Take Your Toddler to the Museum!

Have you ever found yourself tearing your hair out wondering how to entertain your youngster? Take a trip to the museum. Even a two-year-old can have plenty of fun and learn a lot too. May is designated is Museums and Galleries Month so there are lots of special events on during May and you can find out about them on www.mgm.org.uk.

Many museums are directed at children, and they can delight at the life-sized versions of the characters they have met in books. But even the more adult museums can provide displays that fascinate a youngster.

At Henley Rowing Museum, my two-year-old grandson delighted at pushing buttons that released water to illustrate how much a household would consume in a day. When all the buttons were pressed the whole lot was released, ready for the next person. But he was learning that when he did something there was a reaction. He had power over a machine, but best of all was the gurgle that the machine made as the water disappeared. He was learning a different sound.
At Town & Crown in Windsor there was a puzzle that kept his five-year-old brother busy for a long time. It was a model of a lock. There was a boat one side of the lock and it had to be moved to the other side. Eventually he succeeded and was thrilled to bits with himself. Once he had conquered the problem, he wanted to show everyone how it was done. Sadly, Town & Crown has now closed.
At Chichester District Museum they had a sandpit with archaeological goodies buried in it. It was a bit messy, but the children loved searching around and finding them and then matching their finds to the drawings. Under the drawings were explanations of the objects.
Reading Museum has a dressing up box. Put a crown on and you are a KING! Children love to know what it feels like to be somebody else.

During the school holidays many museums put on special activities such as art and craft or scientific investigation.These are sometimes free, and you do not have to book, but some charge a small fee and booking is necessary.

Some museums have a story-time, just like the library, but the theme of the books that are read can be illustrated with real objects. That two-year-old was fascinated by some huge shells available at a story time about the sea.

In a local history museum you can examine pictures of your own town in the past and ask your youngster to say what you can see that is different now.

Find out from your local museum has to offer. You can certainly fill a morning there. And if your children are used to the idea of going to a museum for a fun day out, they will feel comfortable when they are taken to a museum as part of the national curriculum. The big, commercial museums may shout about what they do, but many smaller ones have activities but are not able to afford adverts and leaflets. You only know out about them when the pictures appear in the local press after the event. Find out what your local museum has to offer and support it.

About the Author:
Pamela Marson is a volunteer at the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum and is helping to organise Windsor Museum Appeal, an appeal for funds to replace Town & Crown with a larger museum.

Henley River and Rowing Museum
Roald Dahl Children's Gallery
Chiltern Open Air Museum