It is generally accepted that holidays with a child are mandatory annual trips to the sea or “to nature”. They usually don’t take preschoolers with them to big cities, fearing that such trips will be boring, tiring and useless for them. And it’s completely in vain, because traveling is the best way to broaden your horizons and learn something! And in modern children’s museums, children and schoolchildren can not only get acquainted with world culture and history, but also have a lot of fun, and, most importantly, gain new experience, which they definitely will not gain if they stay at home.
1. Junibacken, Stockholm, Sweden
The main children’s museum in the world is dedicated to the fairy tales of Swedish writers. Here kids can play around in Mummy Mama’s kitchen, visit Carlson, ride the train and play pranks in Pappy Longstocking’s house. The museum has a café with a children’s playground and a bookstore; you can rent a baby carrier backpack (you will have to leave the stroller in a special parking lot at the entrance). There is an audio guide in Russian.
2. Nemo, Amsterdam, Holland
Nemo is one of the largest educational museums in Europe. Its exhibits (which can and should be touched) explain to children various natural phenomena and laws of physics. The Nemo building itself is also part of the exhibition; it was specially designed so that all the beams, ceilings and ventilation pipes inside were visible. The rooftop cafeteria offers a magnificent view of the city.
3. Public Transport Museum, London, UK
London is one of the most childfriendly cities in the world. The British capital has a huge selection of children’s museums, and many adult ones have special exhibitions and excursions for children. The most interactive children’s museum in London is, perhaps, the transport museum – here, with the help of a simulator, you can feel like a subway driver or a double-decker bus driver.
4. Zoom, Vienna, Austria
Vienna Zoom positions itself as a museum, although rather it is a huge entertainment and development center. The entire space is divided into zones for children of different ages: a playroom for toddlers, a painting studio for older children, and an animation studio for schoolchildren from 8 to 14 years old. There is also a temporary exhibition area, such exhibitions are usually designed for children from six years old, all the exhibits there, of course, can be touched.
5. Museum of Natural History, Washington
Washington DC is home to one of the largest natural history museums in the world and the most visited museum in the United States, and most importantly, it is completely free, unlike its brother in New York. Boys will certainly be interested in the hall of dinosaurs and the zoo of insects (not every adult can stand this spectacle),
and the girls have a huge collection of precious stones. In the cinema hall at the museum they show various educational films in 3D.
6. Metropolitan, New York
If you find yourself in New York with a child, be sure to visit the incredible Egyptian exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 39 halls display 26,000 thousand objects reflecting the history, religion, art and daily life of Ancient Egypt. The main exhibit is the Temple of Dendur, transported to New York from Egypt in 1965 and reassembled at the Metropolitan on the shores of an artificial lake. If your child has not been interested in ancient history before, then after visiting this museum he probably will.
7. Children’s Museum, Holon, Israel
An interactive museum offering a unique sensory experience – a complete immersion into the world of a blind or deaf person. In the “Dialogue in the Dark” pavilion, in the dark, accompanied by a blind guide, you can visit the forest, ride a boat, go to a cafe and do shopping in a store. During the Invitation to Silence tour, led by people who are deaf and hard of hearing, you will learn about the huge variety of ways to communicate nonverbally. These excursions are open to children aged 9 years and older and adults, but pre-registration is required. For preschoolers, there are exhibitions, master classes, role-playing games, and Russian-speaking guides.
8. Please Touch, Philadelphia, USA
The name of the museum translates as “Please touch,” which accurately conveys its essence. The little ones will be especially interested here; they will be able to become sellers in a replica of a supermarket, fix a car in a toy auto repair shop, run in Alice’s maze in Wonderland and ride on an old carousel.
9. Deutsche Museum, Munich, Germany
It is the largest polytechnic museum in the world, with huge collections dedicated to shipbuilding, aviation, space and nuclear energy. There is, for example, a life-size model of a mine, a real Wright brothers’ plane and an entire submarine! For preschoolers, there is the “Children’s Kingdom” hall, where you can conduct experiments with water, drive a fire truck and play a giant guitar. The museum is so huge that it would take at least a week to explore everything, so if you have limited time, plan your route in advance.
Photo: familywithkids.com
10. Eureka, Vantaa, Finland
This is not even a museum, but a real children’s science center. As part of the permanent exhibition, there are rooms dedicated to the human body, physics, chemistry and the development of technology. There are several interactive exhibits and simulators – for example, you can try riding a bicycle on a tightrope. The planetarium shows short 3D films translated into Russian, and the little ones will certainly enjoy educational cartoons and a performance by trained rodents – rat basketball. From the center of Helsinki to the museum it takes 15-20 minutes by train.
