Making it through the museums – An educational approach to travelling Europe with kids.

I LOVE an art gallery or museum! I just live for them. My kids however, not so much. 
Having said that however, I refuse to travel to the other side of the world and not see Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus' or any of the other amazing European wonders that light me up, just because I have kids in tow.

Instead, we try to make this an educational experience for our kids to see all of these amazing wonders of the place that they are in - even if they don't quite appreciate it yet.

Here is how we make it work:

1. Don't do them all.
   You cannot possibly drag your kids to every museum, church, exhibition and place of cultural significance in every city you visit. Pick only the ones with the most significance or relevance to you and your family and leave the rest.
   
   
2. Down time in between.
   Don't do these back to back. It is too overwhelming for little brains and their patience will wear thin. Say you go to the Guggenheim in NYC one day, maybe set aside the whole of the next morning for the kids to just run around Central Park without any pressure on time the next morning. It is all about balance and recharging their batteries.
   
   
3. Plan, plan and PLAN some more.
   I really can't stress this enough. Knowing how to get there, where to grab lunch and how long you may need there are all important and will help your day run smoothly. But you also need to plan what you are going to see or do once inside. For example, You are going to the Louvre basically just to see the Mona Lisa... Do you even know where in that massive palace it actually is? Trust me, it is a maze that you can easily get lost in. Know where you are going beforehand and make a beeline for your main purpose first.
   
   4. Make it FUN!
   When we go to a museum or gallery, I try to make it fun for the kids by making up Bingo cards. I want them to look around, take as much as they can in and identify at least some of the main works or artefacts on display to hopefully recall  later in life.
   I pick no more than 6-10 important things to see, put images of them with their name, artist, date and exact location in the museum onto a bingo card and let them go and locate them. If they find it, they put a stamp on it. If they get them all, they get to pick a small souvenir from the gift shop as a reward. You can download some of my previous bingo cards form the Louvre and the London National Gallery here.
   
   5. Take Photos
   They may not realise what they are seeing right now, but one day, they will. Having evidence and memories of things that they have seen or done will one day connect with the relevance of these things - or at least be a great topic for a school project at some point!

Enjoy the ride. x