Museum of You

The purpose of these conversation ideas is to encourage your young child to identify artifacts in their life: stories, photos, favorite clothes, songs or food. These things carry meaning. And your child will engage with their own story. This can easily become a family project, perhaps in preparation for a holiday gathering.

• After a museum visit, suggest that it would be fun (and interesting) to create a Museum of (Name).
• What sorts of things do we see in museums? What kinds of things do we learn?
• Draw a picture of a museum facade with their name on it.
• Let’s think about the special categories or rooms that can help a museum visitor understand and celebrate you. A room of favorite songs from when you were little ’til now? Favorite pictures? A room to explore our family tree? Books? Pictures of friends? Other ideas?
• Create a scrapbook or online document with headings for each room. If possible, you might want to clear space on a shelf for hands-on exhibits (like first teddy bear, old binky?)
• Suggest that, over the next week, they think about ideas, gather pictures or create drawings to include.
• If your child is old enough to work quite independently, you can create your own museum at the same time.
• Every few days, sit down together to review ideas and encourage them to tell you why each item is important to them. You can share your stories too.
• Encourage them to share with friends and family.
• As a family, consider a project to do museums for grandparents. What a lovely way for your child to learn about their heritage and the special people in their lives. And the grandparents will love to share.