The joint leisure activities of children and parents sometimes look like a compromise: "Today I am bored, tomorrow you are". In other words, adults are prepared to go on the merry-go-round at the amusement park to buy a child's agreement to spend the day in an art gallery.
Meanwhile, children approach the visual arts with the same interest with which they approach anything new. We need to help them maintain a taste for looking at art and sculpture.
In our article, you'll find some tips on introducing children to the world of beauty and learning about art museums that offer special programmes for children.
5 tips to make a museum visit fun and effective
The introduction to the visual arts begins with children's first books. Parents try to choose books with clear, colourful pictures that children can look at for a long time.
Tip #1
It's a good idea to look at a book with your child before you go to the gallery — only it will be a reproduction (virtual galleries can also help). Firstly, this will be the first step towards looking at serious paintings. Secondly, it will likely reveal your child's interest in certain subjects and make it easier for you to decide what to see in the museum.
The second important step is choosing what to focus your child's attention on. If you are taking a preschooler to a museum, make fairy tale paintings the theme of the mini-excursion.
Tip #2
Sometimes a question can start a dialogue you never thought possible. For younger children, ask about colours, shapes, what they think the people in the picture are talking about, and what pictures they like or don't like.
Don't be afraid of children's questions — adults usually have enough knowledge to answer them. Talk to your child about the figures in the painting and ask what mood the painting evokes.
On a visit to the Pinakothek in Munich, try discussing the evocative subjects of Bruegel and Jan van Eyck and the biblical paintings of Botticelli and Perugino. Let your children misinterpret what's happening, but they will linger over the paintings.
Many other valuable tips for introducing children to the world of painting can be found in the book How to Talk to Children about Art by Françoise Barbe-Gall, an art historian and lecturer at the Louvre School.
Tip #3
The third step is to familiarise yourself with the museum plan so that you can easily find the paintings you want (for example, the Louvre website has a detailed plan of all the building floors). It's best to do this beforehand, but you can also buy a map at the entrance to the gallery or ask the hall attendant for the exhibition location you want.
If you don't have time to prepare for a museum visit with your children by looking at prints, try following them around the museum and looking at what they see. They may be drawn to bright colours, a familiar (or cryptic) subject, pictures of children or even just a seat for weary visitors. Sit on a bench together and look at the paintings nearby.
Tip #4
Set a time limit! The first time you visit an art museum, you can limit yourself to one hour. Decide what you want to see and go to that wing or exhibition. If the children are still entertained after an hour, ask them if they want to continue. Most adults can't spend a whole day in a museum, and few children can. Have fun and leave, or they will never want to come back.
Remember that children's first museum visits are unlikely to be extended. Even if you only see one painting, continue visiting art galleries afterwards.
Tip #5
Round off your visit to the museum with a visit to the gift shop. A small gift should be meaningful: a set of postcards or stickers with reproductions, a bookmark or a notebook with motifs from famous paintings will bring to life in children's memory what they have seen in the museum's halls. You could even keep tickets and a map of the museum.
Help for parents — special museum programmes for children
Many world-famous art museums now have special programmes for young visitors.
The Louvre is an art collection that can't be missed on a holiday to Paris. Let your child share in the excitement of a trip here.
Admire the Louvre from afar by day and by night (the artistic lighting enhances the already beautiful building). Impress them with interesting details, such as how the lavish palace was built on a wild 'wolf forest' site.
Try to avoid the long queue and enter the museum through one of the side entrances. Invite your child to look at the painting, not standing next to it, but sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. You may not be able to see the whole of the Louvre with children, but you will be able to see the most outstanding works, including the famous "Gioconda".
Ask about themed tours of the Louvre. There are exciting activities for children and their parents at the museum: imagine the joy of a child being offered a tour of an artist's studio.
The Museo del Prado in Madrid is a great temptation for art lovers, and with free entry for children under 18, it's well worth taking the time to see the famous works. To keep your programme short and sweet, use the Masterpieces audio guide, which explains the 50 most important paintings in the museum's collection.
Does your child speak English or Spanish? Then he or she can follow a playful route that ends with a small surprise. An alternative art museum in Madrid is the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which houses works by twentieth-century masters of painting and sculpture. Many examples of monumental art will interest children with their unusual shapes.
The Albertina in Vienna also offers outstanding family programmes that reveal the secrets of the paintings. The symbolism in Dürer's works, Da Vinci's spiritualised Madonnas and Cézanne's emotional canvases are all topics on the tour.
There is an audio guide if you prefer to explore the halls independently. Drawing and craft enthusiasts can take part in children's workshops.
Has your home opened a branch of the art gallery after such a tour? Congratulations: visiting art museums can now be a must for family holidays.
