Visiting an Art Museum
Dear Families,
I’d like to suggest a day trip to an area art museum as an interesting way to spend some time together on a weekend or vacation day. I’ve listed some art museums on this web page that are close enough to visit for a day. I hope you make some interesting discoveries! Please let me know what you find.
You don’t need to know about art to enjoy looking at it with your children. Here are some suggestions to help your museum visit be more interesting.
Begin by watching your child. As you enter a gallery, which painting is your child initially drawn to? Discover what drew them to it – it might be the sheer size of it, or the colors, or the depiction of a favorite animal. Explore this with conversation and discussion!
Talk together about what you each notice in the painting – talk about the colors, shapes & lines.
Look closely for the details in a painting. Many children delight in making these tiny discoveries. This encourages careful examination of a painting. Perhaps your child will find a small frog or a person on a horse far in the distance.
Look for the artist’s signature –is it on a book or other object in the painting, or is it simply in the corner? Artists sometimes find clever ways to hide their signature
Use your imagination! What is happening in the painting? If there are people in the painting who are they? Where are they from? What will happen next? Where does the road lead to? What is on the other side of the mountain? What do you and your child think is the story the artist is trying to tell.
Use all of your senses. Does the painting look warm or cold, windy? If you and your child were part of the painting what would you smell & hear?
Visit the gift shop before you leave and buy a postcard of a painting you have seen at the museum. Begin collecting a mini-museum in your own home!
Talking in “indoor voices" is allowed in museums.
Touching the art is never allowed because we all have invisible oils on our fingers that will damage the art over time.
Museums always post details like the name of the artists, the title of the work and the date it was
created on the wall next to the painting. However, that information is not as important as your child’s and your reaction to the painting!
I’d like to suggest a day trip to an area art museum as an interesting way to spend some time together on a weekend or vacation day. I’ve listed some art museums on this web page that are close enough to visit for a day. I hope you make some interesting discoveries! Please let me know what you find.
You don’t need to know about art to enjoy looking at it with your children. Here are some suggestions to help your museum visit be more interesting.
Begin by watching your child. As you enter a gallery, which painting is your child initially drawn to? Discover what drew them to it – it might be the sheer size of it, or the colors, or the depiction of a favorite animal. Explore this with conversation and discussion!
Talk together about what you each notice in the painting – talk about the colors, shapes & lines.
Look closely for the details in a painting. Many children delight in making these tiny discoveries. This encourages careful examination of a painting. Perhaps your child will find a small frog or a person on a horse far in the distance.
Look for the artist’s signature –is it on a book or other object in the painting, or is it simply in the corner? Artists sometimes find clever ways to hide their signature
Use your imagination! What is happening in the painting? If there are people in the painting who are they? Where are they from? What will happen next? Where does the road lead to? What is on the other side of the mountain? What do you and your child think is the story the artist is trying to tell.
Use all of your senses. Does the painting look warm or cold, windy? If you and your child were part of the painting what would you smell & hear?
Visit the gift shop before you leave and buy a postcard of a painting you have seen at the museum. Begin collecting a mini-museum in your own home!
Talking in “indoor voices" is allowed in museums.
Touching the art is never allowed because we all have invisible oils on our fingers that will damage the art over time.
Museums always post details like the name of the artists, the title of the work and the date it was
created on the wall next to the painting. However, that information is not as important as your child’s and your reaction to the painting!