Keep in mind that children learn through their senses and through direct experiences with their world. Fortunately, active learning is "hot" in many museums today! They emphasize learning about various cultures through interaction with that culture's arts and artifacts. In one exhibit, children learn about the First Americans by trying on moccasins and holding arrow heads. At a historic plantation in the south, students experience plantation life by grinding corn, weaving at a loom, dying fabric with indigo dye, and milking a cow.

      Art museums offer interactive experiences as well. While learning about body parts, children look at a variety of portraits and discuss the shapes of the eyes, noses, and faces they see. They compare a portrait of a full face with a side view of another. Then each child is given a mirror, paper and markers. Children study the shapes in their own faces then draw self portraits.

      Other children in the art museum play "mirror" games, assuming the position of people they see in the paintings. They tell stories about the pictures, imagining where the people are, what happened just before the picture, and what might happen next.

      To ensure a successful museum visit, follow these tips:

1. Plan ahead. Look through the phone book early in the school year for museums in your area. Don't overlook the unusual - the doll museum, antique car museum, the fireman's hall of fame.

2. Visit the museum yourself or talk with the education director to learn what exhibits will interest young children. Plan your curriculum and your visit around that.

3. If the museum has nothing to interest young children or if they expect children to stand in front of one display or painting after another listening to an adult talk, DON'T GO THERE! Everyone will be unhappy.

4. Remember that children are active learners. Keep them on the move, and whenever possible, provide hands-on experiences for learning.

5. Consider the children's short attention spans and their ability to quickly become over-stimulated. Don't try to see everything in one day. It's best to have a great thirty-minute experience that leaves everyone wanting to come back again.

6. Bring a souvenir back to class to stimulate discussion of the trip. Picture post cards of the exhibits you saw are an inexpensive and durable choice. Museum guide books are often available, as well. If you can afford them, instant photos are another favorite.

7. Plan follow-up activities for when you return to class. Some students dictate chart stories. Others draw pictures of their trip, dictate their memories, and gather the pictures into a class-made book. Others post photos, student-drawn pictures and dictated memories on a bulletin board to share with parents and other classroom visitors.

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