Kelvingrove for Kids
Kelvingrove is a place of magic and wonderment for children of all ages.
With its 22 themed galleries, numerous interactive exhibits, excellent cafés and well stocked shop, it has everything they could wish for in a day out.
It even has landscaped grounds and nearby Kelvingrove Park – excellent for picnics or simply letting off steam.
Kelvingrove has been put together to help visitors of all ages make sense of a collection that spans Egyptian artefacts and Scottish wildlife to arms and armour and French paintings.
Start your exploration at the Mini Museum, designed specially for the under-5s. Small children will love the chance to identify faces and feet in the collection, or to don masks and admire their reflection.
Children’s fascination with dinosaurs is amply catered for in the excellent Creatures of the Past gallery. Here a 4-metre Ceratosaur skeleton jostles for position alongside a woolly mammoth and a giant Irish elk.
For older children, the enthralling story of ancient Egyptian Gods of the Living and the Dead would not look out of place in a video game. While everyone will enjoy the Strutting Your Stuff exhibit featuring magnificent 18th century costumes and the chance to dance a minuet.
Kelvingrove’s outstanding collection of paintings is also laid bare. From the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists to Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Monet, their stories are expertly, but accessibly, told leaving children with a better appreciation of art that will probably last a lifetime.
Indeed, some have put Glasgow’s current creative strength down to free access to museums and galleries from an early age. Think Simon Starling, Douglas Gordon, Jim Lambie.