By: Scott Burg and Claire Quimby
This is a question that our team has been exploring since the COVID-19 pandemic closed museums across the United States in 2020. While the pandemic forced many museums to close their doors, it also provided a stimulus for many museums to explore the use of online or digital programs, such as virtual story hours and online science experiments to support and enhance the at home learning experiences for young children and their families who could not visit museums in person.
During the height of the pandemic, we teamed up with the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) to conduct a survey of parents and caregivers to gauge their interest in online programs for their children. The survey launched in the fall of 2020. At that time, when 38% of our sample reported that their child was attending school online or was in a hybrid situation. We found that 51% of respondents were at least “moderately” interested in online programs offered by children’s museums, but that many parents also had screentime concerns.
As the pandemic subsided and children’s museums opened their doors once again, we sought to understand how the digital programming landscape had evolved for parents and their children, and what impact these shifts might have on the role of children’s museums in providing such programs. With this in mind, we are excited to share our latest findings from a series of national surveys conducted in collaboration with ACM and Knology gathering insights from parents and caregivers in 2023-2024:
- 99% of parents/caregivers report that their child is engaging with digital/online content.
- 86% report paying for one or more digital content services for their child.
- Interest in digital programs from children’s museums is higher now than during the pandemic.
- Parents and caregivers trust the quality of content from children’s museums and its educational value more than other common providers (such as PBS Kids or kid-focused streaming services).
- While parents’ and caregivers’ levels of interest and trust are high, less than 25% report being aware of digital programs developed by children’s museums.
- Parents and caregivers are interested in digital content that is interactive or gamified. They also expressed interest in programs that offer social interaction opportunities for their children.
You can see the highlights of the survey here and the full report here.
While nothing can fully replicate the experience of the in-person museum visit, we feel that the introduction of digital programming offers an excellent opportunity for children’s museums to reach new audiences, especially those who may not have the means or opportunity to visit a museum in-person.
The second part of our digital programming report, scheduled to be completed later this month, will provide findings from our parallel survey of educators. Surveys were collected from over 250 educators to help understand their needs and interests related to digital programs from children’s museums. Formal and informal educators, such as library staff, afterschool program instructors, and district curriculum coaches, are also important audiences for children’s museum digital programming – whether it is content to use with children in the classroom or professional development content on children’s learning.
These two surveys will provide a comprehensive look at how two key children’s museums audiences – parents and educators – view the digital landscape and the many possible roles children’s museums can play. We also encourage you to check out the Vol 5 Trends Reports from ACM/Knology to learn more about digital programming during and since the pandemic and the relationships between audiences and children’s museums.