If you love art museums like me, you don’t have to wait until baby is older to go! Art museums can be a great place to bring a baby. Here are some tips to make your visit the most enjoyable.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
LARGE COLORFUL ABSTRACT ART: babies start to notice patterns around 7-1/2 and 9 -1/2 weeks old.
BLACK AND WHITE ART: the high-contrast of a black and white image are more engaging and calming to a baby from birth to as old as 9 months. See my post about BLACK AND WHITE BOARD BOOKS FOR BABY to learn more.
INSTALLATIONS WITH LIGHTS OR MIRRORS: If your baby is anything like mine, they love staring at bright lights. Teddy was fascinated with a Bruce Nauman sculpture and Joseph Kosuth installation that were made of neon lighting. Rooms and sculptures with mirrors were also a big hit with Teddy. Babies will react to their image in the mirror around 14-1/2 and 19-1/2 weeks.
ACTIVITIES
STROLLER TOURS: Some museums offer guided stroller tours that are geared mostly to the parents, but offers an understanding audience when baby cries or spits up or any of the other fun things baby can do in public.
DESCRIBE THE ART TO THE BABY: Your baby obviously won’t understand everything you say, but just by listening to your voice and hearing new vocabulary words, babies can start to make associations to what they see.
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE VISITING
STROLLERS: Some museums don’t allow strollers in certain rooms or special exhibitions, but you can always check your stroller in the coat check.
BABY WEARING: This is my preferred method of bringing baby to the museum, because it gives him the best view of the art, especially when they are facing front in ‘explorer pose’ . Wearing baby on the back is usually not allowed because people can knock into art work.
MELT DOWNS: If finding a dark or quiet side gallery is not an option, you can always take the baby outside for a little bit. Most museums have sculptures outside of the building that you could check out until baby calms down!
Have you taken your baby to the art museum? Was there anything in particular that your baby enjoyed?
Linking up: Dr. Elise Cohen Ho
I adore the name of your blog. It is so cute! We have gone on many trips to the art museum with our kids. Now that they are older the visits are quite different but equally great.
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