British Museum with younger children

We've had a couple of recent visits to the British Museum. It is difficult to learn about the Egyptians and the Sumerians without visiting such an amazing resource especially when we live in the same city as the Museum. Today, was the turn of Ur and the Sumerians. It was exciting to see real objects which had previously been seen only as pictures. One of the lovely things about home education is to see the children enthused and today, Miss Belle was delighted to see the Mesopotamia room.

This week, I pulled out a book that I had found a year or so ago in a charity shop. Ottoline at the British Museum written by Sally Craddock and illustrated by Corinne Pearlman. I had carefully hidden since the summer so it would come out fresh and Ottoline has been greeted with enthusiasm by both my younger children (aged 3 1/2 and almost 6).

Ottoline is a white cat who lives near the British Museum and manages to sneak her way in among the legs and shoes. Once inside she manages to see mummified cats-a bit scary if you are a cat, Egyptian statues, totem poles and the Assyrian lion amongst other objects before being frightened by chiming clocks and finding the "Authorised cat feeding place."

My three year old was really excited to see a postcard with Ottoline on it and was very keen to go back to see the Egyptian rooms. My only concern is that he did mention being scared by the Museum, at one point. Did he pick that up from Ottoline who certainly was worried about the cat mummies and the chiming clocks?

I'm sure that a book about a trip makes that trip so much more memorable for younger children and prevents them feeling left out and bored. We've done this before both in London and Paris. Hopefully, something we can repeat again.