As any parent will tell you, the sleepover is king. And we aren’t just talking about kipping over at a mate’s home. Thanks in part to the Ben Stiller film Night at the Museum, children want that special after-hours experience; and museums, zoos and aquariums are among those providing it by introducing family stay-all-night programmes. Not surprisingly, America has the greatest choice, with the UK catching on fast. Here are some of the best.

BRITAIN

The British Museum (020 7323 8195, www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk) in London has sleepovers four times a year, bedding down in the Egyptian Sculpture gallery. The next one is on September 22 and has a Chinese theme. Expect torchlight guiding, bedtime stories and dressing up, as well as spooky surroundings. You need to be a member of British Museum Friends to qualify (£45 adult/£20 child) and tickets then cost £27.50pp (maximum of five); it is designed for 8-to 15-year-olds.

London’s Science Museum (020 7942 4747, www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) has monthly Science Nights for kids aged 8-11, which might include workshops on inventions, toys, or “bodily functions”, where children can use special-effects make-up to create ghastly wounds. Immensely popular, they are now booked up until the end of the year. Bookings for 2008 will open after October half term. Nights cost £30 per adult/child and groups must contain a minimum of five children and one adult.

The Royal Armouries at Leeds (0113 220 1916, www.royalarmouries.org) has just announced a sleepover on October 19, which will tie in with its Horrible Histories exhibition and feature an allnighter with the author Terry Deary. Tickets are £5 adult, £20 child (5-11). Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium (01752 600301, www.national-aquarium.co.uk) has regular shark slumber parties in front of the tank, with movies, midnight feast (you, not the sharks) and breakfast. It costs £100 for four (one must be an adult) and £25 per extra person. Age 5 or over.

NORTH AMERICA

Further afield, San Diego’s excellent Wild Animal Park at Escondido, California (00 1 760 747 8702, www.sandiegozoo.org), has large, free-roaming areas themed according to each animal’s origin and habitat. Its Roar and Snore programme is based in tents pitched on Kilima Point, overlooking the African Field. Family nights (September 1, 2, 8, 14, 28, 29; October 12, 13, 26, 27; November 1, 10, 11) include nighttime activities, campfire stories and guided tours. With luck, you’ll see the normally slumbering big cats come to life; you’ll certainly hear them.

In the early morning light, there are herds of impala and giraffe to gaze at, and usually a walk to the gorilla enclosure. Prices range from £45 to £105pp per night, depending on the quality of tent and the view (best are the eight new premium tents – with all mod cons, including fridges – which sleep four and overlook the elephant herd). You pay park admission on top: £16.50 adult/£11 child.

Bed down beneath the famed 94ft blue whale, at the base of a volcano or in front of the dioramas at New York’s American Museum of Natural History (00 1 212 769 5200, www.amnh.org). The programme has recently been reintroduced and expanded following the Night at the Museum movie. The sleepovers run once or twice a month and include an after-hours tour, an Imax dinosaur movie, snacks, cots to bed down in, a flashlight fossil tour and breakfast. They run from 5.45pm to 9am, cost £55 and are aimed at 8-to 12-year-olds.

Seaworld (00 1 407 351 3600, www.seaworld.com) in Orlando has nights aimed at 5-to 9-year-olds. Participants see the evening dolphin/whale shows, take nighttime tours and kip among the beluga whales and polar bears in the Wild Arctic exhibit. The sleepovers, which include breakfast, cost £40 or £55 with admission to the park the following day. At Orlando’s Discovery Cove (00 800 33 44 1818, www.discoverycove.com), you can also get a swim-with-dolphins overnighter (over 6s) for £207pp. You can sleep on a real battleship: the 1942 vintage Iowa-class New Jersey (00 1 866 877 6262, extension 203, www.battleshipnewjersey.org/overnights) is berthed at Camden, Philadelphia, Pa. On board, you are treated like a sailor: you have to stow your gear in a locker, have roll call, a full familiarisation tour, launch a Tomahawk missile (or pretend to, at least) and “chow down” in the mess. The minimum age is 7 and the minimum party size two (one must be a child of 7-17). It costs about £25. On the West Coast, the awesome aircraft carrier USS Midway (00 1 619 544 9600, www.midway.org), in San Diego, also offers nights on board for ages 5 and up. You get a tour of the enormous craft – ex-Vietnam and Desert Storm – its planes and helicopters, dinner, berth and breakfast for about £63pp.

The Vancouver Aquarium (00 1 604 659 3552, www.vanaqua.org) has overnighters most months for 6-year-olds and older, with particular themes – from Wonderful World of Whales to Shark nights. There are behind-the-scenes tours, lectures, a light dinner and breakfast, and you bed down in front of one of the exhibits. All that for £47.

ELSEWHERE

Europe’s largest aquarium, Lisbon’s Oceanario (00 351 21 891 70 02, www.oceanario.pt), has a Sleeping with Sharks programme (ages 6 and above) for £40, including breakfast. The centrepiece of the display is a vast tank full of sharks and rays that holds 5m litres of water. But don’t worry, the glass is 23cm thick.

The Western Plains Zoo (00 61 2 6884 1422, www.zoo.nsw.gov.au) in Dubbo, New South Wales (about 400km from Sydney), has a Roar and Snore package for ages 5 and over: £50 adult/£39 under15s. In a slightly more urban setting (but with great views over the city), Sydney’s Taronga Zoo (00 61 2 9969 2777, www.zoo.nsw.gov.au), in Mosman, a short ferry-hop away from Circular Quay, has an overnight option in tents (£71 adult/£48 child).

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