Forget the museum where you walk around with your hands behind your back. In these ones, you pull levers, blow into tubes, test hypotheses and come away with a head full of questions.
French-speaking Switzerland is lucky to have several museums designed to be handled rather than contemplated. Here is our selection, from the most playful to the most curious. Opening hours and prices change often: check them on the official websites.
L’Espace des Inventions in Lausanne: science that makes you want to try
In the heart of the Vallée de la Jeunesse, l’Espace des Inventions invites children to touch, test and understand science while having fun. It is the regional reference of its kind: everything there is designed to be operated.
Good reflex: the venue sits in the middle of a large park with playgrounds. You can follow the visit with running around outdoors without changing address.
Le Musée de la Main in Lausanne: the body and health at child height
The Musée de la Main UNIL-CHUV explores the body, health and science through highly hands-on exhibitions and workshops. It speaks particularly well to children who ask a thousand questions about “how does that work”.
La Maison d’Ailleurs in Yverdon: the science fiction museum
A stone’s throw from the Place Pestalozzi, la Maison d’Ailleurs immerses visitors in science fiction, utopia and extraordinary voyages. It is the museum that converts reluctant teenagers: you don’t go there to learn, you go there to dream.
Le Musée d’Histoire des Sciences in Geneva: free, and surprising
In the Villa Bartholoni, by the lake in the Perle du Lac park, le Musée d’Histoire des Sciences takes young and old travelling through globes, telescopes and instruments from times past.
Its best argument: entry is free, and the surrounding park lets you finish the outing running around on the grass.
Le Musée des Sciences de la Terre in Martigny: getting your hands on the Alps
At the Musée des Sciences de la Terre, children handle rocks and crystals and discover how the Alps were formed. Small in scale, quiet, ideal all year round and perfect after a mountain walk to make sense of what you have been walking on.
Le Naturéum in Lausanne: animals, skeletons and natural curiosities
At the Palais de Rumine, the zoology department of the Naturéum lines up taxidermied animals, skeletons and curiosities of the living world. Accessible from age 3, it has the advantage of being right in the centre, a stone’s throw from the other museums in the Palais de Rumine if appetite allows.
Our tips for making the visit really work
- An hour and a half, not three: in a hands-on museum, a child works hard mentally. Better to leave on positive frustration than on saturation.
- Let them fail: the whole point of an experiment is doing it again. Resist the urge to show them how straight away.
- One question per room: “what did you work out?” beats a running commentary from a parent-guide.
- Check the recommended ages: these museums often target 6 to 12 year olds, and some temporary exhibitions are more specialised.
- Look at the workshop programme: many run workshops on Wednesdays and during the holidays, often with registration.
Want to go further? Discover our aquariums and vivariums, our underground adventures and all our Museums activities.
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Frequently asked questions
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Michael @ Kidora
Kid Adventure Planner