and interview them – bring a microphone for a fun prop. 2. Help your child learn to observe by playing I-Spy when you get to an exhibit. This is a great way to keep your child's brain engaged while taking a breather and sitting before walking around again. 3. If it is a smaller museum, go through the museum a couple of times, each time focus on a different thing (i.e. look for facts about the era or geographical region the first time, next time read the cards and learn about the objects, next time look at the context – why are the various displays in the order they are in??, etc.) 4. Dress up in character with the exhibit. If your child is older, consider encouraging them to do research prior to their trip and to give a speech to a visitor to the exhibit about what they are seeing. 5. Be sure to ask questions to the tour guides. If your child is able to write, give them a 3×5 card and encourage them to write their question down. Most museum curators love to read and get responses from the kids! 6. Play Speed See – This game works great for paintings or other static displays. Turn on the timer for 30 seconds. When the timer goes ding, turn away from the display and try to describe to the other person all the things you saw.