April 10, 2007

Museum Mile

Ready to test drive a museum trip with a toddler? First visits can leave you and your child tired, cranky and determined never to look at art, stuffed rhinos or giant spacecrafts again. But with a bit of planning, the experience can be a great reward. Below are some tips from the brains behind the children's programs at MoMA, The Met, The American Museum of Natural History and The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on tackling a museum outing with kids in tow:

Timing: Call to find out when the museum is at its quietest and least crowded. Gangs of school kids can be distracting and frightening to a young child.

Prep Talk: Discuss ahead of time what a museum is and what kind of things your child will see. Perhaps check out a book or a Website with a painting or a rocket you will be able to show him in real life. Recognizing something he has seen before gives a child a sense of familiarity and confidence. Finally, explain the rules of museum behavior ("indoor voices," no running, do not touch the artwork or wander off) before you leave. Invoke the terrors of Night at the Museum if necessary.

Location: Get a map and figure out – before you venture into the wilds of an exhibit – where the bathrooms are and where you can refuel over lunch or a snack.

Guiding Light: Ask at the front desk if there are special guides or audiotapes designed for children and families. A little advice as to what may appeal to young ones takes the pressure off you to explain cubism, gravity or the bloodthirstiness of the animal food chain in ten words or less.

Pick a Color: Upon entering a gallery, make up games like finding a certain animal in a picture, or looking for any artwork with the color red. Ask what your child thinks the story is behind his favorite painting, or what a subject might be feeling and why.

Changing Gear: Slough off coats and anything else you can live without at the coat check, and ask if the museum either rents or lends out umbrella strollers or backpacks.

Big is Beautiful: You may be looking forward to studying the minute detail of a particular Flemish painting, but your child is likely to be more interested in the big stuff. Allow time for her to take in the sheer grandeur and size of the entrance hall. If the atmosphere of the museum space itself or the sheer scale of, say, a mammoth blue whale or an Egyptian temple is what impresses her the first time, chances are she'll want to come back. And that kind enthusiasm is precisely what you're after.

Life Imitates Art: If your kid is interested in drawing, bring along a sketchpad and pencil (most museums have strict rules about pens and paint). Then sit on a bench in front of a painting she likes and let her draw it. Make a big deal of the finished piece by framing it at home – nothing complicated or expensive, just a piece of paper that sets it off – and start a home museum.

Happy Endings: Know when to call it a day. Even with frequent rests and visits to the cafeteria, most children can only take 45 to 90 minutes in a museum, depending on their age. What they will remember is how they felt when they left – and hopefully will look forward to the next visit.

Monday's UrbanBaby Daily: Tie One On

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