Research shows children who visit museums with their families are about 40% more likely to become long-term museum visitors than their peers. Unfortunately, they still face many barriers to visiting.

It’s been ten years since Kids in Museums published Hurdles to Participation, a review of the literature about the barriers children, families and young people face when visiting museums. A decade later, we’ve revisited the report and reviewed dozens of new pieces of literature [MB2.1]to understand what has and hasn’t changed.

It’s clear that many of the barriers we identified in 2016 remain, and in many cases have been exacerbated by the social and economic shocks of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. In 2026, the reasons children, families and young people choose not to visit museums remain complicated and are becoming ingrained.

There are clear examples of good practice where museums are effectively addressing some of the barriers. However, the work is often dependent on project funding, is relatively small scale and isn’t being replicated. As a sector, we need to question why these barriers to engagement haven’t shifted – and how we can work together to address them

Alison Bowyer