Galleries such as National Museum Cardiff pull in children with their play areas and pencils \u2013 but stick around and you\u2019ll notice kids critiquing Turner paintings too<\/p>\n
Neil Osborne and his three-year-old daughter Daisy are peering at a small, shimmering painting by JMW Turner of foaming waves crashing against a cliff. It\u2019s their second visit to the National Museum Cardiff (NMC). Daisy loves the dinosaurs in the prehistoric galleries downstairs, which Neil believes are more kid-friendly; the upstairs art galleries are quieter, with fewer children charging about. \u201cShe actually started whispering when we got up here,\u201d he says, \u201cbut she likes seeing the paintings and saying what they look like.\u201d He asks her what she makes of the Turner, and she replies: \u201cA fish.\u201d<\/p>\n
For us, today is a nursery day, so I\u2019m without my cub reporter. Instead, I\u2019m here solo in Cardiff to figure out whether getting under-fives into galleries is more about entertainment or education, and to gauge the feelings of fellow parents. I can\u2019t be the only one who thinks my almost-two-year-old might be capable of learning something from looking at art, can I?<\/p>\n
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