Make the most of Museums!

Museums have always held a fascination for this family and top of our list are Natural History Museums. So much to see, read, experience and learn. Museums are what you make them. Do not just sit there with a coffee and let your children wander around, experience each exhibit with them. Learn together! The collections you see are often unique and hold so much wonder. Encourage your children to stop and stare - if they can, to touch and feel. We learn through our senses the best. Do not forget to look at the buildings themselves. Natural history museums are often housed inside stunning buildings with a heady mix of ornate architecture and detailed decorations. Two of the many great museums to visit are the London Natural History Museum www.nhm.ac.uk/ and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History www.oum.ox.ac.uk/ . The OUMNH houses the Hope Entomological Collection and is an active invertebrate research centre. There is an extremely good permanent exhibit devoted to entomology as well as living displays and the opportunity to handle real live invertebrates. Have a superb family day out - go and immerse yourselves in a really awesome learning zone! Entrance is free but save a penny for a dinosaur cookie in the cafe overlooking the T-Rex exhibit. Hurry though, the OUMNH will be closed during 2013 for extensive roof repairs. When it reopens in 2014 it will be as fantastic as the day it hosted Charles Darwin's Great Debate in 1860!

Hands on sessions are always popular- a gorgeous Flat-rock Scorpion.

    Oxford University Natural History Museum.