Visiting museums is a cerebral cultural experience, perhaps not the cup of tea of many tourists, particularly if they have small children with them. But if your children
are ten years of age or older then you must make it a point to visit
some of them, at least. It will not just be an educative experience you
will expose them to, but an immensely entertaining one, which they will
thank you for. What's more, once they get the hang of what museums
are all about and how they broaden one's horizons, they'll be game for
more in future. In the process, they'll also learn the etiquettes to
follow when inside the museum.
Museums and museums
But you need to plan carefully, which are the museums
that you should take in and which you should avoid. Not all museum
authorities take kindly to a gaggle of kids with their wayward ways,
but then there are museums and museums - some that will hold their interest and which do not require extensive explanation by guides. Like the Doll Museum
in Delhi, for instance; this will simply keep them in thrall. You don't
necessarily need an expert to tell you about the exhibits here; you
yourself as a parent can be a guide to your children.
Others like the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai - now christened Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya - with its vast natural history section is a delight for children from age three to thirteen. Some museums can be pretty informal, like the IMS Vikrant.
This is a naval ship, an aircraft carrier to be precise, which is now
converted into a maritime museum. Among other naval paraphernalia, it
also has helicopters on display. Visiting this massive ship is like
being on a picnic.
Text-book lesson comes alive
Some like the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad with its vast space and not-so-crowded exhibition halls can actually be an interesting history lesson for the children.
Sabarmati Ashram is the place from where Mahatma Gandhi operated and
carried out many of his campaigns for Indian independence. What your children
mugged up in history text books will take up a completely different and
interesting dimension here. This may well be a turning point and you'll
find that your children are fascinated with history as a subject like never before.
The Vishveshvaraya Technological and Industrial Museum of Bangalore is a great place to acquaint children with science and technology, industrial products and machines. This has exhibits which children are allowed to touch making it that much more interactive and inclusive.
Infotainment
There is an endless list of museums - the Kites Museum in Ahmedabad with its colourful display of kites of all sizes, shapes and dimensions and Rail Museum in Delhi with railway engines down the ages - that you can go particularly with children. What you should leave out or save for later are museums that are dense and time-consuming like those for art and archaeology; this may be too much for the children to grasp and be hooked on. But you can be sure that the first tentative steps to acquaint them with the concept of museums
as a store house of information and knowledge will have made its mark
and they will make a gradual shift or graduate towards others soon.
Name:
Tasnim
Country: India
my daughter is in ist standard. she had gone to picinic from her school to prince of wales museum. she really enjoyed and learn of lot of things. when she came back from the picinic she was asking me many questions... good article.
