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Taking the Kids: London's Imperial War Museum

By Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency on

Following the local kids is a good plan when you are exploring a new city with your gang. That's what we did recently at the newly expanded Imperial War Museum in London, which was teeming with enthusiastic British families.

"It is genuinely impossible to leave without your brain full of interesting and cool facts you never knew before," said Izzy, one of the museum's youth advisers, who helped IWM curators create the "family trail" at the new interactive First World War exhibition.

"American kids can take away a piece of British history that captures what war was like for all generations," offered Louie, also on the youth adviser team.

Sites like this free museum -- another is the excellent Museum of London, which is a terrific introduction to the city's history and is currently showcasing a much-heralded Sherlock Holmes exhibit. If you are heading to London for the holidays or contemplating a trip next year, these might not be on your must-see list, but they should be.

I love how the Museum of London offers children's "activity trails" and gives you the chance to explore the London of Shakespeare's day, contemplate the great London Fire of 1666, walk through a Victorian street and see the London 2012 Olympic cauldron.

To mark the start of the centenary of the First World War, the IWM London has opened new, permanent First World War Galleries that encourage visitors to learn the story of the war through the people who lived through it on the home front and on the frontlines. There are more than 1,300 objects on display, many which have never been exhibited -- uniforms, diaries and letters, including one from the 9-year-old boy who wanted to volunteer as a bike messenger during World War I. "I can ride jolly quick on my bicycle. ... I win fights with lads twice as big," Alfie Knight wrote. The official letter he got from the War Office turning down his offer is also on display.

 

These new galleries are part of a transformation of the museum -- established while the First World War was still being fought to ensure that future generations wouldn't forget the sacrifice of those who fought and contributed at home -- with a newly configured atrium where you'll see everything from a Spitfire to a Land Rover damaged by a rocket attack in Gaza. There are more than 400 objects and artworks on display.

At the World War I exhibit, you can walk through a trench, "make" food, boots and shells through a large interactive Supply Line table and see how British children helped the war effort by becoming Sea Scout coast watchers looking out for German spies.

"I like how you don't have to read about it, you can see it and touch it," said Reece Wakeman, 10, visiting with his dad.

Maybe one reason this exhibit has such resonance with kids and teens is the input from the IWM's youth panel, which is made up of teens who have worked with departments across the museum advising on how to encourage young people to participate. Young reporters were taught journalism skills so they could report all the changes at the museum to their communities.

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