5 Ideas for making excursions to museums or historical sites more fun for kids:
1. Realize that you may need to spend just a short time in each area. If your child seems interested stay longer, if not move on quickly.
2. Before you go, make a list of things for the children to look for (number of steps, the colors in a specific painting, number of clocks, etc.). Then they will be challenged to find all the answers.
3. Choose places to visit that have a child’s room and have them compare it to their room.
4. Be sure to get a brochure of the site or museum you visit and when you get home, make a game similar to Monopoly. Create a simple game board by cutting out pictures and gluing them on paper. You could also play a guessing game like “I’m thinking of….” If you have two brochures you can cut out duplicate pictures and make a matching game.
5. Take a photo of you and your child, glue on a paper and each of you write about the visit. You could put it in an inexpensive frame as a keepsake.
Great tips on visiting a museum. I recently took one of my grandsons to a museum of natural history for children. We had a great time and it was fun to see what peaked his interest. Another tip is to talk about the gift shop before the trip. They seem to always place the gift shop so that you have to exit through them. Decide ahead of time if you plan to do any shopping there? If so, what will the budget be? Might save the child some frustration and grandma some cash!
You’re right about the gift shop that is important to decide ahead of time. I have told my grandkids that I would take them to the dollar store and they could chose something but when they see the things in the gift shop they always ask me to buy them something there. If you have decided ahead of time it makes things easier.
Besides the gift shop, it’s best to have a strategy for lunch. If the museum has a restaurant, that’s easiest, but you can save money by packing a lunch and eating it outdoors. Lots of museums have beautiful grounds.
Your museum tips are excellent! I have a few more here:
http://grandparents.about.com/od/hintsforawayfromhom1/a/museums.htm