Here There Be Dragons: Mommy and Me Museum Adventure

I have no excuses for being a slacker on this journal.  Just moving and it taking time to get my groove back.

This museum adventure is from more than six months ago.  We're stepping back in time to our days frequenting the Boston MFA.  This is an adventure we'd love to repeat at our new favorite, the British Museum or the V&A sometime soon, though!  Who doesn't love dragons?  My boys are as  enchanted as can be about the mysteries of dragons.  Finding them in the art museum makes for a most excellent treasure hunt.

There's just something about choosing from a stack of free colorful flyers that can bring out the kid in anyone--especially if you are a kid!  Having a special paper to carry around gives a child a sense of responsibility and ownership.  My boys held on to their papers so carefully and wanted to find exactly the objects shown on the map.  There were clear instructions on where to find each of the objects, so it was easy to wander on our own but make sure we found what we were looking for.

The MFA has a whole section for kids' treasure maps, even on the days they don't offer a special program or art cart.  There are a lot of great choices.  Chocolate was high on my list of trails to follow.  Dragons won out, which was also fine by me.  Maybe we'll get back to the chocolate trail another time . . .

Once we had our selection--dragons, of course--we took a quick peek at where we were headed.  And into the Asian art wing we went.  We knew we were ultimately searching for this sleepy-looking dragon.  On the way, though, we spotted plenty more dragons guarding the path.

Many of the dragons were high above our heads and we had to crane our necks to find them.  They came in all sizes and styles, and all moods from fanciful to fierce.

Then we turned a corner and found him!  The dragon we'd been looking specially for.  He was in a huge series of panels that covered an entire wall.  The lighting was dim and mysterious, perfect for our slightly sad dragon.  We told each other stories of why he might be feeling the way he looked.

After we found as many dragons as we could spot in Asia (though I'm sure there were many more we didn't catch), we wandered through the Americas and forward in time many centuries.  There we found ourselves marveling at St Michael slaying the dragon.  (Actually, until I just looked it up in the catalog I thought it was St George and his dragon.  Shows how much I read labels when breezing through with small children!)  This image is from another visit, with a friend.  I included it because we returned to that painting almost every time we visited the museum.  The children want to see at least some of the same things every time, like reading the same familiar story.  Interesting how it is a picture like the shark painting or this dramatic dragon painting that hold such fascination.  Somehow I don't think it is necessarily comforting to see works like this every time, but it must be a learning process in some way.  The work is consistent each visit, but one's ability to understand and to feel may change and improve.

Does your museum provide these types of trail maps for your visit?  Can you create a simple one on your own?  Decide a topic for that day's visit and run with it!  Could you find brides, babies, knights, birds, flowers, trees in different seasons--anything that your child is interested in at the time might work.

Do you find yourself needing to come back to the same one or two works of art repeatedly?  What makes you want to engage with them again?  Does your child feel comforted to know they will see the same thing each time, in addition to discovering new and wonderful works?

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

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.

Tip #12 for Visiting the Museum with Young Children: Use a Map

 

On those (now rare) occasions when I visit a museum by myself I go back and forth on whether to use a map or not.  Many times I'm in the mood to just explore and wander aimlessly--even getting lost can be the highlight of a visit if I turn a corner I've never known existed and find an object I've never seen.  I figure I can find a map later or just ask for directions if I'm truly unsure of where to go next.  I guess I like to pretend I'm more relaxed and fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants than I actually am.  At least for an hour in a beautifully clean and ordered space.

When I visit with kids and we pass the rack with maps it is almost impossible to talk them out of immediately grabbing a map and hitting their brother with it.  Not that I'm speaking from personal experience on that last part. 

So I acquiesce and the map (or several copies) get thrown on top of the stroller canopy and off we go. And it turns out those maps have come in handy half way through.  I've been known to hand a restless baby a map for a few precious entertained minutes.  I've used a good map for a spontaneous matching game.  I've handed over a pencil dug from the bottom of the diaper bag to an older toddler for some sketching on the back of a map sheet. 

And now my older two children are old enough to be intrigued on how a map actually works!

This brings us to my (in no particular order) list of tips and tricks for making a museum visit a success.  Number 12 (again, in no particular order--I just like to have random numbers in here to make it seem all official) is Use a Map with Your Child in Command.  Da-da-da-dum!

Make a kid the leader and boy, have you got yourself a recipe for a happy visit. 

Let me repeat.  The kid is the boss of where you go.  When you go.  And you follow.  It's absolutely great, I assure you.

My boys love to spread out the map and see which colors/sections/numbers/rooms they want to visit first.  Honestly, we may never actually make it there, depending on the size of the museum and what distracts us along the way.  But the simple fact that they are in charge . . . whew!  That means visiting the museum is the coolest field trip in town. 

And if we get desperate, we can always fold a paper airplane to fly in the atrium.  Staying far away from that very large and very pointy and very breakable glass sculpture.

And off we go!

Let me know how it goes for you on your next museum visit if you give this tip a try!  Does your child like to be in charge?  Do you follow the map exactly, or use it as a vague reference?  Does a nice older lady stop and tell you your baby has a wad of inked-up paper in their fist when you're just trying to enjoy those last few quiet seconds?  I'd love to hear any and all anecdotes!