Toulouse Impressions: things to do with kids

The city offers many places of interest for the kids. The places below will most certainly dilute the historical and religious emphasis of the city's sights:

Musee d'Historie Naturelle

This museum is certainly not as overwhelming as the one in Brussels but the Nomads still spent good 3 hours roaming the exhibits, touching, asking questions, trying. 

I found the 5 themes of the exhibitions incredibly well-presented, especially for the kids from 6+:

-Earth power (minerals, solar system, volcanic activity, earth history, fossils): you can feel the earth move at the time of an earthquake and watch a movie on continents shifts.

-Botanical and bio hierarchy. This was a bit scholarly for my Nomads, but a great exhibit to give the kids the basics of the structure.

-Continuity of Life. In simpler terms, your dinosaur exhibit, which takes you beyond a mere T-rex. 

-Functions of Living Beings.

-The future: focus on environmental impact and human relationship with nature

The museum provided no information in English beside the museum plan. So I thanked my school teachers for being to recall the basics of the school program...

After visiting the human impact on environment exhibit, the Little Nomad says:
Ok, I understand that I have only one choice - to die right now rather than see what will happen to the planet. 

We also caught a new exhibit Prehistory, the Investigation. Having discovered two skeletons, the team launches a forensic search for their origins, environment, way of life, etc.

The museum also has a botanical garden, which the Nomads absolutely refused to visit. 

Jardin Royal, Grand Rond, Jardine des Plantes

3 parks connected with each other occupy about 10 hectares of land. All three combined are a great way to spend a leisurely day with the kids: the Botanical Gardens, especially (not to be confused with the museum's gardens). There's a maze of trees studded with waterfalls, staircases, ponds, too many things to explore with an inquisitive child! A few cafes and a playground make it easy to spend hours here!

Musee St-Raymond

This museum presents the history of Toulouse through a easy-to-digest collection Gallo-Roman relics excavated on sites in Toulouse and Chiragan from the Bronze age to the year 1000. The basement of the museum houses remains of the necropolis of Saint-Sernin. It's not a hands-on museum but a great starting point for showing to the kids how the city evolved.