Museums for children and families

The family and the museum are not always the most successful – but in organizations that are clearly aimed at children in terms of subject and didactics. And some know it so much that the children don’t want to go home.

German Hygiene Museum Dresden: Meaningful objects for all generations

German Hygiene Museum
©David Brandt

“Journey into the body” is the motto of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, which was founded in 1912 and now describes itself in a modern way as “the universal museum of humanity”. The world-famous figure of the “Glass Woman” from 1936 is still there – and at the same time only one of many ways to find out what unites people in the depths of the heart Excitingly, the permanent exhibition “Human Adventure” deals with topics ranging from AIDS to nutrition and from sexuality to dying in seven rooms. This is also interesting for young visitors (especially as part of special tours for children), but they will probably find the children’s museum “World of the Senses” in the basement, designed for children five years old to twelve, which is very exciting. In the beautiful 500 square meter area, they can feel their way through the halls of mirrors, play the piano on the floor, try to remember the sound and listen to the fish that give electric displays in the aquarium. In addition, the XXL models allow detection inside the eyes, ears and nose, with the tongue and under the skin. Here the focus is on the human body and how it can be explored through all the senses.

Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg: Clear the way for the world’s largest train

Hamburg: Children of Miniatur Wunderland
©DZT (Francesco Carovillano)

How small the world can be! Hamburg faces America directly and is only a few steps away from the fjords and falls of Scandinavia. Just around the corner is what is perhaps the most impressive part of the landscape: the Swiss Alps, the six-foot-tall Matterhorn, and the ever-expanding more than two floors. Best thing: There’s something going everywhere, winking, swimming, gondola, toting. Above all, sweat, cry, cry, cry. After all, more than 1,100 1:87 trains run in countries and regions. Yooh! On the way, the small town of Knuffingen is especially busy – thanks to the airport, it lovingly attracted 10,000 residents and 115 self-driving cars. But here again, as in all of Miniatur Wunderland, the train is king. A total of 16 kilometers of track make up the cement empire, housed in a majestic building in the historic Speicherstadt, the largest railway system in the world. And a top attraction that is very popular with families. With approximately 1.4 million visitors each year, booking tickets is highly recommended, especially on weekends and holidays. Also a repeat visit, after all, the model area of ​​1,500 square meters is being expanded with new countries…

Kommern Open Air Museum: Get out of the museum

Mechernich: The Eifel conference group of the LVR open-air museum in Kommern
©LVR-Open-Air Museum Kommern (Hans-Theo Gerhards)

Open museums are the perfect combination of knowledge transfer, exercise and being outdoors and for this reason alone they are very popular with families with active children, especially in the summer heat. The Kommern open-air museum also scores for its size, which only a few other open-air museums in Europe can match. The 110-hectare site contains 79 historic buildings from the Westerwald, the Eifel, the Bergisches Land and the Lower Rhine. Farms, air and water parks, workshops, a school and bakery, a dance hall and a chapel are set in fields, farm gardens and orchards. Walking makes you happy. Visitors will not only be amazed by the “hardware”, but – and this attracts children in particular – they can also hear from their own perspective how people lived and worked in the Rhineland and North Eifel. In addition to the permanent exhibition “We Rhinelanders”, this is achieved through a series of colorful events and workshops such as baking bread and spraying children. Furthermore, under the motto “History in Play”, the actors change around the place, sometimes the mousetrap shopkeeper Regine, sometimes the mayor Carl-Otto Poensgen, sometimes nun Clara Fey and others. Horses, cows, pigs, geese and chickens are the animals you can meet every day.

The open-air museum of the Black Forest Vogtsbauernhof: a journey through time and a surprising effect

Gutach: Open-air museum of the Black Forest Vogtsbauernhof
© GNTB (Leungmo)

For many children today, it is difficult to imagine a time without the Internet, smartphones, cars and central heating. Even older adults are amazed by the completely different living conditions of their ancestors when they visit the Black Forest Open Air Museum in Gutach. At the Vogtsbauernhof, visitors get an in-depth insight into country life several centuries ago in the form of farmhouses, everyday and work items as well as clothing and ancient breeds of livestock that graze between mills, warehouses and bakeries – fun for young and old. . This works in particular to open the offers of courses aimed specifically at families and certain exhibitions of traditional crafts. Mill and saw exhibitions can also be done outside of normal operating hours using the museum app, not to mention four digital tours with all kinds of information. However, young children will be very interested in other proposals: a playground with rocks and a suspension bridge, a forest labyrinth for young explorers and the playground “Falkenhof”, which was opened in 2015.