Help us to sniff out the best British museum

Smelly, dirty, messy, noisy, tasty. Those are the common characteristics of the six ­museums on the shortlist for this year's Guardian ­Family Friendly Museum Award, ­announced today. From the Highland Folk Museum in Inverness-shire, to St Nicholas Priory in Exeter, they provide sensual, hands-on experiences from which families emerge not only wiser, but also grubbier. At Beningbrough Hall, an ­18th-­century red brick mansion in York, hands get all sticky from cooking ­edible ­insects. St Nicholas Priory, a ­Tudor town house in Exeter, asks visitors to help clean up, scrubbing pewter plates with ground eggshells. The Herbert Museum in Coventry is proud of its pong; it asks visitors, "What did a medieval toilet smell like? Sniff here to find out." At the Highland Folk ­Museum, visitors can find chickens and ducks running around loose. The Guardian Family Friendly ­Museum Award, run in conjunction with the Kids in Museums charity, is the biggest museum award in Britain. A panel of judges, chaired by Jenny Abramsky, Heritage Lottery Fund chair, chose the shortlist from more than 200 nominated by thousands of ­visitors. Though the shortlisted museums' ­collections are ­diverse – from the Great North ­Museum's Egyptian mummies to Beningbrough's 18th-century portraits – not one is clean and clinical. "If you want to look at history in a glass case, don't come to this museum," said one visitor to the Highland Folk Museum. Families also wanted to feel ­welcome. They found many museums were good at welcoming young people in organised groups, but if a group of teenagers in hoodies pitched up unexpectedly, the reception wasn't so warm. Teenagers are particularly tricky to draw in to galleries and historic homes, and few targeted them. ­­Beningbrough takes a different approach – most of its learning volunteers are under 18. Responsibility for designing art ­workshops for smaller children is given over to these young people, including constructing an 18th-century graffiti wall. From our shortlist, the winner will be chosen by readers. Each shortlisted ­museum will be visited, anonymously, by several families. They will measure the museum against the Kids in ­Museums manifesto – 20 ways to make a ­museum family friendly – compiled from visitors' comments. The winner will be announced in April. The prize is 500 Mammoth Activity Sheets designed and donated by foldedsheet.com . The shortlisted museums • Beningbrough Hall and Gardens (pictured above), York, 01904 472027, nationaltrust.org.uk • Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, 0191-222 6765, twmuseums.org.uk • Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, 024-7683 2386, theherbert.org • Highland Folk Museum, ­Newtonmore, 01540 673551, ­ highlandfolk.com •The Potteries Museum and Art ­Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 01782 232323, stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag •St Nicholas Priory, Exeter, 01392 665858, exeter.gov.uk/priory Does your family want to judge the ­winner of the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award? Email award@­kidsinmuseums.org.uk. To order a free copy of the Kids in Museums Manifesto, email [email protected]. More about the award at ­ kidsinmuseums.org.uk and theguardian.com/kidsinmuseums