To think museums are shit?

[lecce]

Well, not really, but they seem such hard work and not really the best way to see stuff and learn about it.

I'm probably not being coherent as have just got in from an exhausting few days in London with dc (6&3). Before anyone says anything, ds1 has a huge thirst for knowledge and his face lights up at the mention of a trip to a museum, so I'm not saying that it's hell dragging a reluctant child round a museum, as that is just obvious. (I know because we have no choice but to do that to an extent with ds2 and there is no way I would ever make him go to such a place if I didn't have ds1 to consider).

But really, being herded past display after display? There just being so bloody much of it? Every sodding room leading on to yet another and another? The horrible nagging feeling that round the next corner there will be the most amazing thing that will change ds's life and we can't risk missing it? The worry that everyone else's child is getting much more from it than mine because they are just better at it as parents than us? (I know I'm being stupid on that one, but that's just part of the effect these places have on me).

So, AIBU?

Bloody love museum shops though. Literally the best bit of the museum

The museum of London has an under fives' activity sheet you can ask for. You don't have to do it but it is reassuringly brief. they have to find one particular thing in each gallery and take a photo of a pigeon on a stick (which they give you) next to it. Otherwise the Museum of London is Loooooong as it spans a thousand years or so! I think most museums have stuff like that if you ask and it is always based on running about and finding one thing/spotting animals/ having no attention span whatsoever.

Reading this back I feel I should clarify the pigeon on a stick is a laminated photo, not an actual pigeon, skewered and bloody...

Yes, we did the pigeon thing - dc loved it though ds2 insisted on trying to 'walk' it everywhere and give it tea on the floor where there is a tea-set beneath the floor under glass - not good in the crowds. Ds1 was very impressed with the large tatoo-like stamp he got for completeing it, though.

I actually like the ones with people dressed up and am getting lots of ideas from this thread for our future trips, on which I will endeavour to be more relaxed.

Am impressed you completed it - we accidentally stole our pigeon as we had to leave mid-tantrum! Was v quiet when we went though.

We always keep them time limited.

We go to London for a week at a time, and stay somewhere with easy access to the museums. The dc get one slot of two hours max in the museum, then we go do something else. Occasionally we will come back for a second slot in the afternoon.

Interestingly, for the first time this year ds1 (6) has sometimes said 'that's it, my brain is full' during museum visits within the time slots. Made me feel he was actually getting a lot out of them, if he got to the limit of what he can absorb.

completing

Some one mentioned the Museum of Justice in Nottingham, we all loved that one too. It was London Dungeons Lite and suitable for all ages with enough gruesomeness to keep them interested. It was nice to be led through and follow the story.

The caves in Nottingham worked for us also, walk underground following through the ages, then getting up to a ww2 shelter, then seeing the foundations of the shopping centre.

Fab to hear the Nottingham attractions getting good reviews - we live there and have never been to any . Nice to know these things are on our doorstep.

God, lecce! Go to the Galleries, it's fab! It's just opposite St Mary's church in the Lacemarket.

I have had the pleasure of the Anfield tour complete with museum. I think you have to be a football fan. I'm not.

YABU, but I see your point. It's the hike there and back that can be exhausting.

I live five minutes from the Met and Guggenheim in NYC, and go to some sort of museum with my toddler at least once a week. At the very least, it's a good place to stretch his legs when the weather is bad :)

At the very least, it's a good place to stretch his legs when the weather is bad
Oh I do agree. Many a museum trip done in the rain or snow.

Never had much success with art galleries.

YABU. To say they are rubbish is a sweeping statement! There are so many different museums covering such a broad range of things I can't really see how you could find every single one dull? Many of the London museums (and regional museums actually) have activity packs for kids that definitely aren't trawling through display after display.

One thing I'd suggest is avoiding them at half term and I'm being 100% serious here. I realise this a tricky one because the kids are off and its a great time to get out and do those sorts of things but it can't be enjoyable to try and do it during half term. For example - South Kensington tube station is a nightmare for parents with pushchairs anyway but add 10 pushchairs and hundreds of parents trying to keep a hold of their kids whilst navigating the steep stairs is something to behold. Once you've got out of the station you are faced with huge queues, some of which are 45 to an hour wait. Once inside its a total nightmare. I work in a south ken museum and the visitor figures during half term have gone through the roof year on year and they are getting higher all the time.

the Natural History Museum is a beautiful, unique building - and as a bonus it has dinosaurs! It is one of the wonderful things about our damp little island and our great history.

I have to say that the Science Museum is not as good as I remember it. And when full of screaming kids it would not be my idea of fun.

they have got a space capsule though.

Dd has always driven me bonkers at museums because she has to look at every exhibit extremely closely, carefully reading each detail. We once spent two hours at the V&A and we only got to see stained glass bloody windows. Dh is the same.

I on the other hand like to wander as the fancy takes me, looking at snippets hither and thither. Though I do like the earthquake at the NHM and the Medicine bit on the top floor of the science museum.

I reckon the two styles of museum admiring are incompatible.

If you are in or near Y ork have you tried Eureka in Halifex? Very nice and hands on.

Dd is younger (only just turned 3) but my rule is fairly simple. Is she enjoying herself? If so, I don't worry about the educational or otherwise ness of the trip. I just let her get on with it. If it turns out that the most educational value she gets is from asking what the letters say on the road signs on the way home (because we always get stuck on the motorway) then so be it!

sparkling You don't have to be yelled at if you go to The Black Country Museum..! It's a wonderful day out, because it has such a wide variety of things to do, from a trip through a tunnel on a canal boat to rides on the Victorian funfair -- plus there's a pub and a fish and chip shop... Who could ask for more?

The Natural History Musuem dinosaur part I find too much for my nerves to cope with in half term. It's very claustrophobic and at busy times you are literally carried along the dinosaur walkway by the thronging crowd with no time to linger over the exhibits.

Avoid school holidays as it's hell on earth, although i'm off to the Horniman museum and gardens in Forest Hill later in the week, wish me luck!

TBF not everyone likes museums. DD and I love them and will happily spend a day in London pottering between the NHM and Science museum (admittedly she wasn't so struck with the V & A).

DH hates them - he came to the NHM a couple of years ago with us and was OK but has declined every invitation to join us for museum/gallery trips since. We went to the Optical Illusion museum in Edinburgh whilst on holiday last year and he was climbing the walls within about 45 minutes.

If you have to go, have a good look on the websites beforehand and have a plan of attack with plenty of coffee breaks factored in.

I used to feel like you OP, when DD was younger. She's 7 now and has very specific interests (ancient Egypt, WWII, titanic) so we go to the museums that cater to her tastes and she loves them. We just don't bother with the stuff I know she finds boring (dinosaurs, machines.) We live in London, and never, ever visit the big museums during school holidays, they just get too crowded and noisy.

We do visit the Hornimans museum during the holidays because it doesn't tend to get too busy, they do loads of activities for children and they have huge grounds for them to run wild in, and a nice playground across the road.

I may give it another go then Sue. it is school trip central though and DS2 has already been.

Yabu it is how you handle them.

Having lost twin 1 in the science museum( he was looking at all the stuff on the ceiling and wandered off in the crowds), been elbowed off the water activities and paid a small fortune for a piece if cake we all shared(£££££) and served on a glowing blue table that made me feel sick I have come to the conclusion that re London museums less is more.

The problem is those of us that live elsewhere try and do it all in a day understandably.Don't do London museums unless you have the cash for coffee/lunch breaks and pick a room or two.Leave the rest for next time.It just isn't worth trying to do it all.

The London experience shouldn't put you off though.

Ramm in Exeter is how all museums should be,it's lovely.Loads of nooks and crannies,fantastic activities,calm and they do a superb treasure hunt for 50p.My dc 9,9 and 8 did just a quarter but it was brilliant fun trying to solve riddles and find artefacts in each room.We're going to do it bit by bit,but we are local.They had a load of real Roman mosaic tiles in sand trays kids could make into pictures for free last week in the hols. They have activities for £2 and some for £15 for the rich kids.They also give out packs of free trading cards and a poster for the kids to collect and find in the museum.They also have light boxes you can make art work with in the gallery section and record on your phone,explorer kits for little kids,dressing up clothes,microscopes,a real mummy etc

Lovely cafe with tubs of crisps and cheap fruit juice ie affordable food.

Try your local museum it may have a lot to offer.

I totally agree that I prefer smaller more local museums to the London museums. It's great when you can wonder through quietly, and kids pick what they want to see and do. The London museums are too big, and in holidays, far too busy to be relaxing or enjoyable for me.

We enjoy the London museums. I never go in the gift shops but some times buy overpriced cake! The kids like the basement in the science museum, otherwise we go and sit somewhere and did likes to draw the exhibits. I used to think the stuffed animals bit was great, better than taking them to the zoo where they missed the animals as they moved. Good discussion point about animaks being edd endangered etc.

Oh, I do museums competely differently.

Wander into the National Gallery, look at a few painters I know and love, glance at the rest on my way out.

I went to the V&A and enjoyed the building and the fab courtyard with wobby chairs around the water the most :)

When I go with other people, the "museum stress" can hit me, and we have to make sure we do not miss anything, and that is not how I like it.

So I go on my own or with 1 DC and we spend an hour at most. Though sometimes sometging really grabs you, and that is great too.

But the whole pressure of "did you see x, y, z" takes the fun out of it.