After dinosaurs, it's spot the dog! But can a child really learn anything in a gallery?

Neil Osborne visits National Museum Cardiff with his three-year-old daughter Daisy, who enjoys quieter upstairs galleries and identifies a Turner painting as “A fish.” The visit is framed as a nursery day to assess whether getting under-fives into galleries depends more on entertainment or education and to understand parent perspectives. Catrin Rowlands, head of learning at NMC, explains that the museum treats every family engagement as learning. The museum uses a natural history start, followed by viewing paintings, and finishes with a learning-focused activity. Mini Wonders runs in the learning centre, supported by a fully funded programme partnering with Art Fund and Nesta across UK museums.

"Every engagement with the museum is a learning engagement, she tells me. We start with natural history, then he likes to see the paintings to finish' The National Museum Cardiff. Photograph: Sophie Baxter Photography It's in the learning centre that Mini Wonders takes place."

"It's their second visit to the National Museum Cardiff (NMC). Daisy loves the dinosaurs in the prehistoric galleries downstairs, which Neil believes are more kid-friendly; the upstairs art galleries are quieter, with fewer children charging about. She actually started whispering when we got up here, he says, but she likes seeing the paintings and saying what they look like."

"So, I ask, how do you keep children entertained without detracting from the educational activity? Every engagement with the museum is a learning engagement, she tells me. We start with natural history, then he likes to see the paintings to finish' The National Museum Cardiff. Photograph: Sophie Baxter Photography It's in the learning centre that Mini Wonders takes place."

"NMC is one of 15 museums across the UK partnering with Art Fund and Nesta on the fully funded programme, which looks at how accessing art and cultu"

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