A version of the tour your children will actually want.

A museum tour pitched at adults will lose a child within minutes, and a bored child can end a family visit fast. So many of our tours have a family version — shorter, livelier, told in a way that grips younger listeners, with things to find and questions to chew on that turn the galleries into a treasure hunt rather than a lecture to endure. The aim is simple: a museum visit the whole family enjoys, where the children come away having genuinely loved it rather than merely survived it — and where, just maybe, a love of museums takes root that lasts them a lifetime.

Made for children, properly

Not the adult tour, slowed down.

A family tour is not the grown-up tour with the long words removed. It is written from scratch for children — shorter, because young attention is precious; livelier, because a flat voice loses them instantly; and built around stories, mysteries and things to spot, because that is how children actually engage with a place. A good family tour sends a child hunting through a gallery for the animal hidden in a carving, or wondering aloud why a king is holding that strange object, and suddenly the museum is the child's adventure rather than the parents' outing. Suzanne, who leads our content, takes particular care over these, because winning a child's interest in heritage is both harder and more worthwhile than holding an adult's.

For parents, the relief is real. Instead of dragging a restless child past cases or cutting the visit short, you have a tour doing the work of keeping them curious and occupied, at their level, while you enjoy the place too. The family versions are clearly marked in the app, sit alongside the adult tours of the same museums in the library, and are included with the all-tours pass at no extra cost — see the pricing page. A family sharing one phone needs only one pass.

A child listening to a family audio tour in a museum

What makes them work

The things that keep a child listening.

A family tour earns its keep by holding a young listener's attention. These are the ingredients we build into every one.

Short stops

Each stop is brief, because a child's attention is brief. Better a short, gripping minute that lands than five thorough minutes that lose them halfway. The whole tour is paced for younger stamina.

Things to spot

The tour sends children looking — find the cat in the painting, count the columns, spot the broken bit — turning passive looking into an active hunt that they lead and the parents follow.

Real stories

Children remember stories, not dates. The family tours tell the human tales behind the objects — who made this, who owned it, what happened to them — so the history sticks because it was a good story first.

Family questions

What parents ask.

What ages are the family tours for?

Broadly primary and early-secondary age — old enough to follow a story and hunt for things, young enough that the adult tour would lose them. The app notes the suggested age for each family tour so you can judge the fit for your children.

Do we need a phone each?

No. A family sharing one phone needs only one pass — pass the headphones around, or use a splitter so a parent and child listen together. For older children who want their own, a second device can use the same household's purchases per the app store's family-sharing.

Are family tours extra?

No — they are included with the all-tours pass at no extra cost, and where a single tour has a family version, buying that tour gives you both. The full pricing is on the pricing page.

Make the museum the children's adventure.

Download the app and try a family tour — the all-tours pass includes them all.

Get the app See the tours