Museums children will love

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. Whats more, once they get the hang of what museums are all about and how they broaden ones horizons, theyll be game for more in future. In the process, theyll also learn the etiquettes to follow when inside the museum. In this articleMuseums and museumsText-book lesson comes aliveInfotainment 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 dont 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 youll 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.

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.