Contrary to what may be expected, babies need very little to enjoy the museum visit. In this series of posts I report on our visits to museums highlighting the enjoyments and challenges we encounter as museum visitors. In this post: Wereldmuseum Amsterdam.
This museum was originally the museum of colonies, renamed into the World Museum in 2023 to become a place to engage with identity, cultural diversity, and the colonial inheritance in broader sense. It is still housed in a gorgeous building made for the Royal Institute of the Tropics from 1926 with great stone decorations. We still miss the gamelan but those were other times… Baby was impressed by the large space.
The general museum has a number of elements that are meant for interactivity. Every exhibition has a section for exploring the objects either with copies that can be touched or with activities in the weekends where visitors can paint, print, cut, and engage with hands-on materials.
We started by touching the plastic grass and daisy wall decoration of one of the main floor ‘boxed’ exhibits which happened to be about fertility and children. On the opposite side of the floor we found sea shells that serve as speakers, which are rich in texture for little ones, telling stories about climate change.
On the corner by the museum shop there is a children’s section with an overview of objects from various cultures, including a selection of percussions available for playing, an interactive game to learn how to dance to Brazilian Samba or Indian Bollywood music, and clothes from various places and times around the world. There is a section with recorded stories about various cultural festivities which baby used for his belly time.
We visited the new temporary exhibition Made in China which has a series of objects available for touch. Simple educational items that provide babies with a great deal of information as they discover the world mostly by touching (with hands and mouth). We spend quite a bit of time with the tactile experience and moved quickly through the rest of the exhibition.
Baby’s favourite, however, was temporary exhibition Ekow Nimako Building Black Civilizations – The Nile 3025 CE, which ends with a room with three tables filled with black LEGO pieces. We sat there for a good period of time discovering all the various types of black specialised shapes.
This museum has a prize winning children’s museum, the Wereldmuseum Junior, though activities start at 4 years old. We missed a carpet or small section to crawl on the ground for baby to have a moment of independence. Luckily there are new large ‘benches’ which served for belly time.
Main attraction
The colourful, culturally rich, and accessible sphere.
Unique feature
It is an interactive museum.
General basics
- Entrance and place for baby wagon:
Very easy ramp to access main entrance with one lift to easily access all floors, never long wait. The baby wagon can be left by entrance under staircase. - Toilet facilities:
On ground floor same as wheel chair. Baby table is on top of toilet so only mum or child can use the space at a time. Only one toilet in entire museum. - Breast feeding space:
We have been placed in room for group tours when empty, which is large and quiet. It works fine, though not really cozy. - Staff and sphere:
Very kind and personable support all the time. We always feel welcome.
Trilce Navarrete 