by Maria C Collins

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: December 10, 2009

 Art galleries and museums can give education and pleasure, both to children and the adults who accompany them. Even if you have visited a museum or art gallery many times before, seeing the exhibits through the eyes of a child will gladden your heart and open your mind. There is so much culture and educational value in museums and art galleries. Children can find them very interesting, but in the past many children were put off for life by the wrong introduction to these storehouses of knowledge.

Museums used to be dark, dusty, stuffy places with many exhibits shut away in untouchable glass cases. Many museums these days are bright and designed to appeal to children. They have exhibits which one can touch and interact with, indeed in the Science Museum in London there are two age related rooms which contain play equipment designed to prove simple scientific facts. Art galleries can be interesting to some children but they can also be boring if not introduced in a thoughtful way. It may be wise to do some preparatory activities with the child before a visit to an art gallery or museum.

There are a few things to consider before launching out on a visit to either an art gallery or a museum. Children's attention spans are short and they have a low boredom threshold so it pays to know the child, bearing in mind its age, and its particular interests well. An all-day visit to a museum is probably too much at first. A child who is mad about dinosaurs will probably enjoy a visit to a Natural History museum, which has a good display of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.

Always remember that what fascinates you may not engage a child's attention. It is surprising what children find enthralling. I remember visiting the space gallery of the Science museum in London. There were many exciting and amazing exhibits in the gallery, space craft, moon landing craft, space suits all manner of articles to do with space exploration, as one would expect. The gallery was deserted except for around 25 small schoolboys, probably about 6 or 7 years old, gathered around the exhibit showing the astronauts' toilet excitedly firing questions at their teacher.

Pick your museum well, one with interactive exhibits and things children can touch. It is one thing to read about and look at the different rocks from which the earth is made, it is another thing entirely actually to touch those rocks and feel the differences between them.

Folk museums are another great idea, if there is one

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