Do kids enjoy museums nowadays?

Did you like museums when you were in lower school? I surely didn’t. But my 9-year-old niece Krystal is different. She told my girlfriend Mandy that she likes looking at old things. So, instead of giving her a birthday present, we decided to take her to the Rijksmuseum. The biggest and most famous museum in The Netherlands. House to Vermeer’s Melkmeisje, the Nightwatch, and Vincent van Gogh’s self-portrait. I can’t imagine a 9-year-old liking museums, but maybe times have changed…

We thought we were smart by going to the museum on a weekday. Surely, museums are more crowded during the weekends, right? Well, if it’s a school holiday it turns out to be busy even on a Wednesday. We’re not off to a great start.

Anyhow, wondering if Krystal would love the museum, we booked a puzzle tour. Everyone gets a headphone and a tiny tablet. A friendly guy on the screen lays out the rules. Unfortunately, the maximum volume of the earphones couldn’t overpower the rowdiness of the crowds. Luckily, Krystal seems to know exactly what we have to do.

We follow Krystal, and the puzzle tour leads us to some of the most iconic and valuable Dutch masterpieces. We were lucky to see the Nightwatch, Vermeer’s Milk Girl, and even a unique historical artifact—a pot once used as a female urination device.

With each correct answer, we got a new piece of the puzzle to solve. After an hour of intense puzzling, we cracked the final riddle, and Krystal was rewarded with a special detective prize. However, there was a slight pickle.

As I mentioned earlier, the Rijksmuseum is the largest museum in the Netherlands. It is advised to reserve 4 to 5 hours to explore its wonders fully. More than one hour was needed for Mandy and me to read all the tiny letters next to the interesting paintings while solving a puzzle mystery. On top of that, the puzzle tour didn’t lead us to arguably the world’s most famous painter: Vincent van Gogh.

Krystal may still want to see the other half of the museum, Mandy and I devised a plan. First, we bribed Krystal with hot chocolate and a cake. We then made sure she was all rested up for the next round of the museum marathon. We topped it off by offering Krystal the opportunity to take part in the Disney puzzle drawing tour in the hopes of encountering Vincent van G.

Drawing is Krystal’s favorite hobby after playing in the playground, so she didn’t hesitate to answer. The idea of the Disney drawing tour is that you have to find details on artifacts and make drawings of what you see. Looking at how Krystal is running from room to room, there’s no sign of fatigue.

We make swift progress in the drawing tour, passing some new and previously encountered rooms. As we are 3/4ths through the tour, we only have 30 minutes left before the museum closes. Sure, time flies when you’re having fun. But still, there was no sign of Vincent.

Now, I’m starting to get a bit nervous. With only 20 minutes left after Krystal finishes her last quest, we ask her for a favor. Although we can see her legs start moving less coordinated, she doesn’t complain. “We had a drawing class about Vincent van Gogh at school,” she says. It’s difficult for her to explain what makes his painting style so different, but I believe that she knows that Vincent wasn’t an ordinary fellow.

Five minutes before the museum closes, we have finally found Vincent. The three of us take a close look at all the brush strokes that have been painted 137 years ago. What took Vincent van Gogh about a day to make; took us 6 hours to find, and one minute to look at. I’m happy. Mandy is happy. But what about the 9 year old?

I’m not sure if Krystal really paid attention to the “old things” she claims to like looking at. Maybe she liked the puzzle tours more. However, I’m 100% sure that when she grows up, she will look back at this day with a smile, maybe not because of the priceless paintings, but just because she had a good time at the big museum with old things.