VISITING WITH CHILDREN
Each of the programs and exhibitions at the Museum is designed with the goal of increasing curiosity and learning. Since many of our visitors are children who come with their families and schools, the Museum has some practical advice for your visit:

Food
Young children get hungry often. While we don't allow eating in the Museum, we do provide an outdoor picnic area. Other options include local family-friendly restaurants offering sit-down or take-out service. (We can recommend several restaurants in the town of Lincroft, just five minutes from the Museum).

Clothes
The activities in the WonderWing include a water table play area, and you may want to bring an extra change of clothes for children.

Staff
WonderWing staff wear blue aprons. If you are in need of assistance or have any questions, please look for a staff person.

Parking and Entrance
Two parking spaces are available in front of the Museum visitors with mobility limitations. Visitors may also use an access road to drive to the Museum entrance and drop off visitors. The entrance to the Main Gallery has an access ramp. The Nilson Gallery and WonderWing are located on the first floor. The second floor of the Becker Children's Wing is accessible with a stair chair.

Museum Accessibility
The Monmouth Museum is accessible to visitors with mobility limitations.

Two wheelchairs are available for use free of charge upon request at the Museum’s reception desk. The Main Gallery offers a wheelchair ramp. All other areas of the main level (entry, Nilson Gallery, WonderWing, Becker Children's Wing, halls, restrooms, and service rooms) are on the ground level. A stair chair is available to access the second level of the Becker Children's Wing.

The Museum is proactive in making all programs and services accessible to school groups. If students require special accommodations, please advise the Education Coordinator in advance of your school visit. The Becker Children’s Wing has a stair chair to provide accessibility to the second floor of the exhibition. The Museum will make every effort to accommodate your needs. Please inquire further when booking your visit with Marion Kanaga, Education Coordinator, at 732-747-2266.

Restrooms
The museum has two wheelchair-accessible bathrooms; one is located near the Main Gallery and another is located in the Becker Children's Wing. Diaper changing tables are available in both the men's and women's bathrooms. A mother's chair for infant feeding is located in the women's rest room. Additional rest rooms are located in the Becker Children's Wing.

Exhibitions
The Museum makes every effort to incorporate visual, tactile and auditory components in exhibitions whenever possible. Large print labels are available in several permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Programs
The Museum is committed to providing fun, safe and educational programs for visitors of all ages and abilities. For more information about family programs and workshops, please visit the Education section.

School Group reservations
All group visits over 10 persons are arranged in advanced by calling our education coordinator Marion Kanaga at 732-747-2266.

Group Sizes
Scool groups are usually kept to teams of 30 or less. In advance we develop a plan on how to stagger groups through the exhibits primary, secondary and tertiary areas:
    Primary         main exhibit
    Secondary    hands-on interactive areas
    Tertiary         gift shop
                         orientation amphitheater

Teachers and Monitors
All school groups are expected to provide adult monitors who will stay with their classes through the entire experience at the Monmouth Museum. Our docents do not lecture and provide interesting insight through question and answer format. Monitors are strategic in assisting our docents in this process. Teachers are encoureaged to preview our BLAST OFF! Teacher Packets

Buses and Parking
There is plenty of parking for cars, buses and vans in parking lot #1. Pedestrians should following the walk to the main entrance doors. Handicappped drop-off is also handled at the main entrance.

Gift Shop
The Becker Children's Wing offers a small gift shop with items conceptually connected to the exhibition.

Picnic Area Lunches
Weather permitting we have 6 picnic tables on our outdoor patio, that your group is welcome to reserve. We have no indoor luncheon facilities. Groups often eat their lunch on their bus in foul waether.

Lots of Fun with just a few RULES
- No smoking ANYWHERE on Monmouth Museum property - indoors or out.

- No running.

- Some exhibits (in the Wobderwing and the Becker Children's Wing) say Please Touch, some exhibits say Please Don't Touch (in the Hall Gallery, the Nilson Gallery and the Main Gallery). This should be fully explained to the group BEFORE they visit. Some areas are fun and play for kids and some are seroius presentation areas for adults.

- After the intial shriek of glee, EVERYONE will use their inside voices.

- NO cell phones, pager, music, audiovisual, computer, recording, flash, laser pen, cameras or photographic devices allowed. In other words, leave the ear plugs in the car… and get ready to learn something.

- No eating or drinking inside the museum.

- Enter with no toys and avoid playing with any items purchased in the gift shop.

- Strollers: we have a minimum area to park strollers. During high attendance times, if they become a hazard, we may have to ask that they be stored in your vehicle during your visit.

- We offer an unmonitored coat rack in the front entry and we do not offer a lost-n-found. Bring a minimum, lock what you don't need in your vehicle. Anything larger than a small pocketbook is unnecessary in the Museum. And please be mindfull of your belongings when you leave.

Museum Manners at Monmouth Museum

A museum is a very special place. Museum visits should be a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. One of the ways to ensure a positive and memorable visit is to use appropriate manners. Here are some manners we like our visitors to remember.

“Touch” with your eyes, but not with your hands (this includes walls, labels, cases and pedestals). Stay at arm’s length away from exhibits, except where you are invited to interact with the displays. Some people like to fold their arms or put their hands behind their backs to help them remember. We ask you not to touch the art because natural oils on human hands can cause serious damage over time. Fingers placed on the surface of a picture can easily damage the paint layer or canvas. And a hand brushed against sculpture may leave a damaging trace of acidic perspiration.

When you visit the Museum, stay with your group, parent or teacher. Walk respectively throughout the Museum. Running is not allowed throughout the Museum, even in the special children’s wings. Talk in quiet tones, using inside voices in all areas of the Museum in order not to disturb other visitors. A museum visit can be very exciting, but remember to be courteous to others. They want to have a good time, too.

If you come with a pre-booked group, you will be given a guided tour by a Museum docent. Do not talk while the docent is speaking. If you are talking while he or she is speaking, other people won’t be able to hear important information about the exhibition. If you have questions or comments, raise your hand and the docent will call on you. Listen to what the docent is saying. Museum staff and docents deserve the same respect and courtesy as teachers and parents.

Food, beverages and gum are not allowed in the Museum. Please do not eat, drink or chew gum inside the Monmouth Museum. And of course, smoking is strictly prohibited anywhere on the Museum property.

If you are a chaperone visiting with a group, please remember that the Museum docent is in charge of the tour. It is the responsibility of the chaperone to stay with the group and also to keep students together in their group. Do not allow students to
wander off to other areas of the Museum on their own. If the docent is addressing the group, don’t answer questions that are intended for students. A good chaperone needs to remind the students of Museum manners and follow them, too. Refrain from cell phone use inside the Museum. If you must take an emergency call, please go outside to talk.

Teachers and group leaders are responsible for their group’s behavior and good manners in the Museum. Discipline problems are rare, but inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated in the Museum. Remind students that the Museum exhibitions must be respected so that visitors can enjoy them today and in the future.

Thank you for helping make the Monmouth Museum an enjoyable destination.