Paper short abstract:

As children are one of the most important group of museums' audience, paper focuses upon practices in organizing programs for children aged from 5 to 15 years in Serbian museums.

Paper long abstract:

Cultural participation, which includes visiting museums, in general contributes quality of life and senses of well-being. In young age, visiting museums helps in developing cognitive skills and better understanding of social and natural processes and phenomenon in both near and wider environments. Such (academic) findings resonated in museums' practices.

Paper draws from two recent researches in Serbia: "Cultural participation and Cultural heritage" and "We are family! Family day at local museum as part of cultural tourism offer in Serbia".

First research aimed to track changes in museums' practices regarding participatory programs for children from early 1980s up to present days. We dwelled into archives and interviewed curators engaged in organizing participatory programs for children back then and now.

Second research was initiated having in mind the role of museums in cultural tourism and, also, increasing number of parents who want to spend their leisure time with their children discovering different times and "places" in museums. Aim was to identify practices in Serbian museums that would enable launching family day as cultural tourism product. Two surveys were conducted: one among curators about programs for children and museum's activities in positioning as an actor in both local community and on cultural tourism market; and the other among parents of children aged from 5 to 15 years regarding attitudes towards visiting museums with their children in leisure time.

Being a parent puts a researcher of in a double position so instead of conclusion, paper will briefly address issues and challenges of such kind.