Exploring the Vatican with Kids

Destinations Italy Kids' travel guides - Italy & Rome Rome

St_Peter's_Square,_Vatican_City_-_April_2007

Are you heading to Rome?  Looking forward to discovering the numerous historical, cultural, architectural, and religious delights?  Apprehensive though about how the kids will find it?  Don’t be!  With the Kids’ Travel Guide – Rome your kids can enjoy Italy’s fabulous capital city as much as you do!

With easy to understand and absorb bite-sized information, gathered especially with younger readers in mind, loads of fun facts and interactive activities, top tips, and attractive pictures, it is a sure way to capture your kids’ interest and keep them engaged in your family trip to Rome.

Plus, if your kids are eager to learn more about Italy in general or if you are planning on visiting other parts of the country as well, you could treat them to the combined guide: The Kids’ Travel Guide Italy and Rome.  Digging deeper into the country overall, your kids can learn all about the culture, traditions, cuisine, main cities, history, symbols, currency … and more!

With so many major sights crammed into the relatively small area of the Vatican, here are some great places and top activities that both kids and adults are likely to enjoy:

St Peter’s Basilica

St Peters

Filled with rich and vibrant colours, this stunning building cannot help but capture the attention of all.  Before going inside though, take a wander along the Piazza San Pietro to let your kids admire the grand building from the outside and get an accurate idea of just how enormous it is.  Admire the statues that adorn the roof – if you have time you could even sit in the shade for a short time and get your kids to draw their favourite statue.  Whilst outside, they can also see the Swiss Guards standing proudly in their striped military uniforms.  There are plenty of beautiful statues and ornate columns once inside the basilica to inspire a sense of wonder in your children and you can take them up to the top of the dome for amazing views out over Rome.  Perhaps you can try and spot other famous landmarks whilst up there, or even play a quick game of I-Spy!

Sistine Chapel

sistine chapel

Although adults are likely to appreciate the Sistine Chapel more than kids, that doesn’t mean that a visit has to be dull for the younger members of the family!  The vibrant colours and the many details in the glorious frescoes can be enough to capture an inquisitive child’s attention.  It may also help if you talk to hem abo0u the pictures, discuss what you can all see, and actively engage them in the trip.  Don’t forget to look up as well!  The ceilings are also covered in beautiful and bright paintings.

Egyptian Obelisk

Vatican_Obelisk_2014

If your kids like seeing things from the ancient past, the Egyptian Obelisk in St Peter’s Square makes for a nice picture stop.  Although you probably won’t spend all that much time there, it is still something that the kids are likely to enjoy seeing.  Don’t whizz past it without stopping at least for a short time!

Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum

Complete with its mummies, hieroglyphics, ancient coffins, interesting art work, unusual statues, and artefacts from the days of the Pharaohs, the Egyptian Museum allows kids to take a step back in time and learn a little bit more about another ancient civilization.

Although not actually within the Vatican itself, the nearby Castel Sant’Angelo is also usually popular with young visitors.

A top tip when visiting the Vatican with children is to try and book your tickets in advance so that you can avid the, often long, queues.  Standing around for too long before even managing to get inside somewhere is often a sure-fire way to put kids off and make them feel bored before they have even begun exploring!  The Kids’ Travel Guide – Rome is another great way to keep kids engaged in your visit … plenty of activities make their visit lots of fun!

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