Do you dream of exploring Lyon with your family? While waiting to visit this mecca for foodies, take your "gones" ("children", in Lyonnais) on the trail of the city's favorite mascots. Play with old images of the lion, Lyon's emblem since the Middle Ages, listen to the Guignol puppet tell its Lyon origin story or watch the assembly of a huge whale skeleton at the Musée des Confluences. The crazy gallery of Lyon en famille has something to entertain everyone, young and old!
Play with the Lion of the Archives
Before exploring the traboules (towers dating from Lyon's days as a silk capital) and hills of the city, introduce your children to the history of Lyon with games from the archives. Lion clown, lion soccer player or lion cook? Test your observation skills with the colorful cards of the memory game created from old posters from the Lyon Fair. The Lion sits enthroned as the symbol of Lyon since the Middle Ages, so the goal of the game is to find as many lions as possible! The rules of the game: cut the squares into cards. Then lay the cards out blank end up, like a game of solitaire. Each player gets one turn to try and match the paired lions, and if they succeed, the get to keep the pair. If not, they must return both. If you select the running fish, you must skip your turn. The game is over when all the pairs are found and only the fish remains. Whoever has the most cards, wins!
Listen to the puppets at Guignol's theater
But who is this funny character wearing a leather hat and armed with a tavel (cudgel)? It’s Guignol, one of the most famous puppets in the world, born in Lyon at the start of the 19th century! While waiting to see the original figurine at MAM (the Museum of Puppetry Arts), gones will be enchanted by his story (via podcast). Before visiting, see what's in store with the museum's video: more than 300 pieces are on display, including the castelets, the small theaters that can still be found in the streets of Lyon. It's a journey into another time!
Audio resources (French) with some resources in English
Meet a whale at the Musée des Confluences
Are your children fascinated by creatures of the deep? Head to the Musée des Confluences, a Lyonnais museum of natural history, anthropology, societies and civilizations. As a prelude to a future visit, watch the video showing the 12-meter (40 foot) suspension of a 17-meter (55 foot) and 2.5-ton fin whale skeleton.
Even in time lapse, the performance is impressive, and a perfect inspiration for little ones to embark on a lifelong love of the sea. For some added a coloring of the underwater world. Then, underscore the love with a coloring activity! The older ones can give free rein to their imagination by connecting the dots of the the incredible architecture of the museum. What do you see: spaceship or sea monster?
The whale installed in the museum video Whale coloring pages Architectural connect-the-dots
Find out more: - Plan your trip to Lyon
By Anne-Claire Delorme
Globetrotting journalist anneclairedelorme@yahoo.fr
