tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454459186129750328.post1371200410010665452..comments2024-03-28T03:48:25.254-07:00Comments on Grumpy Art Historian: Museums! Stop engaging youth, start engaging middle aged men!Michael Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557727287816852329noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454459186129750328.post-23727890420230595822015-07-28T05:21:30.306-07:002015-07-28T05:21:30.306-07:00We visited 3 Museums in London, recently, with a 4...We visited 3 Museums in London, recently, with a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old: Natural History, British & V&A. Also, living in Edinburgh, we have visited the National Museum of Scotland on many an occasion. From my limited observations of my own kids, they should NEVER be taken as the final word on what should be in Museums. If you walk into a room and there is a video screen, the kids will go straight to it - no matter what it is. I was flabbergasted at the zombie like manner in which the two of them clicked aimlessly through the online line shopping kiosk. You have to put effort in to engage kids in a museum - you have to drag them away from the screens and engage them with the exhibits. It takes EFFORT. But if you put that effort in you get surprising results. For adults to be able to engage them, we have to be informed - either we come with pre-knowledge - or the collections need to be labeled in an informative manner. Interactive stuff is fine - but it will date (see the Human Biology part of the Natural History Museum), the collections don't become dated in the same way. Surprise hits with the kids: the sea creatures are of the Nat Hist Museum, the Assyrian reliefs of lion hunting in the Brit Museum and the vase you could touch in the V&A.Marcus Gilchristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300210402288760710noreply@blogger.com