[Photo Credits: Abbey Hambrigh http://goo.gl/Znmy4]
So you’re probably having a good time touring museums, galleries and palaces with your children… but sometimes they get tired. And even when visiting the most wonderful, rich and astonishing places, it can be hard to keep all your family members attentive, awake, and quiet!
But don’t despair! If you want to offer your kids a cultural experience in an entertaining and interesting way, here are three Florence museums with childrens’ activities.
Palazzo Vecchio: fresco and turtles
If your children are over 8 years old, bring them to Palazzo Vecchio and join the Renaissance Fresco Painting workshop where they will be welcomed in a painting studio to know everything about the fresco technique. Your little budding painters will then create their own small fresco painting, learning and practicing each step of this sophisticated technique: laying the plaster, pouncing over the cartoons, preparing the paints and coloring in. Your kids might not become the next Leonardo da Vinci! But they will have a unique Florentine souvenir to bring back home.
If your children are younger, for example from 3 to 7 years old, let them play with The Story of the Turtle and the Sail. After watching a video, about the story of an old turtle that Cosimo I de Medici met (and saved!) when he was a child, they will explore the floors, walls and ceilings of Palazzo Vecchio, in search of the symbol of Cosimo I: a turtle with a sail hunt.
These are just two of a range of activities proposed by the Children’s Museum of Palazzo Vecchio.
All year round there are workshops and guided tours for children and families: to discover the Secret Passages, to experience Life at Court, to learn everything about the Story of the Robbery in Duke Francesco’s Studiolo, to search the Palace’s spaces, rooms, staircases and hidden corridors in the company of Giorgio Vasari himself (well, sort of!).
For information an booking: Palazzo Vecchio Family Museum
Horne Museum: experiencing the Palace
Another option is given by the Horne Museum with its thematic itineraries that mix theatre, videos, art, stories, games.
Here your children will take part in a Renaissance party, or speak to “living” pieces of furniture, or experience gilding (the practice of covering wood or other things with gold leaf).
All the activities are available in English upon request: Museo Horne
Palazzo Strozzi: a different point of view
The bright idea of Palazzo Strozzi for the youngest visitors (7 and under) is called These hands were made for looking: the world can be seen in lots of different ways, so your children will be asked to take a close look at the paintings… with their hands!
The activity called Through Different Eyes is instead for older kids, aged 7 to 12, to teach them everything about painting and “viewpoint”: the artist’s viewpoint… but also their very own!
And Palazzo Strozzi has also The Art Cards: a card for select works of art in the exhibit, with interesting facts, games and suggestions for activities to do while visiting the exhibition or back home. This is a family game to play together at any time.
All these activities are available in English upon request: Palazzo Strozzi
Other museums around Tuscany schedule workshops and special events for families and kids, so be sure to ask at the ticket desk so that your children can experience this fun and active way of visiting and experiencing museums.
And maybe this time you will not hear the classic question: “Is it over yet? Can we go now?”
