How many hours can you expect a 9 year old to spend in the Louvre?
 

We will have 5 nights in Paris and I want to devote most of a day to the Louvre, because I don't know when I will be back, if ever. My plan is to start early on a Wed or Fri when they are open late. We would arrive at opening, see whatever we can, then have some lunch and see the Jardin des Tuileries and stroll around some there. Then more Louvre, til we have seen as much as we can. So how can we do this with a 9 year old? There will be 3 adults so we can take turns taking her around to things that will interest an older child. I read somewhere about a moat and obelisks and other exhibits for older kids.

Thank you so much for any advice!
Jennifer

I think all day long is too much for most anyone but definitely too much for a 9 yo. (You consider a 9 yo 'older'?)

To be fair to everyone -- I'd do a tag team and one/more of the adults plan on taking her out and about to other things -- hot chocolate at Angelina's, watching kids sail boats in the Tuileries pond, etc. A full day in any museum would be a tough row to hoe, but the Louvre will be even more overwhelming.

Yes, I know you mentioned going outside for lunch . . . but you are still talking about a fulll day in the Louvre.

How many hours?? I would think more in terms of hour, as in one hour.
What time of year will this be? Summer, crowds, a 9 year old? Bad combo.

After. 2 hours in a museum I have to take a break ......my eyes ( and feet) get tired and the art starts to blur.
I give a little person less than have that time.

Personally I think that more than two or three hours in one day are the limit for an adult to spend in any museum, if he/she intends to retain any memory of what one sees. My hard drive reaches saturation after that much input. I need to go away and do something entirely different while I digest what I saw, otherwise the entire experience becomes a blur. That's just me, but I know that a child's retention/interest span is much shorter than mine.

I would suggest you limit your own stay on any one day to a much shorter time span. You don't say what time of year you are coming, but if the weather permits try to arrange your schedule to let the kid go play in the Tuileries, ride the carousel, have an ice cream cone, after an hour or so while you are doing your thing inside. Come back another day to do another section. Believe me, you will be back, but never "do" the whole place.

Can you go in and out and back in again on the same ticket? Also, wouldn't you have to wait on lines both times to enter?

The analyst in me can not help but mention that The Louvre contains over 70.000 pieces of art. Even for those who could possibly spend a long day in the museum, that is an insane amount of art to try to "appreciate." Factor in crowds, fatigue, hunger, boredom, and WC breaks and you have a perfect recipe for disaster.

>>Can you go in and out and back in again on the same ticket? <<

Yes

>>Also, wouldn't you have to wait on lines both times to enter?<<

There are seldom long lines at the Carousel entrance.

Access won't be a problem - But everything else will be. It is still waaay too much.

Each child is different. At age 9, I outlasted my parents in the Louvre.

I think that three hours..

Every child is different but for my nine year old, it would be 30 minutes to an hour. If you go in the summertime, you might be able to have an adult take your nine year old to the carnival held nearby. In the summer with crowds, more than 60 minutes is probably too much for most young children.

Wouldn't it depend upon the child? How much does the child know about art?


There are some wonderful children's book that will help to make art fun. I picked up a book for my grandniece, Pish Posh Hieronymus Bosch. It's taken me a while to send it to her but the other day a young visitor came over and really liked the book and asked some interesting questions.

You may not get more than an hour out of her at a time but it could be an hour or two well spent.

Anything one understands becomes more interesting.

I'm with LSky. It depends on the child. Have you thought about asking your child instead of people here? By the time I was nine, I had well-formed ideas about where I liked to spend my time and where I didn't, based on experience. I actually much preferred hours in museums and movies and libraries to place like ice skating rinks or horseback riding or gardens, although my siblings were different. But you could have asked any of us at age 9 and we would have had as good a guess as any adult about how much time we'd enjoy spending in one stretch in a big art and history museum like the Louvre.

If your child has never been to a big art and history museum, is there one nearby where you live.

Also, in contrast to what some others have said, I think setting aside an entire day for Louvre is actually a wonderful idea. If you go and find out you are less interested than you imagined you would be, nobody should force themselves to carry on. But if you time there is totally open you will feel a lot freer to discover rooms and paintings that you might rush by if you are following some map of "must sees."

If you do ask your child, I would not hold him to his answer one way or the other when the day actually comes. I think you should be be prepared for the fact that anybody in your group is going to want to leave or stay longer than others. Obviously an adult can just go their own way and a child can't, but I would respect your child's reactions to go or stay and not pre-decide the issue.

Depends on the child. Kids that age are like sponges and soak up everything until they have expert knowledge - if they are interested in the topic. If the young lady in question is into art and has a bit of background knowledge she might well show more endurance than all three adults together. If not, or if she has always been told that museums are boring, then 30 minutes might be already too much.

Prepare her. There are excellent books on art for children. Are the accompanying adults able to provide a bit of explanation, should she ask? (If no, read the books together with her.)

I am all against limiting children to nothing but playgrounds, fun parks and pony riding. I like your plan, it sounds like a relaxed and flexible day. Make the museum visit an expedition full of new discoveries.

There is no moat inside the museum (though on the eastern end you can see the remains of a dry moat from the outside) but what you can see in the lowest level are the remains of the base from the original medieval tower. Perhaps there is the old dry moat around the tower too but I can't remember.

Since you can come and go at will with your ticket you can gauge your child's level of interest and see if they want to return or do something else. Something that might make it interesting for your child is doing a treasure hunt and there is a company that does this. Check out the link below to learn more about the treasure hunt inside the Louvre:

http://thatlou.com/

Sorry for misreading your first post and misidentifying your child as a boy, not a girl. But that doesn't change my view of it. Like the rest of your party, she either will or won't be interested, and it is nice you have a lot of flexibility built into the plan.

Another note from reading posts above: More that OD'ing on the Louvre, a 9-year old is more likely to OD on Angelina's hot chocolate, which many people find to be sickening. It is basically a pot of melted chocolate bars poured into in a teacup. You are offered whipped cream to make it drinkable or palatable, but a few sips is often the most adults can manage. Children less.

http://www.burpple.com/f/OBAK78OS

Here's another link to Angelina. It is not cheap, usually has a line of tourists waiting to get in, and then people are not happy with the super-sugared stuff.

http://www.sugarednspiced.com/paris-angelina/

Most galleries and museums have special activities for children.
Have you considered a family tour?
I have never been on one, do cannot recommend, but you could Google. There's this one for example http://parismuse.com/tours/paris-mus...e-family-tour/

Our experience when each child was 9 at the Louvre or a reasonable facsimile:

Child 1 - all day
Child 2 - less than one minute
Child 3 - 90 minutes

But it can be hard to predict. At the Peace Park Museum in Hiroshima number 3 (then 8) refused to leave. Some subjects can attract them. Or not.