With the child to the museum

A small child and a museum – this is not an obvious association. When planning family entertainment or attractions, the idea of visiting a museum often appears at the bottom end. Why is this happening? Is this museum really not a suitable place for children? Do young parents therefore have to give up visiting interesting exhibitions, galleries, vernissages, in short – active participation in culture?

The problem was noticed by the employees of the Pan Tadeusz Museum in Wrocław. As part of the #muzealniaki campaign, they try to break stereotypes, especially those regarding museums as places dedicated primarily to adult audiences. Museologists convince parents that it is never too early to interact with culture and that a visit to a museum can be an interesting experience for both large and small. Numerous museums and art galleries from Lower Silesia joined the action, and cultural institutions from all over Poland joined it. The Parent in the City Foundation is pleased to sponsor this action.

Parent in the museum

We were surprised that many parents do not know whether it is possible to come to a museum or an art gallery with a small child.

– “ At the Pan Tadeusz Museum, we organize classes Being in museum with children from 0 to 2 years old and The little ones discover the museum for children from 3 to 6 years old. It is from parents who come to classes that we know that the presence of a child in a museum is often something very unobvious and abstract for parents. We thought that we wanted to change it and we want children to visit us “- this is how Monika Bronowicka, the coordinator of the campaign, tells about the genesis of #muzealniaków.

The parent does not cease to be a recipient of culture, so it is worth convincing him that most museums are also open to the youngest, and visiting exhibitions with children can be an enriching experience. On the website of the #muzealniaki campaign, we read: “Discovering history, especially through the prism of those who are curious about the world, who are endowed with enormous imagination and are not discouraged by the school duty of the youngest children, also turns out to be fascinating from the perspective of a parent. A baby can be a great companion during a visit, and older children, properly activated to commune with culture, will certainly benefit from such a visit to the full ”.

What a youth shell …

Is there any age limit for communing with culture? Fortunately not. The earlier we give children an inspiring dose of art, the more often we show children that there are places such as museums or art galleries, the greater the chance that they will grow up to be competent and sensitive recipients of culture. It is known that a little child will not understand much from the exhibition of contemporary art, he will not appreciate the craftsmanship of Vermeer or Boznańska, but it is primarily about emotions, sensitivity, building positive associations and instilling good habits.

For a two- and three-year-old, a museum does not have to be boring, as long as we prepare well for this visit, build a story around the exhibition and try to keep the excitement of the trip back home. – “During classes and on the museum fanpage, we teach parents how to show a museum exhibition to their children so that it is interesting for children,” argues Monika Bronowicka – We are also helped by parenting bloggers who describe their museum experiences with children on their blogs. ”

(Don’t) touch the exhibits!

Let’s face it, children like to get to know the world organoleptically. They like to touch, smell, check the mechanism of action. In this context, the museum is often a torment for them. Exhibits hidden behind glass, scolding the eyes of those who guard the exhibitions, lots of prohibitions.

Luckily, this type of museums are a thing of the past. Exhibition curators focus on interaction, multimedia and audiovisual elements, encouraging creative and active reception of art. Of course, most of the exhibits still cannot be touched, but among them there are the “tangible” ones, which are used for direct exploration and have an educational element, attractive also for the youngest.

– “ As museologists, we show what is interesting and attractive in museums for children: places where you can touch, listen to music, go through the steam screen, play a game, but also interesting exhibits: a beautiful painting, a gold coin or a ring, a real stagecoach, etc. ” – says Monika Bronowiska.

More and more art galleries and museums are creating exhibitions dedicated to children, for example last year’s great exhibition “Here or there?” in Warsaw’s Zachęta, or the museum-educational experiment prepared by children, “Everything is allowed in the museum” at the National Museum in Warsaw. While visiting these exhibitions with their own children, parents could see other collections from the museum’s offer, and the whole visit became an inspiring family experience.

As for the troublesome behavior of children – we know from our own experience that it is easy to teach a toddler simple rules of functioning in a museum so as not to disturb the visit of others visitors. Practice makes perfect. The positive and understanding attitude of museum employees, who slowly stop seeing children as little vandals, cannot be overestimated either. The sightseeing lessons organized by some museums teach, among other things, how to behave properly in museum rooms.

Museum available

It is possible to change the attitudes of visitors and museum professionals, it is more difficult to overcome infrastructural limitations, which, in particular, act as a deterrent to babies’ parents. Museums are often located in historic buildings that are not easy to adapt so that they are accessible to people with mobility impairments, but also for prams – stairs and precious floors are a problem.

Fortunately, more and more museums focus on accessibility and openness. The new buildings are designed to ensure free access for all art audiences. Changing mats are slowly becoming a standard. Museum staff are attentive to the needs of parents with young children. Museums are marked as accessible – more and more often on websites we find detailed tips on lifts and ramps, maps and other practical information.

Cultural institutions change according to their abilities. In our opinion – for the better. The #muzealniaki action will not revolutionize this topic, but it will allow you to look at the museum from the perspective of the parent and toddler and their specific needs.

The Parent in the City Foundation visits, checks and promotes places friendly to families with young children as part of the zmaluchy.pl project. They include Warsaw museums, such as the Center for Contemporary Art (see HERE), , the National Museum (see HERE), the Zachęta National Gallery of Art (see HERE), the POLIN Museum (see HERE), Łazienki Królewskie (see HERE) or the Museum Station (see HERE) .

We are pleased to support and patronize the #muzealniaki campaign, and we encourage parents to actively participate in it!

You can read more about the action HERE.

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How to join the action?

Just bring your child to a museum or art gallery. Show other parents how much fun you had. Encourage your friends to take up the challenge.
Take a picture with your child at any museum or art gallery.
Add this photo to your Facebook or Instagram profile and tag #muzealniaki .
Tag the museum or art gallery where the photo was taken,
eg. #muzeumpanatadeusza.