Museum Games to Play with Kids

When your family travels to cities with outstanding museums, you needn’t forgo seeing the Monet paintings, Apollo 11 Command Module or Hope Diamond just because kids think they don’t like museums. With very little advance planning, you can make a museum visit into a game.

Before you go, check the museum website for special children’s information, either activity sheets to download, information on available museum exploration kits or special tours for families.

If the museum has a brochure or handouts with activities, games and puzzles, these will spotlight artwork, objects and exhibits that appeal to kids and suggest activities around them.

Many have scavenger hunts; if not, you can make your own based on the museum’s focus. Some themes fit nearly any museum (find three animals, flowers or birds — almost universal decorative motifs). Check the museum’s website in advance for ideas; many websites have illustrated catalogs of items in collections.

Art museums and general arts and sciences museums offer a wide range of possibilities for observation games.

I Spy games don’t take any advance planning. A quick browse around a gallery should reveal some small object or detail in a painting. Move away from that exhibit so they won’t know where to look, then challenge kids to find it.

A variation is like a scavenger hunt. How many different animals can they “collect” in the museum, in paintings, sculptures, photography and archeological collections. For example, they might find cats among the Egyptian artifacts or lions in Roman exhibits. Foods, flowers and mythical creatures such as sphinxes, griffons, fairies or dragons make for good themes.

Art museums are not just paintings and statues; most have collections of decorative arts or arts from ancient or foreign cultures. These can include furniture, needlework, porcelain, tools, religious or ceremonial objects — all good subjects for I Spy and scavenger hunts. Good search themes follow a kid’s own interests — sports, food, horses, pets, boats, etc. How many games or toys can they spot?

Portraits are a good opportunity for games involving clothing, or imagining the person being painted. How did they sit still that long (it’s hard enough to stay still for a photograph)? Do they look comfortable? What do you suppose they are thinking about? Which one of these people would you like to meet? What can you tell about people by looking at their portraits? Are they rich, royal, poor, farmers, tradespeople, holy people, powerful people, friendly, grumpy, or just bored from sitting still?

The same games can be adapted to historical and old house museums: find things used by children — baby carriages, toys, dolls, doll houses, highchairs, cradles or child-sized furniture. Or try to guess what some of the tools and gadgets were used for.

While you are indulging your own love of art, cultures or history, museum visits can be a learning experience for kids, not just for the subject of the museum, but for glimpses into other times and cultures, a better understanding of art, and sharper observation and creative thinking skills.