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The British Museum

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The British Museum

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44-48 Bloomsbury St
London WC1B 3QQ, England
011-44-20-7323-8000

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Art Museum
History Museum
Science & Nature Museum
Special Collection
Historical Landmark

The British Museum Description

One of the world's most renowned museums is surprisingly kid-friendly. Famous mummies, ancient art like the Elgin Marbles, the most famous statues from the Acropolis of ancient Greece ... step into a time-traveler's tour of human progress around the world, in rooms arranged by place and chronology. Pick your trajectory through history and just walk down one hallway, where you can spend as much or as little time as you like (the museum's free). The wall explanations are informative enough to be interesting to adults, clear enough to read unedited to kids, and full of surprises.

Kid Tips

Toddlers & Pre-K: Pick up either a "Chasing Rainbows With Mama Rata" trail (a color and shape exploration guide), or a "Dancing with Shiva" trail (a counting guide), at the Paul Hamlyn Library.

School-Age Kids: Organize your visit around your child's interests and what they are learning in history class at school. If you're interested in prehistory, you can't go wrong starting with 10,000-year-old stone axes from Britain and prehistoric people dredged out of bogs, following through the Roman occupation, on to the coming of the Saxons with perfectly-preserved examples of swords and armor. Younger children love the mummies, swords, giant statues and other wonders and oddities clearly presented in clean, bright rooms.

Planning Notes

Take an on-line tour. You can pop in and out of this museum in an hour or decide to spend the better part of a day here. The Web site has on-line tours to plan out your visit in advance.
Check the events calendar. You'll find the schedule for family programming, gallery talks about everything from Persian coins to British ceramics, crafts demonstrations, and storytelling.
Bring a pound. Lockers where you can stash your stuff are located in the Ford Centre for Young Visitors.
Pick up a Ford activity family backpacks. These have games and puzzles you can do as a family in the galleries. These take about 1.5 hours to complete and the last backpacks are given out no later than 3:30 p.m.