Facilitated parents and toddlers gallery tours

[aimz33]

Dear all

Just wanted to get feedback from people on an idea I have had for local families. I have worked in galleries and museums for the best part of a decade and specialise in creating content specifically for this audience.

I am thinking about setting up facilitated museum visits for parents and toddlers on a week day morning. The idea would be that I would facilitate a session at a local museum or galley for you and your children. The session would be part guided tour/part activity with content designed specifically to engage you and your children with the content of that venue.

Tours would last for about 1.5hrs and would meet at the venue (which would be listed in advance) groups would be small (I'm thinking max of 5 adults and 10 children per session)there would be a charge for the service which is as yet to be decided.

Do you think this is something you might be interested in? Would this be something you would be willing to pay for? as I said this idea is just in the initial stages so any feedback or ideas would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Aim?e

[scareyt]

Yes! There are places like the National Gallery / Tate Britain that I've never taken my 3yo to because I wouldn't be sure where to start or how to help him get something out of it. The idea of handing over responsibility for that to someone who knows what they're doing is very appealing! I took him to the V&A a while ago with a friend as an experiment and found it very frustrating - we couldn't easily find our way around, it was a nightmare with a buggy, the kids got fed up quickly and I'm sure we missed bits they would have enjoyed. On the other hand, places like the Science Museum and Museum of London are so well geared up for kids already that I wouldn't see as much value in it there.

So for the museuems that aren't obviously child friendly, then yes I think it would be a winner. The British Museum would be a good one too as it's so huge. Not sure on cost. Probably max ?10 per family if the museum itself was free? But ideally less. If it was on top of entrance fees I think any cost would be offputting.

[Bonfire2010]

Sounds great - I would definitely be interested as long as the costs were not prohibitive.

[aimz33]

Thanks both for getting back to me...

It's good to know that these is at least a little appetite for this kind of thing out there. Scareyt I agree there are lots of galleries and museums out there that are already pretty family friendly however it would be good to explore galleries were this provision isn't so obvious. Cost wise I had the ?10 mark in my head with entrance to the museum being free. Bonfire2010 does this sound like a reasonable fee?

Many thanks to you both

Anyone else with any opinions please feel free to let me know.....

[klove]

We'd definitely be interested, but agree the on getting the venues and pricing right. The Whitechapel Gallery does guided tours plus activity with curators for mums and babies for ?3, the Horniman does their free buzzy bees sessions. And then the Tate does lots of free family stuff too... but if you're offering something different that the museum/gallery's education departments aren't doing already (the Dulwich Picture Gallery doesn't do anything for that age group in the week) then there would be a definite market for it. Go for it!

[lightweight]

Dulwich Picture Gallery is ?3 for the kids' sessions, often combines a tour of gallery with art activities.