Death to Edutainment

Today I visited the Natural History and Science Museums with my sister and four-year-old niece.

Let me make my position clear: when I go to a museum I want to see a mummy, a three-headed goat preserved in formaldehyde, and all manner of freakish exhibits in dusty glass cabinets.

I do not want to see a fun interactive installation depicting how a volcano works, a video with a child-friendly actor explaining how earthquakes happen, and an entire wing devoted to different varieties of rocks. When did museums become so repellently kiddified? Quite some time ago, probably. As my sister observes, a trip to the museum now ranks a close second behind musical theatre in the all-time league of Least Favourite Entertainment.

A proper museum.

Happily, my niece broke up the kid-centric monotony by needing the toilet every 8 minutes. She quickly tired of the 'touch & explore' crap and we brought the educational tour to an end.

The three of us then spent a very happy 45 minutes browsing the lovely artwork and grown-up consumer durables for sale in the shop of the V&A.