Prepare your kids for the next museum visit to help them enjoy it and maximize the things they will learn and bring back with them.
Whether your children will be taking a school field trip to a museum or going with you as part of the family vacation, plan now to prepare them to enjoy the experience and capture valuable memories for later reflection.
While it need not become solely an educational outing, a museum visit can combine fun and learning activities. Brief them ahead of time so they will know what to expect, how to act, and what to do while there.
Assuming they will have adult supervision through their teachers or parents, here are a few tips of which to remind them in advance:
1. Follow the leader. Whether it's a parent, teacher, classroom mother, or museum guide, children should pay attention to the adult in charge. Tell your child exactly what you expect in terms of compliance and behavior. For example, depending on your son or daughter's age, remind her when to keep quiet and when to ask questions and when to ask to use the restroom. Insist that he not drift away with friends or take off with another group.
2. Plan snacks or luncheons. Kids of all ages enjoy eating, and the museum is no place to carelessly munch on chips or pop open a can of soda. Although the teacher may explain protocol in more detail, help the kids pack suitable lunches and snack items in coolers that will maintain the correct temperature for safe storage. Or suggest the best place to keep lunch money so it won't get lost or taken.
3. Look up topics and exhibits ahead of time. Find out what the museum offers and then find relevant facts or information before the trip so that kids will appreciate the visit even more. For a dinosaur display, check Websites or books that provide images and text about the types whose bones will be viewed at the museum. If the exhibit features pioneer life, do a little reading with your child beforehand to make the exhibit even more meaningful.
4. Go along if possible. Even for school field trips, parents often go as drivers or guides to help shepherd the students through the museum. Get a map or legend of the layout so you know where to take the group and find the most interesting and exciting displays. Also be sure to find out where restrooms and snack bars are located in case these are needed along the way.
5. Relive it later. On the drive home or within a day or two, discuss the high points of the museum experience. Ask questions about what the kids most enjoyed, and if you went also, share your insights and opinions as well. Look through the museum print guide if you have one to go over again some of the most impressive displays while explaining what you learned. Ask the kids to do a short report at the dinner table, and find out if the teacher will award extra credit for additional research.
Museums are great places to learn about past and unusual places, people, and things. Help your children get the most from their visit instead of letting them relegate this opportunity to the dim recesses of memory as a forgotten "field trip" to an unknown destination.
