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I’m quite sure that as soon as your friends learned you were planning a trip to Rome, they all gave you one piece of advice: don’t miss the Vatican! And I have to agree: there’s hardly any other place in the world as packed with incredible art as the Vatican.
But – I have to be clear on this: there are locations which are way better suited for a kids-friendly tour than others. The crowds and the amount of walking required when visiting the Vatican Museums can be challenging for children. I love to engage kids in games and activities during tours, but due to the logistics of the place, this is a limited option at the Vatican.
If you are looking for a kids-friendly tour, with the aim of making your kids love art by turning it into a fun, engaging and playful experience, I would advise to consider visiting less crowded venues like the Capitoline Museums or the Baths of Caracalla.
On the other hand, I fully understand your wish to show the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica to your kids. No worries! After many years running kids-tours, we have come up with the perfect solution. On this tour, we focus on just a few items in the Museums, primarily the Sistine Chapel, and we combine the tour with a hands-on activity: have fun with your kids at our fresco-painting workshop!
It’s not just a tour, but a wonderful way to make some unforgettable family memories.
This is what we’ll do: we’ll enter the Museums with skip-the-line tickets, and I’ll give you an overview of the Sistine Chapel straight away, as long as you are still full of energy, telling you lots of stories and funny behind-the-scenes stuff about Michelangelo and his amazing work, and using interactive tools to engage the younger ones.
Then, we’ll briskly walk along the Upper Galleries, where we’ll see some interesting Roman art, colorful tapestries, and the dazzling Gallery of the Maps. The Galleries take us to the Sistine Chapel, and here the kids can have fun looking for the items listed on their scavenger hunt while soaking up some of the most iconic art in the world.
From the Sistine Chapel, we’ll proceed to St. Peter’s Basilica, and we’ll have a quick look around, doing a photo-safari. Walking down to St. Peter’s Square, we’ll see the Swiss Guards sporting their jester-like uniform, and I’ll point out the window where the Pope appears for the Sunday blessing.
Now, it’s high time for a gelato or some pizza: we’ll have a little break before heading to a painter’s workshop and meet the young artist who will teach us how to paint a fresco. Together, you’ll learn how to make the preparatory drawing, transfer it onto the fresh plaster (hence the name fresco!) and paint the fresco. You will create your own work of art to take home, using exactly the same techniques Michelangelo used 500 years ago when painting the Sistine Chapel!
Please don’t forget that when you book one of our Family Adventures, this is entirely focused on children! This Vatican Museums Tour for kids tour is specifically focused on the Sistine Chapel and is very “light” so as not to overload children with too much information. If you wish to have a deeper knowledge of the Vatican Museums and of St. Peter’s Basilica, check out my standard Vatican Tour.
