When I was in school, summer equated to vacations. I continue to be amused by how minutes into touching base at our destination, we’d begin the scramble to locate the best (and nearest) museum. Apparently, the best way to gauge a city was to befriend its history.

That lesson still holds me in good stead. History gives you the cultural liberty to draw links between the past and the present. This summer, here’s your chance to gift your child the same through these activities.

1. Museum on Wheels, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana

“If you cannot come to the museum, the museum will come to you,” promises the Citi-CSMVS Museum on Wheels website. Two large, air-conditioned, state-of-the-art buses have been transformed into ‘travelling exhibitions’, taking the magic of museums to the interiors of Maharashtra, and its neighbouring states.

Children at the destination institution are taught about heritage, arts and sciences through the artefacts, replicas, models and dioramas in the buses. The audio-visual material is a window into the country’s chequered past, while interactive demo kits and arts and crafts activities ensure all learning is hands-on.

Book your experience here.

2. Jail Heritage Tour, Goa

During Goa’s freedom struggle, anyone subverting the Portuguese rule was sentenced to a part of the Fort Aguada, which essayed the role of a prison complex following an order by former Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar. In 1961, after ‘Operation Vijay’, Goa was freed from Portuguese dominion and in 2015, Fort Aguada stopped being a jail.

Now people flock to it for its history. The 400-year-old structure is home to an interactive museum.

© The Better India