Scavenger Hunt at the Louvre

The Louvre itself has set up something called "Thematic Trails" which you can find on its website. You might want to play around with this, too, given the price--free.

Given that maps of the museum and a lot of information about departments, works, and the blockbusters are on line, you could create your own scavenger hunt having the kids follow the maps and lead the way to works you want them to see. (follow the map to room ###and look for the statute of the lady with no arms. What is she wearing and what do you notice about her? What's she made of and how do you think the artist made her? What do you think of her?)

The Louvre is a huge museum and is unbelievably jam packed in the summer. Keping track of all 5 members scattered around the different wings and various floors might be a daunting task for first timers. Going during the evening hours might be better if you are set on a scavenger hunt. We've been a half dozen times over the years and still find it difficult to navigate in the crush of visitors.

I thought that we could do our scavenger hunt as a family rather then letting the children fend for themselves. We will buy a museum pass and try to go in the evening. I guess that I haven't looked that hard but I can't believe that no one has set up a scavenger hunt for kids at the Louvre. We have done this at other museums where children have to find pictures of art . The other type of scavenger hunt that we have done is that the children are provided with part of a picture in one salon and they have to figure out which picture it is. Sometimes when we have done such hunts we have had problems getting the kids out of the museum.. The hunt put on by ThatLou sound fun but it is just too expensive for 5 people to do.

I have spent some time now surfing the Internet under the topic of Children at the Louvre. Some of the advice I have learned is as follows. The children should be prepped for the museum.Some people with travel blogs have even gone so far as to say that if the kids are not prepped that it probably not even worth going. Some ways of prepping are the children are getting some large coffee table books from the library, getting DVDs or YouTube videos or finding some children's books at the library on the Louvre or even on related topics like Leonardo Devinci. After viewing some of this stuff to have the children chose some pieces of art they would like to see. Then when one gets to the Louvre to concentrate on those pieces and perhaps the top 15 pieces at the museum. I guess children also like checking out the moat and medieval part of the basement. I think we will try to go twice. The first time we go we will skip the Mona Lisa and when go back the second time it will be to solely see her. We will have the benefit of having the museum pass. Any other suggestions for the Louvre. Any suggestions of educational material available for children. Kent do you have any thoughts.

The Louvre website has a lot of help for you in several sections. You have an interactive floor plan under "Plan Your Visit". The floor plans bring up selected art works from each floor. Clicking further you get information about each work. Don't forget there are three wings, each at least three floors. I would do western paintings and sculpture one day and antiquities the other day (The Scribe--Egyptian, Code of Hammurabi, etc.). You will barely scratch the surface. I spent six months going to the Louvre three or four times a week for classes and tours, and still haven't seen everything.

The Visitor Trails are under Activities and Tours. The Learning about Art section contains something called "A Closer Look", which goes into very interesting details on about fifteen very important works. The Collections and Louvre Palace contains Selected Works that will help you.

The Louvre has so much, well beyond the Mona Lisa, that it's difficult to suggest what your children would like. Hopefully the interactive floor plan and other Louvre materials on the website, along with the children's materials from the library, will help you narrow it down. As for the Mona Lisa, I think too much importance is accorded this one work. For the second day, I'd get there early, run in to see her, and then go on to other works. Children are going to be much more interested in the paintings by Arcimboldo, which are right out the door and around the corner in the grand gallery. BTW, there is another DaVinci, as well as a dynamite Rafael right there, too, in the Grand Gallery, and thankfully, you won't have ten-deep crowds standing in front of them.

There is absolutely no reason to pay someone 100 Euros for a list of interesting things to find in the Louvre. You can create your own with their web site and your computer and have all the family members choose 2 or 3 things they want everyone to find. Type it up and off you go. You can provide clues at each point for finding the next thing.

It is not a bad way to see a museum, certainly far better than death marching kids past walls of paintings. Our kids are adults who love art and museums -- it all started with a sensitive introduction to art by focusing on just a handful of things that interested them on museum visits and sharing a handful of things that interested us rather than slogs past hundreds of pictures. Your self chosen 'scavenger hunt' would be similar -- finding the pieces that are of interest to each kid and adult in the group.

I think that is good advice. I have now gone to the Louvre website and found the 45 pieces of art that they highlight. What I could do would be to make a scavenger hunt based upon these pieces of art as obviously my children haven't been on the website checking them out. The scavenger hunt could be based on individual rooms. Go to room 4. Find the statue with Cupid in it and write down who Cupid is kissing. (Answer Psyche). They would then be expected to look around the room, find the statue and figure out who Cupid is kissing. I think that would do pretty well to keep them entertained. I appreciate someone confirming my impression that 100 euros was a lot of money to do a scavenger hunt. I obviously won't be taking the 250 euro private family tour of the Louvre. If anyone has any other suggestions for visiting the Louvre with kids or pieces of art work that would be good for a scavenger hunt, I would be receptive to any further advice.

Just for my two cents - I don't think 100 euros is a lot (i.e. excessive) to do a scavenger hunt -- it's a question of time. If you have the time to do the research to put together a scavenger hunt, then great, do it. If you don't have the time, you're paying someone who's made it their business to put together a fun and interesting program for you. 100 euros seems a reasonable cost to me for a family of 5 (6?) seeing and learning something about the Louvre that they otherwise wouldn't (20 euros per person?). Of course it's all what it's worth TO YOU. Again, if you have time to look up information and put something together, that's wonderful. Lots of people don't, so they outsource that task.

You obviously are thinking ahead since you're already planning for this summer, so your planning is allowing you to save that 100 euros for something else. But it might be well worth it to someone else.

http://joinusinfrance.com/treasure-hunt-in-the-louvre-episode-63

This is not something that I'm endorsing but figured that this podcast might be helpful.

For the record, I have completed my scavenger hunt of the Louvre. It was actually fun and educational for myself setting up this scavenger hunt. I figured out the more popular 20-25 pieces of art that are in the Louvre. I then plotted them out on a map to figure out their location. I then laid out the hunt based on the Rooms and their proximity to each other. The children will be taken to a room and then be expected to find a painting and to then answer a question about the painting ie What colour of hat is the boy wearing in the painting of the Old Man and Boy. Not the most sophisticated questions but certainly for a while our children will be motivated to move through the Louvre looking for the different paintings instead of doing a death march with them. I probably spent a couple hours on this endeavor but now I am more versed with what some of the more popular pieces of art are in the Louvre.

Omg sounds amazing. Please, if you are inclined to share it, I would love it.

There is an original plinth of the Hammurabi Code in the Louvre, some wonderful Assyrian gates, and some sculptures by Houdon of George Washinton and Ben Frankllin. These are all pretty close to each other on a lower level and might make for a pretty interesting piece of this. These are things most people don't get to, and they are fabulous.

Good for you JRWest1!! You've certainly made the visit more enriching for your family.

Mission Paris: A scavenger hunt adventure is a Kobo book for children which you can buy online and use to scavenge hunt in Paris at the various attractions. Has anyone bought and utilized this book? I could only find one review on line which was favorable but still it only represented one review. The cost of the e-book is $4 so I probably don't have anything to lose by buying it.

Ditto what Kim said and you've learned a lot about the Louvre.

Thanks for the book tip. There were lots of positive reviews on Amazon. I just bought the Paris and London Mission books for our upcoming trip with our 10 and 12 year old granddaughters. We'll be in each city for a week. This should give us time to scratch the surface!