Families want less technology and more simple hands-on experiences in museums, according to the new 2010 Kids In Museums manifesto.

The manifesto, launched by independent charity Kids In Museums, has been compiled from families' comments and wishes collected during museum visits in 2009. The document highlights 20 actions that the charity wants all UK museums to adopt to when entertaining families and their children.

The list includes calls for museums to introduce flexible family tickets, rather than only offering the standard two adults and two children; to be more height aware and display objects and labels so that a child can see them; and to provide big open spaces for children to let off steam.

It also encourages museums to be more hands on with their displays. "Be interactive not only with computer screens and fancy gadgets," it says. "Dressing up and getting messy are as important as buttons to push."

Other points highlighted by the manifesto include the need to produce guides, trails and activities for all the family together, not just the kids; and providing a place to leave coats, bags and pushchairs to make it easier for families to move around.

Dea Birkett, director, Kids in Museums, said: "Of the thousands of visitors' suggestions we received for the 2010 Manifesto, hardly any mentioned technology and gadgets.

"Families talked about making paper planes in a gallery like Leonardo da Vinci, or shining a torch into a dark corner of a glass cabinet as if they were discovering something for the first time. There's nothing hi tech about that.

"Museums need to listen to families, and provide sensual experiences, not clean and clinical ones."

Kids In Museums was set up in 2003 by writer Dea Birkett, after she was ejected from the Royal Academy's Aztec exhibition when her youngest son, aged two, shouted 'Monster!' at one of the exhibits.