Places to Go - Stories in Art at the National Gallery (Washington DC)

(Second picture from bottom: F's sculpture is in the front, P's is in the back)

This upcoming Sunday marks the end of the National Gallery's FREE Stories in Art Program (for kids aged 4-7) and if you haven't attended yet, I highly suggest going. I took the girls two weeks ago (on a very rainy Sunday) for the program on the sculptor, David Smith, (the same program is scheduled for this Sunday) and they both loved it. The hour-long program consists of three parts - (1) a visit to the artist's work, where a museum guide leads a discussion on the artist, including process and materials (the guide asks the children lots of questions, so everyone stays engaged); (2)the guide then reads a children's book which highlights some of the themes from the art discussion (last week, the kids listened to Half of an Elephant by Gusti); and finally (3) kids undertake a craft project based on the artwork discussed (for Smith, the kids made sculptures out of wood and metal). As part of the program all the kids receive a "Secret Agent" guidebook, which includes several great discussion questions for talking to your children (or even curious, fun adults) about other works of modern art in the building. F (5 years old) seemed enchanted by the whole thing, she constantly had her hand up and loved the whole discussion. P's attention waivered more, but she still enjoyed the class (when we arrived home, she couldn't wait to tell her dad how she "made art in a museum."). A good day, raincoats and all.

The museum hosts the program on Sundays at 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30. You cannot preregister, rather first-come, first-serve registration occurs in the east wing lobby. Show up any time after 11 and they'll sign you up for the next available slot. We arrived around 11:15 and though the 11:30 was full, plenty of slots remained for the three other times (the 12:30 eventually filled up, but the 1:30 and 2:30 did not). If you miss out on Sunday, the program will start again in the summer. In the summer, the program focuses on artworks in the west side of the museum.

For more info on my previous experience taking children to the National Gallery, click here . For museum-inspired art projects and books, click here. And for another post on kid-friendly national mall adventures, click here.

And one last thing, I made the Circle of Moms top 10 Creative Mom's List - THANK SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED! YOU MADE MY WEEK!!