Make Museums Even More Fun With These Museum Games

Sometimes, kids don’t realize how fun museums can be. If they don’t understand the historical importance of Ancient Greek pottery, or haven’t been around long enough to know what makes a Van Gogh so special, they might want to spend their entire visit looking at dinosaur bones. But, even though kids can learn a lot from colossal skeletons, we know there are lots of other things to see at museums.

That’s why, when taking  kids to a museum, it’s important to keep them engaged. And just like Mary Poppins taught us with cleaning, the easiest way to accomplish that is to make it a game.


Museum games can help you add some structure to museum visits, to make sure kids get as much as possible out of the experience. So here’s a list of some ideas to help make museums more fun for the whole family. If you have some tricks of your own, share them with us on Twitter!

Scavenger Hunt: This one takes a little planning ahead on your part, but it’s worth it. Simply make a scavenger hunt based on items throughout whatever museum you’re visiting, and incorporate  educational trivia into the clues.

20 Questions: Take turns choosing an item in a room, or within one painting, and play 20 questions. (Is it a painting? Is it a watercolor? Are there flowers?) This one can be easily adapted for different ages.

Find a Rainbow: This idea comes from No Time for Flashcards, and is a great game for younger children. “In each gallery see if you and your kids can find every color of the rainbow. To make it more challenging you can add a rule that you can only find one color per painting. So that painting with the rainbow … yeah not going to cut it!”

Postcards: Many museum gift shops sell postcards of their most memorable pieces. Buy a few before you enter the exhibits, and let kids try to find the corresponding works as you mosey through each room. It’s like a museum equivalent of hide-and-go-seek.

Storytime: For the little ones who are creatively-inclined, this game is easy. Pick a painting, and have them tell you a story about it. Why is “The Scream” screaming? What did Degas’ ballerinas do on their way to the studio? This not only lets kids exercise their imagination, it also inspires them to observe and focus on a painting.

[Image vis Flickr/Paphio]


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