03 Kindergarten Children's Perceptions of the Museum Experience "It is fun there. If you go, you will learn new things"

Museums, as educational spaces for children, provide interactive and multisensory experiences. A review of the education and leisure literature indicates that most studies on children’s experiences in the museum are based on the perspectives of adults, while only very few takes into account the child’s voice. The purpose of this exploratory study was to reveal children's perceptions of the museum experience. A qualitative research approach was adopted. Eighty-three kindergarten children (aged 5 to 6) were interviewed regarding their museum experiences. The semi-structured interviews included questions about their memories of their museum visits. The findings, which related to the general concept of museums, highlight three types of learning perceptions: "informative knowledge acquisition," "social learning," and "knowledge recalibration and revision." By taking into account kindergarten children’s voices, this study contributes to an improved understanding of their perceptions of museums and the ways in which they learn in museums.