#CulturedKids March 2022 #72

Welcome to the March 2022 edition of Cultured Kids, a blog link up for culture lovers! We share the best family cultural days out, travel, events and activities from all round the world.

A difficult start to the year, both personally and globally, means I’m rather behind with this post. Sometimes I feel what I write about is trivial. But especially in these troubling times, culture can help bring us together and celebrate our shared humanity whilst acknowledging our differences. It helps people find ways to spend quality time with their loved ones. None of this is trifling at all. So I’d love to hear what has been brought you joy and invite you to share your adventures with this month’s Cultured Kids.

Any type of post is welcome, from theatre reviews to trip reports and listing guides. All joining instructions and linked blog posts are at the end of this post.

 

So what have the Museum Family been up in 2022?

After a very quiet Omicron Christmas, we’ve somehow managed 40 cultural visits already this year!

The kids have seen a lot of contemporary art, including Annicka Yi‘s flying aerobes in the Tate Modern turbine hall, David Shrigley’s Mayfair Tennis Ball exchange at Stephen Friedman Gallery, digital show Lux at 180 studios and Kehinde Wiley at National Gallery. A particular hit was Parsloes Memphis by Eva Rothschild, a sculptural climbing frame in Becontree. And we were all mesmerised by Blackfield, a stunning installation of over 17,000 etched, hand-painted versions plants by Zadok Ben-David at Natural Reserve in Kew Gardens.

 

Wherever possible, we’ve timed our cultural visits with special family events. They’re such a good way to try somewhere different, knowing there’s activities aimed at kids. We heard drag queen storytime at the LGBTQ+ family day Jewish Museum – Museum Boy even won their colouring competition for his likeness of Aida H Dee. In Hands on Armour at Wallace Collection, Second Saturdays at Sir John Soane Museum and the Helen Frankelthaler inspired family day at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Despite you-know-what still stalking the city, London finally feels like it’s woken up up after its long slumber. The streets, tubes and big museums are packed again. Whilst I’m happy to see the city buzzing, sometimes we need to escape the crowds. We’ve been (re)visiting London’s smaller museums including the Egyptian Petrie Museum, the gloriously gruesome The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret and, our local, the William Morris Gallery for its family trail.

 

After the disappointment of Winter Lights at Canary Wharf being postponed, I was so happy that new light trails popped up after Christmas to lighten the long, dark winter nights. And so many of them were free! We enjoyed City Lights, Battersea Power Station Light festival and Bexhill After Dark.

With the kids back in school I’ve treated myself to some childfree exhibitions. It feels a real luxury to be able to take my time over text captions and give my whole focus to something other than my family or my phone! I’ve seen Bags Inside Out and Faberge at V&A Museum, America in Crisis at Saatchi Gallery, Francis Bacon at the Royal Academy, Louise Bourgeois at Hayward Gallery, the powerful Amazonia at Science Museum and Van Gogh self portraits at Courtauld Gallery.

 

We even had a little city break to Bristol, clambering all over the fantastic historic iron steamer SS Great Britain. Unfortunately Storm Eugene swiftly shut the city down, and, after a nail-biting 3 hour train journey, left us stranded overnight in Swindon. Silver lining – we got to visit STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway for a final reminder of Brunel’s brilliance.

As I type, the sun streams through my Saharan sand washed windows, as the magnolia blooms on my neighbour’s tree. Here’s to Spring, here’s to peace, here’s to more cultural adventures!

 

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time, we love reading your posts. ZenBaby Travel’s and mine favourites were:

• 2022’s cheapest European city breaks by Ladies What Travel
• Family day out: Forest fairytale in Croatia by Red Phone Box Travels
  
  

PIN FOR LATER: