Copenhagen Kids Museums
Copenhagen is a wonderful kid friendly city. It’s easy to explore, the public transportation is top notch, it’s safe and there are plenty of activities to keep the little ones busy and having fun. The streets are fun to roam and the architecture is beautiful. Local kids easily navigate the buses and streets and prams are everywhere. Regular streets and walkways turn in to fun experiences and places to explore. How can you not fall in love with a city that puts trampolines in the side walks?
With so many kid friendly adventures in Copenhagen I’ve chosen to focus this article on our 3 favorite kids museums in the city – The Experimentarium, The National Museum of Denmark, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Each one of these museums has a completely different feel and focus. They are all 3 wonderful in different ways and the combination of the 3 made for a memorable travel experience.
The Experimentarium
The Experimentarium is one of my favorite kids museum. It’s huge and has exhibits that both have a lot of hands on learning and places to play. If you have room in your schedule, plan to stay a full day. The museum is a short and fairly easy bus ride from the central city part of Copenhagen and is definitely worth a visit.
This kids museum is so large and has so many places to play that even a 5 hour stay made us feel like we were rushing through some parts and missing others. That’s OK because we were able to take our time in certain areas and really enjoy the experience. See the map and all of the current exhibits here.
My kids (and my) favorite section was the water area in the back – called the beach. This area had multiple water tables that can be typical of kids museums but they are done in a way that the kids can more easily figure them out and spend time playing without direct help from mom and dad. There was also a replica of a submarine that lead to some great imagination play. A good kids museum always has areas where kids can play by themselves without direct parental involvement. Those little imaginations need to grow.
The days we visited the center there were exhibits were made up of family friendly competitions. The kids loved this. There was climbing, dancing, obstacle courses and more. You logged in at each stop and tried to work together to beat your time.
The front of the second floor has a really well done space representing shipping. Different color balls move around and the kids place the balls in cargo ships and transport them. Younger kids just like moving the balls with the ships. For the older kids there is more detailed information about carbon footprints and energy costs. There is also a very nice interactive cargo ship with video simulator. It’s great for the older kids (and dad). It even replicates the wind – brrr. There are smaller science exhibits sprinkles throughout this area too.
Around the outer edges and in the middle are multiple learning interactive opportunities. In these sections the kids can learn about electricity, the human body and yeast cells. There was also a science experiment theater. The kids watched elephant toothpaste being made and several other really fun experiments. The presentation was in Danish (we were in Denmark after all) but it was also interactive enough to keep the kids attention even though we couldn’t understand what was being said.
We didn’t spend as much time on the 3rd floor but it does have a nice construction area that is great for younger kids and a puzzler section that is challenging to older kids (and adults. There is a light and sound section, physics areas and a bubble area.
During the warmer months the roof also makes a great place to play, hang out and learn. It was closed during our December visit. If you’re playing through lunch time the cafe is nice. We brought some sandwiches and snacks and supplemented with cafe food but you could feed kids nicely just with the food available in the cafe.
The Experimentarium was a wonderful experience. We’ve been to about 20 kids museums over the last 10 years and this one is definitely one of our favorites. The kids had so much fun they had no idea how much learned. For more information, hours, and locations click here.
The National Museum of Denmark
This is a very nice museum in the central downtown area of Copenhagen. We ended up purchasing a season pass while we were visiting and during our month stay we probably stopped by the museum 1-2 times per week. You are able to bring a companion with your pass and kids are free so for us the season pass made a lot of sense. We were visiting during the winter and the museum makes a perfect way to get out of the cold a few hours and let the kids explore.
The thing we really loved about this museum is that the younger kids (with a parent in tow) can hang out in the kids section while the older kids and remaining parent can explore the rest of it. The “adult” section of the museum was very good. My 10-year-old and I picked out a floor at each visit. We learned about the stone age, Vikings, Middle Ages, Renaissance, colonies, Egypt and a lot more. The exhibits are set up so that you can meander and take your time. There is a lot of learning packed in to this space and I really enjoyed their selection of artifacts.
The children’s section is set up as a series of historical play spaces with props and costumes. The set up is very conducive to imagination play at it’s best. They front area contains a small school house, puppet section, and replica’s of an outhouse and washing station from the 1800’s. Farther back is a small open fire cooking station with tea pots and dishes. Then you pass a really cool horse and a castle tower. This area also had really good dress up stations, swords, and armor. If the kids section was getting too crowded, the staff would at times put up some of the props. Past the castle is the viking ship – a favorite with my kids. Around a corner you’ll find a wall building section, drawing area, miniature museum featuring the pea from fable The Princess and the Pea and a replica wood burning kitchen with farm table.
My kids could play there for hours. For more information on location, hours and prices click here. It is closed on Monday (a lot of Denmark’s museums are) – we kept forgetting the Monday closures and showed up a few times to a locked door. The cafe was not open when we were there but there is a nice lunch area near the lockers. We generally would pack a lunch from home and eat it at the museum.
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is about a 45 minute train ride north of Copenhagen. It is located in a lovely town with beautiful waterfront views. The museum grounds are beautiful and very relaxing. My oldest and husband did take some time to check out the rest of the museum. The response from the 10-year-old – “I’m Confused.” Many of the exhibits rotate. I can understand how kids and adults can go through a modern art museum and just not get it but that’s part of the experience.
The kids section and reason we choose this museum was pretty cool. It is set over 3 floors and is divided in to art stations. The bottom floor had clay, painting, charcoal drawing / pencil shading and cookie decorating. this was our favorite floor. The top 2 floors had a lego station, glue projects, coloring projects, and a light/shadow area. I think it’s reasonable to spend a few hours in these area if you have artistic kids. If you have runners that don’t sit very still it may not keep their attention very long.
There is also a fun slide going down a hill just outside of the kids area and it’s overlooking a very pretty lake. The food in the cafe was good. We did a combination of cafe food and food that we brought with us to help stay in budget.
This is a great day trip from the city of Copenhagen. Getting there and exploring the small town was part of the fun. You can also combine the trip with nearby sites and castles. For hours, directions and more information click here.
Copenhagen as a Family Friendly Travel Stop
Copenhagen was the most family friendly city we visited in on our gap year. We just loved it. There are so many wonderful activities for kids, public transportation is great, and the people are so nice and helpful. There are many museums and some pretty cool opportunities to experience the royal side of Copenhagen. We really enjoyed our time there. If you have the chance Copenhagen is a must.
Like this article then please pin me …
We’re a family of 5 taking a gap year from normal life to travel. For blog posts, locations, and more information on how we did it and how you can to click here.
Take a look – Travel Shopping Lists:
Luggage,Kids Travel Accessories, Mother’s Day Gifts, Electronics, Car Seats and Boosters, Kids Clothing, Travel Supplies, For the Beach, Gifts for Travelers, Home School Books, Home School Supplies
