Can we make visits to the art museum fun for young children? I think so. I take Maia to the North Carolina Museum of Art every time we visit Raleigh. It’s a low-key, small-city museum close to my in-laws home and it’s free, which means I can show up with Maia, walk through a few galleries, ride up and down the elevator a few times, talk about the colors and subjects about a couple of paintings, and walk out after an hour. If there were a kid-friendly and inexpensive café or cafeteria in which to have a snack or treat, we could probably even stretch the visit out to an hour an a half or so. But there isn’t, so we don’t.
Most art museums are not free, but if I still lived in Boston, or some other city with a variety of great art museums, I’d probably become a member of one or two favorites so I could do the same thing with my daughter—waltz in and out in under an hour if need be, both to get my art fix and to share beautiful and thought-provoking art with her—without worrying about trying to get the most out of my $10 admission fee. Five hour museum visits are a thing of the past for me, at least at the moment. Art museums and toddler tantrums are not a happy combination for anyone.
I’ll share with you my tips for a successful museum visit with toddlers or preschoolers. I’m still working it out myself, and definitely welcome tips that any of you might have! And, of course, I can’t guarantee success every time. In fact, our visit this weekend to the NC Museum of Art will not go down on the list of best museum trips ever. It was only saved because my husband took Maia to the interactive children’s education room, and with the infinite patience he has for her, proceeded to turn tears to laughter and fun while I browsed the new exhibit of modern art and checked out the children’s book section of the museum store.
With a little effort, your trips to the art museum can be magical rather than a chore for your child, and possibly even ignite their own love of art. Frankly, at this age, art is probably a lot more fun to MAKE than to LOOK AT. But if you keep the trip short and exciting, with liberal breaks at the café and museum store, and balance the day with some outdoor time at a playground or park to get the wiggles out, then you are well on your way to a successful museum visit.
So here are my tips. Adjust them as necessary for your family. I wish you many happy visits to your favorite art museums…
1. Above all, keep the visit short. The actual time will probably depend on your child and the day. For a toddler, an hour is probably enough. An hour and a half is my daughter’s absolute max. A preschooler might be able to do two hours (I’m just guessing, we’re not there yet. Any thoughts from experienced museum-goer parents of young children?).
2. Choose the most interesting art to visit and look at—whether the big, bold Jackson Pollack, or the sculpture garden, or the surreal Time Transfixed by René Magritte, of a train popping through a fireplace. The art you see may or may not be your favorite. Or at least intersperse your favorites with the toddler-pleasers.
3. Talk about the interesting, fun, or funny aspects of the piece of art. Rather than spend 10 minutes in mute admiration in front of a painting (as I have been known to do), look for something to discuss with your child. Forget about Art History 101 for now and just talk about the train in the fireplace, the colors, the animals in the picture, or the man’s long mustache.
4. Take a break! After 30-45 minutes of exploring the museums collection, take a break. If the museum has a kid-friendly café or cafeteria, have a snack or a special treat. Personally, I’m trying to get Maia hooked on museums so that she will willingly come with me for the rest of her life, and I’m not above a little bribery. So I am trying to engage all the senses, including taste and smell, to create a memorable experience. If there isn’t a café, then consider having a snack near the museum’s entrance or even just riding up and down in the elevators for a few minutes if that’s what’ll make your child happy.
5. You can look at more art after the café break, but keep it short.
6. Stop at the museum shop to buy a book, poster, or a postcard for your child to take home.
7. Then leave the museum while you’re both still in a good mood! You can talk about the visit afterwards when you hang the poster or read your new book that evening, but keep it light. The point is to make the museum trip fun so they want to go back.
David said
I am surprised to hear you call the museum so quaint. I have traveled around the world, and while NCMA is no Met, it is a great Museum and a wonderful asset to Raleigh. If you come back to Raleigh in the summer, there is a beautiful walk through the woods behind the museum and its filled with art by local and international artists.
mjm said
if you did live in boston, there are always the free passes at the library you can borrow..for those who are cheap like me…
jvanthul said
When I said low-key, I meant that as an asset, especially as a parent visiting with a 2 1/2 year old! I think that the NCMA is a great place and I visit regularly. -Jean
molly said
We are fortunate to live in the DC area and have access to the Smithsonian, National Gallery, etc. Coincidentally, we just took our two little ones (2 and 6 mos) over the weekend to the National Gallery and had a fabulous time. The NG isn’t particularly accessible — old building, lots of steps if you have a stroller (though there are elevators), can’t carry a baby on your back — but there is SO much to see. Our 2 year old got a kick out of explainging what was happening in the various pictures, her descriptions were priceless. You make good points about keeping it short and hitting the cafe…mmm gelato. Thanks!
Lyric said
I’m just too cranky to even try taking toddlers to “quiet” places any more. I do however have a lot of fun once they get to preschool or above. We play the memory game where they will look at a painting while I count to 20 then turn around and try to answer questions like “what was on the table behind the lady?” or “what color is her umbrella.”
There is also the alphabet game for 5-6yr olds where we have to find a depiction of something starting with the letter A, then B and so on. We got stuck forever at G in the Chicago Art museum once.
It is also great fun to find a children’s book in the library about a particular artist or style to read at home before we go. The guard burst out laughing when my four year old shouted “hey, that’s pointillism” in front of a giant Seurat. We had made finger dot pointillist paintings at home that week.
I know what you mean about “my” own NC art museum being low key. It’s a very fine museum but I’m not quite as freaked out about my little ones behavior as I was at the National Gallery. The last time I was there I had a nursing infant and sat for half an hour discreetly nursing him on the couch in the Monet gallery.
Lucia said
Another great list of tips…thanks for starting this blog. My parents are both artists so I spent a lot of time in museums and galleries when I was growing up. It wasn’t always easy to be in quiet spaces when we were younger, but I still have very vivid memories of some amazing works of art and trips we took specifically to see special exhibits. I am so grateful that my parents surrounded us by a diverse range of art at an early age. We are now trying to do the same thing with our kids. One thing that my parents always encouraged us to do was bring a small sketchbook with us on museum trips…we’d find a quiet corner or garden and draw when we got tired of looking. My sister took her first steps in the Louvre…pretty memorable museum experience. And thanks for the tip on the museum in Raleigh we’ll check it out when we are there next time. Attending local “art walks” is another fun way to expose kids to art…usually live music, food, street performances, etc.
sigrid said
Museums can be so much fun. When I go with my son (5), I also play some little games with him, like find the bluest blue or which painting has someone sad on it or find the red dress… that keeps him busy while at the same time has him experience and perceive the works. We live in Europe and went to basque country last summer and of course had to go see the Guggenheim Bilbao. The huge Richard Serra installation were very exciting. We walked thru them making funny noises. The sound waves were pretty impressive. OK, the warden made us stop, but boy, was it fun!
Museum Blogging » 10 tips for visiting museums with girls said
[...] How to Make a Trip to the Art Museum FUN for Your Child, from The Artful Parent [...]
LInda Frost said
our child has been going to art museum since age four and she is a regular now. we started at age four because i didn’t have the energy to watch her like a hawk to assure she didn’t touch the pieces…so earlier would not have worked for me, i do this alone. now she has favorites.
things that work for us
1. take visiting family members or little friends so she can show them her favorites. she enjoys this immensely and makes her the expert sort of on the museum. shakes up the regular tradition too
2. we typically only stayed about 20-30 min at that start. with respect, I don’t think toddlers last longer than 10-15 minutes at a time. but it’s STILL WORTH it in that they get familiar with it and because of my personal exposures to art as a child I am 100% convinced they retain the images in mind etc.
now we are up to 30-40 min
all of this so SO worth it to work through as they get older and more able to stay longer
3. if cannot be a good art patron, we leave. period. need to learn it is not acceptable to yell run etc in a loving but firm interaction with parent. this is also why “free” is so helpful
4. we attend evening events also like the Chinese new Year event but there were a lot of kids and people in general so next time i might put her on leash. I know some think this is horrible but in crowds like that..it may be required. at least in open spaces.
that’s all I can think of. you know we also go to free music performaces. her first was at age 1.5 years old. she only lasted 10 minutes. she still danced out in the lobby to the violin music. it is WELL worth the trouble for this exposore to live music at young age. ditto for art.
Looking at Art | wool & flax said
[...] about some of the artists or eras that you’ll see. Jean at The Artful Parent has more tips on bringing a preschooler to a museum. We’ve brought our boys to our local museum a couple times, and it was very fun. We always [...]