Holidays at the museum

House of Alijn

The sound game - walking tour for families

Can you hear it too? The city is full of sounds! Hendrik and Poes, the museum’s ghosts, take you on a tour of Ghent. During an active tour, you will guess, make, look for and draw sounds from daily life. Warm up your voice, loosen your muscles and complete all the challenges. Can you crack the code? At the end of the walking tour, you will receive a surprise!

S.M.A.K.

• Introduce your children to contemporary art and enjoy S.M.A.K.’s current exhibitions together: the textile works of Ana Lupas, a pioneer of Eastern European contemporary art, in On Ritual Time; the enigmatic and dreamlike paintings of Bendt Eyckermans in The Passenger; and a look back at the high-profile 1986 exhibition in 40 Years of Chambres d'Amis. Did you know that children and young people up to 18 get free admission to all exhibitions? 
• Let our First Aid for Difficult Questions about Art guide inspire you. 
• Want to discover contemporary art at home? You can! Listen here to the thrilling stories of Bent and Farida, two teenagers who sneak into the museum depot at night to take selfies with artworks from the S.M.A.K. collection. You can also download the worksheets and let your creativity run wild on a rainy day.

GUM & Botanical Garden

Fancy a surprising day out in Ghent? You’re in the right place at GUM and Botanical Garden. From tropical greenhouses and shady paths to surprising insights and art with a twist. Here, your head heats up with ideas, while your body cools down amidst the greenery. 

• Museum visit - GUM
• Visit the Botanical Garden
• Family games at GUM: Professor DOUBT & the reSEARCHtour

Historical Houses Ghent

• Castle of the Counts:
  • Comedy audioguide | from 8 years onwards | Discover the Gravensteen with a fun audio guide by comedian Wouter Deprez
  • Little Guide | 3 to 8 years | Where has that jester gone?
    
  • Big Five | Go on a speed date through the castle's past!
• Belfry: Little Guide | 3 to 8 years
• Hotel d'Hane Steenhuyse: Little Guide | 3 to 8 years

STAM

Children's trail through 'The story of Ghent'

Feel free to touch! A fun children's trail that leads through every room in the museum. Children become merchants, craftspeople, architects or city trippers and participate in city life. They sell cloth, make coats of arms, face façades and work out routes.

Museum of Industry

• Museum Game | permanent | With a toolbox full of fun tasks and materials, you’ll set off together. For families with children aged 6 to 12.
• Tinker away in the Tinker Studio
• Make your own Minizine at the printing department
• Weave along, card some wool or twine a thread at the textile department

Museum Dr. Guislain

EXPO roger ballen.! drawing meets photography

Birds, rats, bodies, rooms, scratches, masks; real or not real?

This is the world of Roger Ballen. The Ballenesque theatre performs and the audience joins in on demand. The scenes are confusing, relatable, tangible, absurd, appealing, impossible - yet real.

Museum of Fine Arts (MSK)

• Audio Tour for Children | Discover the museum’s collection in a fun and surprising way with the free audio guide! The children’s listening tour (from age 6) is full of fascinating facts and invites you to experience the artworks up close and at your own pace.

• Activity cards in ‘Jenny Montigny’ | Would you like to look, explore and get hands-on in the Jenny Montigny exhibition? Under the heading ‘Things to do’, you'll find 18 activity cards spread across 5 exhibition rooms. Choose whichever activities appeal to you and discover Montigny and her work through play.