A little museum just for little ones

musee.jpgI am really enjoying the fact that my oldest daughter is morphing into a little person with whom I can actually start having interesting conversations with.  Don’t get me wrong, we are not spending hours discussing the details of the theory of relativity, nor does she have a particular view on who should be the next US president, but she has started asking interesting questions and describing what she is feeling and seeing, which is really rewarding after 2½ years….

The flip side of this is that she is not content anymore to play for hours with a tupperware container filled with a couple of pasta tubes, but now needs to be stimulated and entertained. This is not always an easy thing to do especially now that the summer is over.

I have recently discovered that the Musee en Herbe, has opened up a little branch right in the centre of the city. The Museum was created to teach kids about art, and they have great little atelier (workshops) on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings from 2½ years onwards. The atelier we attended was grandly called ‘Pop Art’. My daughter loved it; she learned how one colour was made out of different colours, and came out of the workshop with 3 different art pieces and a big smile on her face. She is still informing me at random moments that actually green is blue and yellow together!

The big plus for the moms: you can drop your kids off and have a nice hour of undisturbed shopping around rue Etienne Marcel. I could honestly think of worse things to do.

The little museum is lovely and there is also a great little shop selling art and craft supplies and books all aimed at kids.

- Emilie

6 COMMENTS - Add your own

1. Esther | September 17, 2008 | Reply

Sounds lovely. Is it just in French or do you think they would manage in English too?? (When we visit Paris next I would love to drop Sara of for an hour, but if everything is in French I’m afraid she would be traumatized)!

2. Emilie | September 17, 2008 | Reply

Good question! I will call them up and find out!

3. Emilie | September 18, 2008 | Reply

Just called and asked how they deal with a non french speaking child. They are more than wiling to try and integrate a non french speaking child, but the classes are all run in French so it could be a bit difficult for the kid. They said that there would be no problem for one of the parents to attend with the kid to facilitate.

4. Esther | September 18, 2008 | Reply

Hmmm… I found the beauty of the concept that the parents could go and have a coffee while the kid is in class! :-)
Will have to start French lessons…

5. Babyccino » L’Apriori tea room | October 20, 2008 | Reply

[...] arrondissement (thanks to Marie from LFG for introducing me to this gem). It is super close to the Musee en Herbe, and is a little oasis of calm in the middle of frenetic Paris. It is run by a lovely American [...]

6. savannah | January 3, 2011 | Reply

hi i am 6 years old and a realy goods reader and speller
i thot that was cool

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