Animal Crazy and Other Fun at the Zoo

I was surprised when I learned that zoos are categorized as museums.  The animals are not at all stuffed or stationary.  Children love going and are even welcome to run and use loud voices, for the most part.  Yet zoos (and aquariums and arboretums) are museums.  So luckily for us, we get to count our favorite outings as educational museum visits!

I have to admit, however, that as an adult I have not liked zoos at all.  Although I never had a terrible specific experience, I was always left with a distasteful sort of taste in my mouth about the zoo experience.  I don't even know exactly what it was or how to describe it.  Something about all the walking, the smell, the disappointment of never seeing the animals I was most interested in up close, the crowd of people crushed around a little portion of glass to peer at a poor creature.  I would take the children from time to time when the opportunity arose, but I did not seek out zoo experiences. 

Then I met the London Zoo and I found myself won over in only a few visits.  First, it is a good size but not too big.  We are within walking distance and so can visit when we want, never having to exhaust the whole thing to make a trip "worth it."  We can visit during the least crowded times and often have the zoo to ourselves.  The zoo is tidy and doesn't smell at all.

I know this is a fortuitous circumstance most don't have--and we are likely never to have again.  So we'll enjoy every bit while we can.  And start putting together some good ideas of how to best enjoy a zoo.  Meanwhile, here is some highlights of our adventures so far.

 

The Whipsnade Zoo in Regent's Park in London is where Winnie the bear lived.  He was a favorite of children.  Christopher Robin and his father visited him in the zoo often, lending his name to one of the most famous bears of all time.  This statue of Winnie (and the soldier who acquired him in Canada) gets kisses from my kids every time we pass.

 

Zoos are so difficult to photograph, at least for this amateur.  I do love the moments of peeking and discovery, when I'm able to get them.  Getting to see animals close up is one I don't take for granted.  From my children's reaction, they don't either.  It's thrilling to see live animals at arms length, even though glass may divide.  

I think there is enough conversation about ticket prices to museums and membership options for another article another time.  We feel so fortunate now to live within walking distance of the zoo and a membership was a no-brainer.  The cost of membership is often only the price of three or so visits.  We get to the zoo here (and the art museum in Boston) at least three times a month, often once a week.  A membership is well worth the investment in our case.

Tiger nation in the London Zoo is perfectly magical.  The habitat is extensive, with plenty of space for the tigers (including three tiger cubs!) to roam and hide or to play, if they are in the mood.  The story of one tiger is told in parts as you wind through the enclosure.  My boys were enthralled by the "chapters" and insisted we read each one.  They acted several out as well.  Here my three-year-old is pretending to be the frog that the tiger cub was chasing.  (The frog escaped.)

You may not suspect it, but we actually really enjoy seeing the live animals, too.  It's not all climbing bronze statues of animals. 

The places my boys like best are the worst for getting any photographic evidence.  They head first for the dark and mysterious reptile house (the Harry Potter scene at the zoo was filmed at "our" zoo!), then for the bugs, and then for the large cats which like play hide and seek.

Do your children like to visit the zoo?  Do you?  How do you take pictures of your children interacting with live animals at the zoo or do you quickly give up and take pictures with them climbing on statues instead?  Which animals do your children like best?  Do they go for the "eww" factor or the "aww" factor?

English Heritage Empress Phoebe's Blog (in her own voice)

I've been absent from this space for too long.  I actually have some posts partially drafted but just have not followed through.  But enough excuses!  On to the real reason I'm popping in here past bedtime tonight.

In my research for my family's next museum outing I just stumbled across a most charming account of a young girl here in England who writes in her own voice about her adventures visiting museums across the country.  I can't wait to show my own children her pictures and read her words, hopefully sparking some more interest in the places we get to visit here in this country.  I love that this young girl is excited to share her love of museums with other children (and grown-ups)!

Please follow this link to find her blog on the English Heritage website:  Empress Phoebe's Blog

Extra Tips and Tricks at Playful Learning

I follow an assortment of blogs, though I only take time to read a handful with any real dedication.  One that I love popping in on every now and then for great ideas to learn and play with my own young children recently posted about visiting the museum.  The games for learning and enjoying the museum were some excellent ideas!  I am going to try the post card activity next time we hit up the British Museum.  I'll report back and let you know how it went!

Check out all the tips at Playful Learning here.

Tip and Trick #5: Make a Museum Sketching Bag

 

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, as my five year old would say.

1) Take a bag (bonus if it's Italian leather and hasn't been used since momma's college days) and put paper and colored pencils inside.
2) Carry to museum.
3) Settle in a gallery (on a bench or on the floor, either will do) and sketch away.
4) Look at your clock 45 minutes later and wonder how in the world you just spent that much time quiet and busy in an art museum.

This'll work wonders for the preschool set--and for years after--in all sorts of museums.  Try at any art museum, at the natural history museum, maybe even for a moment of peaceful quiet time at a science or children's museum.

 

The greatest part for me, that I hadn't planned on, was the spontaneous guessing game that started.  The children drew and I had to guess which picture they were drawing or were inspired by.  I especially loved that the conversation got around to what was the difference between copying and being inspired by a masterpiece.  One thing I love most about exploring a museum with my children is that questions are asked and answers are searched for on topics that I would never think to open in every day life.

Please indulge me in a fond mommy moment.  I just like catching the action in moving pictures every now and again.

Even baby sister gets in on the action.

What have you and your littles sketched at the museum recently?  Or brought paper and pen outside and sketched from nature, like many of our best naturalists and artists?  Remember if heading to a museum gallery to leave markers and pens at home.  Pencils, colored pencils, crayons, perhaps charcoal for older kids ought to do the trick and keep the mess and the risk to the objects themselves down.  Check with your local museum for their specific guidelines and policies.  Happy sketching!

Christmas (in July) from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England

Things have been very quiet on this blog space for the past month plus because we just relocated our family abroad to British green pastures (as much as you can get in a busy metropolis).  It's been a whirlwind process.  We're not yet settled completely, but enough so that I'd like to update here with a few museum experiences sooner rather than later.  Some gems are backlogged from our Boston tenure!  But for now, let's start with a truly English museum.

While on a day trip to Oxford and environs, we popped into the Ashmolean Museum because I'd remembered vaguely that that was one I wanted to visit.  Bonus, it's the oldest museum in the UK.

The moment we stepped in the front doors and turned down the first gallery lined with sculptures on either side, I thought that I must have somehow (in another life?!) been there before.  It was so familiar.  It wasn't until we hit the big wall of sculpture busts above a flight of stairs (where we paused to let the baby roam free) that my husband turned to me and said, "Isn't this wall in that Christmas video you showed me last year?"  Ding ding!  We have a winner!

If you haven't seen this yet, enjoy.  If you've seen it before, enjoy again!  My kids and I have watched it multiple times many days in a row.  And our favorite line that comes up at most meals is "Graaapes . . ."  So very educational, I know.

I'd return to the museum in a heartbeat if given the chance.  Such treasures!  I kept turning around and seeing some object or other that I'd written an essay for a test in some class in college, or another object that had been the star of a term paper.  I'd forgotten--or never known--where they resided and so it was like meeting old friends around every corner.  Happy surprise!

The kids, naturally, loved the Egyptian mummies most.  There was a great video that showed the mummification process that my five year old watched at least three times before we pried him away.

For future reference, there is a fabulous family/little children museum explorer cart right behind a little wall by the entrance.  I didn't see it until we were on our way out, though now I know where it is it would be easy enough to spot on the way in.  There were several fliers with different paths or scavenger hunts.  Pencils and clipboards were available.  Blank scratch paper for sketching was abundantly supplied as well.

 

Have you met any "old friends" at a museum recently?  I'd love to go back to some of my old Art History and Classics text books to look more closely at the small print and see which museums hold which treasures.  What do you think about the sense of humor the Ashmolean Museum shows about their art in the video?  Anyone else hoping for another holiday greetings from the museum this year?  ;)

A Little Hands On: Making A George Washington Wig

 

 

 

Step One:  realize that in a short time you and your family will be leaving the USA for an international adventure and (Step Two) pull out a book you've had unopened on the shelves for too long.  

Step Three:  decide that you will make King Tut's headdress another time and concentrate on making a wig like George Washington's.

Step Four:  gather supplies needed (pulling some out of moving boxes if necessary).

Step Five:  do your best to follow instructions but mostly just wing it.

Step Six:  try it on!  Apparently we used the wrong size bag, as the fit was a bit snug.  Or we just have really large heads, all of us. 

Step Seven:  laugh uproariously and continue to make other things with the paper bags and string (walkie-talkies and boots being the main construction on this occasion).

And finally, Step Eight, visit the museum and see a heroic sized portrait of the great general himself, wig and all.  Happy (belated) Independence Day!

Bringing Baby to the Museum

My baby has been with us on all our museum outings.  She hasn't shown up nearly as much in all the pictures I've been snapping as my older boys because, until lately, she has been cozily snug in her carrier or stroller and has let me photograph and enjoy a (somewhat) relaxing visit with the boys.  As her first birthday approaches, however, she has been more and more insistent that she have a more active role in the museum adventure.  Can I just say, "yikes!!"

So how to do a baby at a museum?  It's so tempting to just not go at all.  Rather, wait until they are three or older and understand about holding hands, looking with eyes, walking with quiet feet, etc. in ordinary situations before presenting them with wide open galleries and priceless objects.

I, at least, could not go that long without a museum-fix.  So I continue to figure out ways to manage the different stages of babyhood for museums.  Let me give a pointer or two for each main stage of the way, in case you have a baby-in-tow on any upcoming museum outings of your own!

For those first few months

One word:  baby carrier.  Oh, that was two, sorry.

Going to a museum is as easy as going anywhere else--grocery store, mall, park.  As easy as those (I say with tongue in cheek).  My main survival for any thing in or out of the house is a good baby carrier or two.  I love me a great sling ring carrier (like the Maya wrap) or a comfy K'tan-type wrap for the first while, then an Ergo for a long time after that.  Baby's happy, mom's happy and hands-free, and off to the museum we go!

Most big museums (and especially children's museums, of course) I've been to lately have a separate room just for feeding and changing and general care of baby.  In a smaller one I find it's easy enough to navigate the museum itself in between feedings/changings then head back to the car/transportation/home.

Sitting up Baby

I've lucked out with my sitting up babies as that's all they do for a couple months--happily stay in one place.  I just plop them down in the middle of a gallery and let them watch the movement all around.  Play peek-a-boo as they track mom's  and older siblings' movement.  Let them enjoy the different sounds and textures of the space.  I loved being able to peruse a gallery on my own/with the older kids knowing that baby was safe in one spot and enjoying her own discovery of senses.

I usually start bringing both a stroller (just a lightweight, easily maneuverable umbrella stroller) at this point as well as the carrier, to give some options as to how we get through a museum.  Sometimes one or the other works best, so it's just as easy to have both on hand.  Each museum will have its own policy on strollers and baby carriers.  The museums we frequent just specify that the baby--however old--should be worn on the front so that there is less risk of miscalculating your size when working around the objects and exhibit space.  Just like back-packs are checked, back-worn babies should be avoided.

Crawling/Moving Baby

The first bit of crawling is still ok, knowing that baby is limited to a relatively small area.  I try to prolong the time of carrying/pushing the baby because once she's down, she's down!  You can guarantee a loud echoing wail when it's time to pick up and move again at a kid/adult pace.

Again, I usually bring both a stroller and a carrier to give some variation.  Kind of a pain sometimes, but worth the inconvenience for the life-saver one or the other proves to be in an emergency.

If you're doing any activity with the older kids at the museum, give the baby a chance to be involved in whatever way is appropriate.  Maybe sucking on glue sticks (like I admit I let my baby do just a couple weeks ago) at a craft activity wasn't the best idea.  But she was quiet, she was very happy, and it gave me a few minutes to help the boys and ooh and aah over their creations.

Also, it's okay for a baby to go an hour without a snack.  Believe me, they will survive.  I find that if I do a snack before we head in to the museum and lunch or a snack on our way out, I don't feel any anxiety about not pulling out the Cheerios in a moment of fussing.  Now, I don't want to overstep any parenting preferences here, but I just wanted to say in passing that if nothing else from that book, Bringing Up Bebe (about French parenting and how much better it is) I got the message that it's okay for kids to not be snacking all the time or have the habit of getting a goldfish every time they make a peep.  Just as that relates to going to the museum--don't feel too nervous about the "no food" policy.  With young children you'll be in the museum an hour and a half max, and no one will faint away in hunger in that time.

Walking Baby

This is where it gets really really tricky to do any museum that is not a touching museum.  Or anything remotely resembling lingering and learning with older kids in the galleries.  My friend once said it so truly when she remarked that a crawling/moving baby just uses the mobility to get to the entertainment but once they learn to walk, walking is the entertainment.  So chasing a toddler is a full time job and adding priceless objects and laughing brothers into the mix is a disaster waiting to happen.

An art museum can be done, still, for those brave at heart!  Again, bring multiple methods of conveyance and use those as looooong as possible.  I went with a friend and her very active toddler recently and she brought the little girl's favorite soft blankie and pacifier (that is only ever used at bedtime now) just for the chance to have half an hour of peace in the museum.  And it worked!  (After chasing her around several large rooms . . .)  Run them around a little before and keep promising more walking after.  Even if they don't understand now about the concept of later, I'm sure the wheedling tone helps in some way.  ;)

Find someplace to walk or something to walk toward/away from.  Herding a small child is not the easiest feat in the world, but it can be done.  Giving the little child permission to walk is a happy thing for everyone.  Maybe a long hall where all the artwork is up at adult eye level and out of reach of a child's hands.  In a sculpture garden, where it is often a little more casual.  Play some sort of "speed game" variation of eye-spy or can-you-find with the older kids as you whiz past objects.  Go back to the online catalog with the older kids later, during nap time, and find out more information on any highlights.

Babies this age may not love to be picked up when they are on the go, but we have the advantage in that they are still easily distracted.  And they love animal noises, pointing to things, nodding yes and no to questions, etc.  So pick them up, deal with the minute or so of struggle, and start making a farmyard full of noises while pointing to animals in any art/taxidermy around you!  Go ahead, sing some Old MacDonald while you're at it.  (I heard a daddy singing this very song to his toddler son at the Harvard Museum of Natural History a few months back and I about died of loving it so much.  I wish I'd been able to record it without seeming like a creepy lady.  It was soo adorable.)

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Okay, so that's what I've been thinking of lately about how to keep going about normal activities--most especially museums--with my littlest museum buddy.  I always think of another brilliant idea or five after I've posted one of these things.  In that eventuality, I may revisit this "bringing baby" in the future!

Is it worth it, you may ask?  Well, yes!  I think so!  But then I am rather a die hard.  It makes the museum that much more of an adventure.  Fun is had by all.  Learning is done, though perhaps not always at a measurable rate.  Sweet old ladies stop and swoon over baby and big brothers.  What's not to love about going out on the town to some of the loveliest places in the city with some of the greatest kids in the world?

I would LOVE to hear about any baby-in-a-museum adventures you may have.  Good, bad, beautiful, ugly.  I'd love any and all anecdotes.  I'll laugh with you!  I'll cry with you!  It would truly make my day to hear you have seen a baby at a museum recently.