A Famous Museum and Garden in Shilin
Home to the world's largest collection of Chinese cultural objects, the National Palace museum is home to a vast display of paintings, statues, lacquerware, ceramics, and jade, including the famous jade cabbage. To encourage interest in the arts by younger kids, there's a children's gallery in the basement of the museum's West wing aimed at children 5 to 12. The children's area has an orientation theater, interactive exhibitions, and usually some DIY crafts. The Children's Gallery provides supplementary materials for the museum, such as instructional resources packets, family learning kits, and worksheets, which can also be downloaded from their website. Families and individual visitors are encouraged to visit the children's gallery on the weekends, as during the week the center is usually quite busy with visiting school kids.
Besides the Children's Gallrey, the museum also has a kid's audio guide designed for children 7 - 10 years old, which can be borrowed from the Audio Guide Counter for NT$100. To complement the guide, the museum also launched an augmented reality app for children, 神奇國寶AR Play.
For kids too young to appreciate the museum, the Zhishan garden is located outside the National Palace Museum. It's a beautiful traditional garden with airy pavilions, which are good for taking a rest after visiting the museum. The main attraction of the garden is feeding the hungry Koi fish in the garden's ponds, and maybe the pair of black swans that also live at garden. Kids may also like exploring the different paths that wind through the garden, and seeing the dragon fountain at the dragon pond.
Address: Section 2, Zhishan Rd, Shilin District, Taipei City
Phone: 02 2881 2021
Hours: 8:30 AM - 6:30PM Daily, extended hours 6:30PM - 9PM Fri-Sat (Garden is closed Mondays)
Find out more:
Name and Address in Chinese:
名稱: 國立故宮博物院
地址: 111台北市士林區
Things to do with kids:
Visit the Children's Gallery at the museum.
Explore using the learning packets, audio guide, and even the app.
After visiting the museum, feed the giant Koi fish who live in the garden ponds. (Food available onsite for NT$10)
Admire the large dragon fountain in the dragon pond.
Check out the pavilions, which are nice shady places to relax on a sunny day.
Additional Information:
Museum price is NT$350 for adults, and free for children under 18. Admission ticket includes free entrance to the museum garden.
The Children's Gallery at the museum is open 8:30a to 6:30p daily, with extended hours 6:30p-9p Fri and Sat. The gallery is closed every Monday after 1p...and it's free to enter, so you can actually visit here without buying tickets for the museum.
Price for garden without museum entrance is NT$20 for adults, and free for young kids.
