Enhancing Visits to a Children's Museum
Getting the Most out of Interactive Learning Opportunities for Kids
Most large cities in the U.S. have a children’s museum. Children’s museums are great places to go for educational fun, regardless of the weather. Memories can be made and lessons can be learned by children of all ages at interactive museums that make learning fun for kids.
Although a visit to a children’s museum can be fun and profitable without giving it any real thought, there are easy ways to enhance visits to children’s museums.
What to Do Before Visiting a Children’s Museums
Call the children’s museum or visit the website before going to find out the museum’s current exhibits. Many museums have traveling exhibits, so even if a museum has been visited before, it’s a good idea to find out ahead of time what exhibits are available.
Armed with the knowledge of current museum exhibits, check out books from the library and begin reading on the exhibit topics ahead of time. Children get excited when they see things they have read about in the previous week and will also retain more that was observed and experienced at the museum when they already have an educational foundation.
If the museum is large and there are numerous exhibits, ask the child ahead of time which exhibits he is interested in and plan accordingly. For example, on one visit the focus may be on the children’s museum of art and on another visit the focus may be on learning science.
Be sure to find out the dates of traveling exhibits and make a point of visiting those exhibits before they are no longer available.
What to do During a Visit to a Children’s Museum
When buying tickets, ask if family memberships are available. Museum memberships tend to pay off if a museum is visited even two or three times in a year. Memberships provide great opportunities for inexpensive family fun in the future and also allow patrons to get in on all the traveling exhibits. Many museums allow a membership to be purchased after patrons have had a chance to spend some time in the museum to check it out, crediting that day’s admission fees to apply toward the membership.
The ticket counter is also a great place to ask if there are any handouts or information that can enhance the visit to the museum. For some museums provide scavenger hunts for children.
Don’t just silently walk though the children’s museum. Engage the children in conversations about what they are doing and seeing. Ask them though age appropriate thought-provoking questions. Bring along notepads and crayons and colored pencils and give kids a chance to sketch some of the exhibits they see. It's a great idea to take photos of the children enjoying the fun learning experiences as well. Also, take pictures of any interesting exhibits if photography is allowed in the museum.
What to Do After a Visit to a Children’s Museum
Ask the children what their favorite thing was about the museum. If there seems to be great interest in a particular exhibit, follow up on it by checking out more books from the library, investing in kits and projects related to the area of interest and so on.
Give kids ample opportunities to share about the visit to the children’s museum to others. For instance, if just Mom and the kids went to the museum, be sure the kids have a chance to fill Dad in on the details of the museum trip. This would be a great time to share photos that were taken, sketches, worksheets, and other mementos of the outing.
Although visits to children's museums don't require advanced planning, checking on exhibits ahead of time and reading up on what's available at the museum will enhance the visit to the museum. Interacting with children during the museum visit and having them record their experiences and then talk about them later increases the enjoyment and the hands on learning potential of a visit to an interactive museum.
Children's Museums Provide Interactive Learning
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