I've always loved museums. Give me a quiet gallery, a good audio guide, and something ancient or beautiful to stare at, and I'm happy for hours.
Then I had a kid.
Now, museums are… complicated. Sometimes my son is all in—asking thoughtful questions, noticing things I never would have, actually enjoying himself. Other times, he's five minutes away from a full meltdown while I'm trying to speed-read the exhibit labels.
What I've figured out is this: some museums treat families like an afterthought, while others go out of their way to make the experience work for both kids and adults. The five below really get it.
Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City)
On Free Second Sundays, the Whitney is full of families. There are art-making stations, kid-friendly tours, and activities tied to whatever exhibitions are on display. When my son was little, he spent almost an hour gluing scraps of paper into what he proudly announced was a robot. (It looked more like a glue-covered spider, but I kept that to myself.) I used that time to sneak away and check out a few galleries on my own.
Plus, every Saturday, the Open Studio is set up for kids to dig into piles of art supplies and make whatever comes to mind. Parents can join in, or just sit nearby and catch their breath. If your kid still isn't ready to leave, you can download art activities to keep them busy at home.
Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists, so going to the museum during our summer trip to Amsterdam was a must. But I was nervous about taking my son. In my head, it was going to be a disaster: silent galleries, crowds of tourists, and me trying to enjoy my favorite painter while he complained about not getting to play soccer.
Thankfully, the museum had a secret weapon: A scavenger hunt. Suddenly, he was leading the way—darting from painting to painting, searching for tiny details I never would've noticed. Plus, I loved that the prompts got him really looking at the art—thinking about brushstrokes, colors, and how certain paintings made him feel.
Meanwhile, I actually got to stand in front of "Almond Blossom" and take a moment to breathe while he was busily sketching and searching.
National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland)
The National Museum of Scotland is part science lab, part history lesson, and part glorious chaos. The Explore gallery was a huge hit—especially the station where you can design a glowing pig, which my son found endlessly entertaining.
We moved on to Making It, pausing to gape at a lineup of historic aircraft hanging overhead, including Percy Pilcher's Hawk glider. Technology by Design had him busy creating a bike while I marveled at an original Apple 1 computer and a surprisingly fascinating exhibit on prosthetics.
The Energise gallery gave him the chance to run, jump, and literally light up a tower. We ended with the Millennium Clock, a wild, slightly eerie contraption that springs to life on the hour, and, of course, Dolly the sheep, who somehow manages to be both underwhelming and iconic.
ArtScience Museum (Singapore)
The ArtScience Museum pulls off a tricky balancing act: part serious museum, part playground, and somehow satisfying both crowds. The star attraction, Future World: Where Art Meets Science, is regularly described as stepping straight into a video game. For example, kids can design glowing sea creatures on tablets, then release them into a massive projected ocean where they spend the next twenty minutes racing around, shrieking, "There it is!" while parents try to avoid being mowed down.
The museum rotates its exhibits often---Singapop!, a celebration of pop culture complete with interactive games, was a recent one---so there's always something new. But the feedback is always the same: it's engaging for young ones and those young at heart.
Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City, Mexico)
The Museo Nacional de Antropología isn’t just big. It’s overwhelming — the kind of place where you check your map, then check it again, and still have no idea where you are. Even locals seem to wander like they’re slightly lost, and no one seems to mind.
Kids get pulled into workshops where they can make masks modeled after Aztec designs — glue, feathers, the whole deal — while adults drift through cavernous galleries filled with massive stone figures that look like they might topple if you so much as sneeze near them. The storytelling tours are surprisingly good at making the ancient history feel immediate, even if you walked in thinking you couldn’t possibly care about another pot shard.
