Huia

HI,
We are planning to spend a good 3 hours at the Louvre (April). 16 year old daughter and adults very interested in art. 8 year old daughter can probably handle 1 hour of art-seeing - and then will need something else - preferably something she can attend by herself... I've read there are children's activities, but can't find any info on Louvre website. Alternatively are there family-friendly activities/tours - ie of interest to both children and adults? Thanks.

AlessandraZoe

I think I know what you mean: you'd like a drop-off program for your young one so that the rest of the family can go on touring.

Sorry. I really have not seen anything like that sponsored by the museum itself--in fact, I don't recall passing any kind of activities room like ones we have at our local museums, either.

However, I have heard of some tour programs for children/families by independent operators. Here's one such program offered by Paris Muse:
http://www.parismuse.com/seminars/family.shtml
I saw it reviewed on the http://www.ciaobambino.com website, a website which has some other great Paris kid tips.

indy_dad

We went with a 9 and 12 y.o. Our aim was to primarily hit the highlights, but there is still quite a bit of those. We basically took the brochure which had a dozen or so (more?) photos on it and turned it into a scavenger hunt to see if we could find them. It's a big enough place that it was almost like a hike. I think that helped and made it more fun. Not sure if that interests you or not.

Both kids enjoyed the sculptures in the Rodin Museum more and we had fun posing with them, FYI.

Trip report and blog:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2011/06/paris.html

kerouac

I don't know how kids are now, but it was my brother and I who wore our parents out in the Louvre as children, because we wanted to see it all. "But there's MORE!" we would say as they sat pooped out on the benches. Our sense of aesthetics was certainly not highly developed, but we never ever got bored -- either by looking at the paintings, sculptures, ceilings or out the windows.

Gretchen

You may be grossly underestimating your child, which is too bad. BUT for all of you to really enjoy it, I would HIGHLY recommend that you try to get Michael Osman for the day to take you to the Louvre, and either do other touring or take you also to the Orsay. Michael would positively enchant and engage your 8 year old, as well as you and your teen. He would probably take you to the basement to see how the chateau was constructed--and the human elements that are still evident there. Then he could make some paintings come alive with their stories. He is a wonderful story teller as well as a "teacher" without the pedantics.
I don't think you'll find a drop off program at the Louvre or even a "children's" museum.
I agree with Kerouac--when we took our kids to Europe, we said we would do some things "they" wanted and some things "we" wanted--pretty soon "they" were saying "Wait--there's a cathedral we haven't seen yet". It was pretty funny--and fun.
But there if you still think this is a problem, there is the carrot and stick--we're here for a while, then we'll do something you want to--if she even knows what that would be.
Our museum DOES have a way for kids to stay engaged--it is a scavenger hunt that the child has to look for different things in paintings or galleries. You might be able to make one up, even not knowing the paintings.
But truth be told, if the child is old enough to go with you, she and you may just have to "deal" with the possibility that she won't like everything.
You could perhaps make the scavenger hunt mentioned in the other post by going on the Louvre site, or the Michelin Green Guide and making one up.

TravelinFeet

Play games like "I Spy" and looking for animals in pictures, or other"games" that get her interested without realizing it. Or hire a babysitter through your hotel to take her to a park while you go lol.

Christina

I presume the OP knows their own child and this is not the first museum they have ever been in, so they know. A lot of kids that age probably would not want to tour an art museum for 3 hrs. The Louvre does have tours for families and special workshops for children, the info is right on their website (under visits and activities). But I don't think the workshops would work for an average tourist family (you have to sign up for the workshops in advance, such as one for lithography, and I would presume they are in French and probably filled up ahead of time). Perhaps they are only in the French section of the website because they are in French, and if your famiily can't speak French, that wouldn't work. Otherwise, this is the info on children's workshops http://www.louvre.fr/ateliers
and various family activities http://www.louvre.fr/familles

I don't think they have any activities or tours in English except one introductory tour. They don't have just an area where people can drop off kids for free babysitting.

seafox

Gretchen has a good idea in contacting Michael. His rate is VERY reasonable. And he is a story teller. Tell him about your child, interests etc and you may find yourself having a great deal of fun at the Louvre. You can reach him at [email protected]

Huia

Thanks everyone - this has been brilliant info. Very grateful to you all. I especially like indy_dad's suggestion and very keen to follow up with Michael Osman - he sounds fantastic!! I'll look into the workshops - sometimes language is not a barrier to activity. With my basic french I can just make sense of the brochure - I just have to wait for the next season's to be published. No, I won't underestimate my child - but on a trip like this I was wanting to get some back-up tips just-in-case....Cheers.

mowmow

I was ten the first time I visited the Louvre.
I hated it, but not because I didn't like the art. It was big, really crowded, and I got swept up by a group of Japanese tourists and ended up clear down the hall before I could get out of their pack. I was terrified.

It was hard for me to enjoy because I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at, so it was boring. Who WAS Mona Lisa, who is Venus, you get the drift. I'd only learned US and California history by that point. I really liked the ancient stuff, but had no idea what any of it was.

There are some wonderful children's books that will help your visit go smoothly. Try http://www.parismuse.com/artnews/boo...for-kids.shtml to pick out a couple. They'll be at your local library, too.

Knowing a few Greek/Roman gods and goddess stories, reading the story about the Mona Lisa painting, and having background in the Egyptians will really make the visit a lot more fun. There is a cute children's series about artists; you might even have them. Learn some cuneiform writing and make some tablets with a stylus in clay before you go. Read the story about Nebuchadnezzar in a children's Bible if you are a religious family. The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was one of my favorites when I was growing up.

Pick out a few special pieces, learn a little about them, then make a game of finding them. The portraits made of vegetables are in the same room as the Mona Lisa, kids like those. Make a joke out of the armless headless statues, maybe they could count how many of each are missing. See how many Egyptian deities you can identify; What does the winged sun disc stand for? How many legs does the Assyrian winged bull have? Why? What is her cartouche? Does she see the same symbols on the sarcophagi?

Variety is the key; paintings for a while, then sculpture, then the crypt. I'd save the Egyptian and Syrian stuff for last, and maybe the Etruscan area, kids love that stuff the most.

Include your 8 year old in the planning so she feels like it's her visit, too. My Mom never did that, just dragged me around everywhere with no consideration to my age or interests. I threw a tantrum one day in Rome; it was over 100 degrees and I refused to go into another church that day. I was DONE with cathedrals, tapestries, statues, saints, etc. Sat outside in the air conditioned bus instead of seeing the Michelangelo statue of Moses with the horns. Still haven't seen it, lol.

I hope you have a nice time.

justineparis

Have been to Louvre as a child, and with two of my own. Louvre can be boring to kids if parents don't do a little homework and choose sections to visit carefully. Parents just drag them along and don't even have a clue how to interest them or what to show them.

Most big paintings are boring to kids. Some,, particularily violent or gory ones can be interesting.I also think if you can tell a story about a painting it makes more interesting. I still remember seeing the Raft of Medusa as a child.The hope and the despair, the old man holding his dead son,, drama. The Mona is boring its just a small painting of a rather plain lady,, ho hum, , the Venus De Milo and Winged Victory, while attractive,, aren't particularily interesting.

There are however interesting parts of the museum. Most kids find mummies interesting, so visit the Egyptian section. The Medevil Louvre is interesting, especially if you ask your daughter to look for the stonecutters marks. Back when stonecutters were paid by the stone, they often carved their marks into a stone to collect payment, these are rarely seen as stones that were exposed had the marks placed where they butted against the next stone, but in the Medivel section you are seeing the excavated ruins of the stones that were below the old moat line, consequently the marks were often not hidden( since it was assumed no one would see them below the moat level) so if you look on some stones you can see the carved symbols/brands. Challenge daughter to find three different ones. My kids found this amusing.
Jewels and over the top opulence is interesting, so a visit to Napoleons apartments is a good idea, my 11 yr old had never seen a chandiler the size of a car before,, has yours? And she loved seeing the jewels and jeweled goblets , crowns etc in that section.

Also, explain to child that the Louvre was in fact once a royal residence, a palace,,but before that a fort. Some sections are definately so adorned with amazing stone staircases and painted etc cielings.. very beautiful.

Anyways,, I think getting a private guide is not a bad idea,, they will have little tibits that will interest child.

The poster who cited the crowds had a good point too, the museum can be very very crowded in some sections, but surprisingly quiet in others, so I would try and spend time in quieter areas.

Hope your child enjoys the museum, but even if they only enjoy a few parts that should be good for now,, just don't make it the Bataan Death March so that they hate it,, hubby and you could take a turn spelling each other off,, one takes dd for a cold drink and bathroom break and you and older child continue on etc.. Good luck.

Huia

Thanks to the last two posters for your tips (and also your considerable time and effort - very kind - our trip will be so much richer/pleasanter for this). Good news - 'Louvre Up Close' suggested on the Paris Muse website is available in our library and am looking forward to us checking it out before we go. Merci.

AtlTravelr

You might also want to consider the divide and conquer strategy. I am the one in the family who would have a hard time with 3 full hours in the Louvre-it all starts to blur for me after a while. So I'd be happy with seeing some of the things that I really wanted to see and ditching out in half the time with the youngest. We've done this quite a bit when we traveled as a family-splitting up 2 and 2 to stay longer at one site. Even staying the same amount of time but splitting up so that the 4 of you are not all together all the time. That way you could go at the pace that is right for each subset. We've also split up between different museums since in some cases I had already been somewhere on an earlier trip so it was easy to send 2 to an art museum and 2 to the natural history museum. Having said that I'll tell you that both my kids would stay in museums longer than I would. Our first trip to Copenhagen my husband took our (older) daughter back to the room while I got to stay and see the "coin" area with my son. In this case he was the one who dragged me around wanting to see it all. It also made for interesting talks at dinner each night as we'd compare what we'd seen with each other.

sassy_cat

16 year old daughter should also be able to help out! She's interested in art and knows how to handle her younger sister so involve her in negotiations.

My son is 6+ years older than my DD and at 16 he would have been happy to entertain his sister in the galleries with pertinent questions or if all else fails take her for an ice cream break near the Louvre and return for more art viewing.

Gretchen

You should get the Michelin Green Guide to Paris and read ALL it has to guide you through the Louvre. It' in english also. You should be aware also that not all wings are open every day, so if you choose one, be prepared should it be closed that day.

amamax2

A fodorite, surfmom, wrote a fabulous trip report where she mentions the Paris Muse tour of the Louvre they did with her three kids, ages 10, 8, & 6:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...three-kids.cfm

From that report:

"We had made arrangements before we left to take the “Paris Muse Clues: A Family Tour for Young Treasure Hunters". We generally worked our way through selected rooms chronologically with the guide pointing out interesting facts along the way. The kids particularly enjoyed hearing about the Code of Hammurabi. Their favorite fact was if you hit your father, you would get your hand cut off. I’m not sure they exactly got the significance of it, but they still talk about that random fact!

We also visited the “big things” in the Louvre – Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo, however, we went through many other rooms and learned other interesting facts and details. Each kid gets an activity book where they have to fill in clues throughout the tour and at the end, they earn a prize. The clues were things that they had to find in paintings, on a sculpture, or in a room, but they also learned facts about art and the Louvre in the process. Another interesting thing we learned about was the Rose Line and the Arago medallions. What even made it meaningful for the kids is when they saw another one when we were walking back to lunch!

The great things about these tours is that they are your family only, so you aren’t stuck dealing with some other families’ knuckleheads – only your immediate knuckleheads. They can also tailor them as necessary on the spot – move through things quickly, or give more details as kids are interested."

StCirq

http://www.louvre.fr/ateliers

SloJan2

Gummy bears!

wayfinder45

I think picture-taking is allowed in the Louvre. Giving my 8-year old free reign with a digital camera was how we had an enjoyable 3 hours in the Vatican Museum.