Every time someone finds out we live near Boston, they ask me whether or not we’ve been to the Discovery Museum—a wonderful science/tinkerspace museum built with little kids in mind. The answer is, of course, yes…and I hate it there.
That’s not a knock against the museum. It’s awesome! Everyone else I talk to loves it! Indeed, my toddler loves it! But me? It’s up there with trampoline parks or arcades. I just don’t want to be there, or any children’s museum.
Traditional kid spaces aren’t usually designed for parents (understandably)
When we go out and about I’m usually the biggest kid there. I’m running through a splash pad, over-under a jungle gym, spinning up pretend games wherever we go. The play is exactly what I love best about motherhood—I know soon enough my toddler will be old enough to say, “Bye mom!” and leave me on a bench.
But at this place, it’s so crowded and chaotic that there’s nowhere for me to go. There’s nowhere for me to sit apart when play gets Serious and parents just ruin the fun. And since snacks aren’t allowed in the exhibits (for good reason, who wants an allergen smeared all over the gigantic air cannon?) I get overwhelmed and hungry pretty fast.
This is not a takedown of the museum, I promise. What I mean is, traditional “kids” spaces don’t always work for me even though I’m super into pretend play. You can *feel* the energy from the other parents there: Beleaguered, praying for help. When people say that you’re “in the trenches” of motherhood, crawling through this museum’s play tube is literally what I think of.
Imagine my surprise that when I took my toddler to an actual museum—like, one with all-whitewashed walls and gilded portraits from bygone eras—we had so much fun together. And I didn’t even have to tackle them to keep them from knocking over a priceless Rodin sculpture! (It was a close call, though. 😮💨)
Take your toddler to places you want to go.
The Greatest Generation’s skibbidi toilet. Because the “what even IS art anymore?” conversation literally started a hundred years ago.
What I mean by all this is, you’re the adult. You get to pick where you go when you’re traveling, whether it’s a day trip or to another city. If you would rather spend a day at an art museum than at a kid museum, I think it’s worth trying. (Or if you’re with a partner, splitting up time so that you get to see what you want to see, and giving them the courtesy of the same privilege.)
Make a museum as interactive as possible.
I’ll admit I was a little nervous before we decided to try The Clark in Williamstown, MA. I didn’t know much about the museum except that it was pouring outside and I couldn’t run the outdoorsy itinerary I had planned. But we had SO much fun, with a lot of support from their wonderful staff.
To make this all go smoother, I:
- Prepped my toddler at the door about the rules for visiting a museum. “We’re in a special place, full of art. In this place, we use our walking feet and we only look with our eyes. Let’s see what we can find!”
- Created a scavenger hunt with help from the docent of different animals around the museum. She mentioned there was a goose, a dog, a cat, and a horse. Could we find them all? You bet we did.
- Found the child-friendly activities as quickly as possible. The Clark had a postcard station where you could color your own postcard and mail it. My mail-obsessed toddler LOVED this. Larger museums have events/storytimes/kid-centric museum tours/tinkerspaces which I’d love to try sometime.
- Brought a sketchpad. The museum lent us one, which was so nice! Next time I’m packing this sketchpad and pencil set. Many museums do not let you use crayons or colored pencils in the exhibits, so don’t bother bringing those.
- Struck a pose. As we walked around, we found different paintings or sculptures and pretended to become them by mimicking the pose. We had a lot of giggles when I almost fell over trying to do Degas’ Ballerina.
Most importantly, I kept the visit very short and peppered it with snack breaks in the atrium, where food was allowed. We were there for mayyybe 1.5 hours, and that’s all I knew we could handle. I also timed this for late afternoon, which is generally a more “chill” time for us…in the morning both of us need some serious exercise, so I’m not sure it would have been so easy.
Art and museum books!
I have absolutely brought out my worn Jansen’s art history textbook for my toddler to review…but realistically, we like reading these:
- A Child’s Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait gives a Richard Scarry-style primer to some Great works.
- For kids that don’t know where to start, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds is a great book.
- Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg is a great lesson for adults and kids on letting go what “perfect” looks like when you create.
- Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh teaches kids about color mixing.
- ABCs of Art by Sabrina Hahn makes the classics accessible.
Thanks for being here.
I love art. I was an art history minor that didn’t have the guts to be a major. Last time I went to Paris I spent AN ENTIRE DAY at the Louvre. I spent an hour just sitting in front of Nike of Samothrace, my favorite sculpture of all time. I usually go to museums solo because I’m so insufferable I just want to see it all.
Yes I matched my favorite Monet water lily when I went to the MoMa!!
I want to give my toddler that appreciation—whether they like Hellenistic Greek or Impressionist or Contemporary, I don’t care. They won’t know a life without AI slop in the mix, and I want to make sure they understand what humans can create when they connect with their hearts. Watching AI decimate career opportunities and add a sense of did they or didn’t they to my work as a writer breaks my heart. (This is your regular reminder that we don’t use AI to write anything here at FamilyVacationist!)
Even if we did not live in a depressing techno-dystopia, I would still want to take them to a museum because art is cool. We talked a lot about colors at the Sol LeWitt exhibit at MASS MOCA in North Adams, MA. I’ve also done the ICA in Boston with them several times, but both times they slept in their stroller at much younger ages. (When they woke up, we did some planespotting instead of hitting the exhibits.) Mostly, I got to look at some art for a minute before heading back to our favorite playground.
If visiting a museum seems impossible right now, that’s okay. If you don’t have any interest in visiting a museum, that’s also okay. We go because I want to, and that’s enough of a reason to go.
In the meantime, we’ll be setting up an easel and paintbrush outside on the driveway for some en plein air action.
Wear the beret,
Kayla
This post was originally published on Travel with Toddlers. Subscribe for more real-talk travel advice, toddler-friendly itineraries, and tried-and-true gear recommendations.
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This post was originally published on Travel with Toddlers. Subscribe for more real-talk travel advice, toddler-friendly itineraries, and tried-and-true gear recommendations.
