During our travels, we like to visit a museum or two during the course of our trips. We try to find a museum that’s geared towards kids, but many we visit aren’t.
Art museums aren’t always the most fun for kids and it can definitely be annoying to hear questions like when are we leaving or are we almost finished constantly!
The Michael W Travels family recently got back from a trip to France and Monaco. During our trip, we were surprised by how much Lucas enjoyed the Musee d’ Orsay in Paris. While in Nice, we visited the Chagall Museum.
While at the Chagall Museum, we were offered free audio guides. Lucas claimed one of our guides Theo claimed the other. Lucas generally enjoyed listening to info about the works of art and Theo pretended he had a phone.
During our last day in Paris, we started our day off at the Rodin Museum. I had read it was a great, underrated museum with beautiful grounds.
As we purchased our tickets, we were offered audio guides for 6€. I initially said no thank you but as I did, the woman at the desk mentioned that they had a kids version, too.
The kids version was more of a tour on an iPad. Considering how much Lucas enjoyed the other two art museums we visited during the trip, we felt that 6€ was worth the investment for our Rodin visit. (Luckily, Theo fell asleep so we didn’t have to make them share.) 
Lucas was very excited to do the kids iPad tour of the Rodin Museum.
We started off at the work, Gates of Hell. Lucas listened intently, pausing to share some details about what he learned. I also took a turn to listen to the kid- friendly guide and found it to be very interesting.
The Rodin Museum kids guide shared animated videos which explained the works of art. This made the art really fun to learn about. At the end of each section, there were quizzes which Lucas felt was pretty cool!
Lucas was so interested in the guide, that there were many times where I felt that I was trying to rush Lucas to move along! (I’m not a big fan of sculptures so I guess I was the one getting bored now!)
We spent a few minutes appreciating what’s probably Rodin’s most famous work, The Thinker.
We headed inside the museum and Lucas was still interested, watching the videos and taking the quizzes.
It took Lucas a bit longer than 60 minutes to complete the tour. (Some of that was due to him sharing it with us from time to time.) The main reason it took Lucas longer to finish was that the guide made him really interested in the art! Lucas made sure to complete the full guide and refused to rush ahead before doing so.
If you ask me, it would be great if all art museums geared towards adults, offered a kids- version of their audio guide on an iPad with animation.
While I was getting bored at Rodin, Lucas could’ve stayed even longer. Maybe next time, I should get a kids guide for myself!
Have you been to other museums which offer a kid- friendly guide? If so, let us know where.
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Mallthus- We were surprised by how much Lucas enjoyed the art museums! While I’m not a big art fan, an iPad guide can make it definitely more interesting!
THIS!!!
Whatever it takes to make a kid into an art lover.
When I was 11, I went to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with my parents. This was not too long after the 1975 vandalism of the Night Watch and the whole story of what had happened and how it had been addressed transformed my view of how to look at art. I’d never realized that are was something that had a real hold on people’s views of the world before, but, from then on, I was aware that art had a power that transcended the purely esoteric role of art.
DL- Yes! The short bits I listened to were definitely fun and engaging. Did you ever get guides on an iPad for the kids at a museum?
I agree that the guides can help keep the kids interested so always got one for my daughter when she was younger. Once I was mistakenly given the kids version too and didn’t realize it until my husband wanted to know why I was giggling so much. They presented each piece of art in such a fun way!