It’s exciting times in Britain’s
museums and galleries. Never before has there been such imaginative
and innovative plans and practice. Museums up and down the
country are striving to make everyone not only feel welcome
once they have entered their doors, but feel able and eager
to make take those first few steps towards them.
It’s also exciting times at Kids in Museums, a classic story of good emerging out of bad. Founded three
years ago under the auspices of the Guardian, when writer
Dea Birkett’s young son was thrown
out of the Royal Academy for being too noisy, Kids
in Museums now leads in promoting family-friendly
policies, attitudes and exhibitions throughout Britain.
The Kids in Museums Manifesto has
been a phenomenally successful and useful tool in encouraging
and
guiding museums in making a family visit enjoyable and engaging.
In all its work, Kids in Museums
sees a museum visit through the eyes of the visitor and draws
on visitors’ experiences and expertise.
Now Kids in Museums is growing
up. It is being set up as a separate organization and applying
for charitable status. This will enable the good work to
expand and develop. Kids in Museums and
the Guardian will continue to work together on the annual
award, the Guardian Family-Friendly Museum Award.
Kids in Museums was founded as a
visitor inspired and led organization. Everything we do is
from the visitor perspective. We hope many of you will become
involved.
For the past, present and future of Kids in Museums
– and your role in that future – keep reading
below.
1 Be welcoming - from the car park attendant to the
curator. Emphasise that the museum is family-friendly
in publicity
and leaflets.
2 Be interactive and hands on - where kids
can touch objects, and learn to know what they are allowed
to handle, and what
they aren't.
3 Be pushchair accessible - with lifts where
there are steps, automatic doors, and a place to store
a pushchair.
4 Give a hand to parents to help their children
enjoy the museum.
5 Consult with children - not just adults
and parents - about what they want.
6 Be height aware -
making sure that objects and art are displayed low enough
for a child to see, and that signage
is at a child's height. Footstools should be provided
to help.
7 Have lots of different things to do - art carts,
picture trails, interactive experiences, storytelling,
dressing
up - so parents don't have to do all the work.
8 Produce
guides aimed at children, but also ones that
children and adults can use together.
9 Provide proper, good-value
food, high chairs, and unlimited tap water.
10 Provide
dedicated baby changing and breast-feeding facilities,
and good toilets where you can take a pushchair.
11 Teach
respect - help children to learn that there
are objects they should not touch.
12 Sell items in the shops that
are not too expensive and not just junk, but things
that children will want to treasure.
13 Have free entry where
possible, or have family tickets and children's discounts. Children may only want to spend
a short time in a museum, so paying a lot to get in puts
many parents off. Issue special tickets to families with
young children which allow re-entry, so they can go outside
for a break or even come back the next day.
14 Provide some
open space - inside and outside - where children
can run about and let off steam.
15 Provide some quiet space,
where children can reflect.
16 Make it clear to child-free
visitors that the museum is family-friendly.
Have special times when children are
less
likely to be there.
17 Have dedicated family-friendly days,
when extra activities are laid on for kids, and those
who want to avoid the crowds
can choose not to attend.
18 Provide a creche for young
children at major museums.
19 Attract all ages, from toddlers
to teenagers, without offering separate facilities for
each. It should be enjoyable
for the whole family - parents and children.
20 Don't make
presumptions about what children do and don't like. Some kids can appreciate fine art as well as finger
painting.
