Places to Go (Vacation) - NYC Winter Weekend, Part I - MOMA

When F was little, as in REALLY little (like 2 or 3 (funny how all those years start to blend together), her favorite book was Seen Art?, where a guy wanders into MOMA looking for a friend named "Art" and ends up discovering "art" along the way.

Seen Art?'s plot (obviously) requires understanding that a word can have two meanings (which I think is pretty much impossible for a 2 year old), so reading it to F became rather old as we felt like the whole thing kept going over her head. But she loved it, so we read it again and again and again. Until, finally, the book became lost in the shuffle somewhere (I haven't seen it in a long long time).

So skip ahead 6 years . . .

MOMA is one of my favorite museums ever (despite the crazy high admission price) - the building is beautiful, the exhibits are wonderful, and I like modern art. So when we planned a family weekend in NYC, Dan immediately stated "don't worry, I'll take the kids so you can have some time to yourself in MOMA." But this trip, I figured the girls were old enough to explore with me and I really hoped they'd like it (fingers crossed).

Immediately upon arrival, F looked up and said "MOMA, I've heard of this before. Remember, we used to have some book, where a guy wanted to find his friend named Art but ended up learning all about art? I loved that book." This statement made me realize two things - (1) the early years really do matter, so glad that I spent hours upon hours reading out loud while my kids tried to eat every book in site; (2) my daughter freakishly remembers everything. as in everything. (this isn't necessarily a good thing).

F then basically went on a scavenger hunt, recalling by memory everything in the Seen Art? book. I know I sound like the world's biggest dork, but IT WAS AWESOME!! F's reaction upon seeing Starry Night (absolute awe) was priceless.

In one of their brochures for families, MOMA recommends a game called "Everyone's A Critic" in which you choose an adjective and then everybody "competes" to find works of art that exemplify the adjective (one person operates as the "judge"). So the girls and I played this while we meandered (I learned that MOMA contains LOTS of "tragic" works).

As wonderful as the first hour or so was, eventually the girls became "sort of bored." At this point, we decided to check out MOMA's Art Lab for kids for awhile (a small, but amazing space), where the girls made stop motion films, painted masterpieces using a wii remote, created Calder mobiles, and drew lots of art.

All in all, an amazing day.



The Art Lab was all sorts of awesome.



Our whole family had a fabulous time wondering around the city. P couldn't stop saying "wow, NYC is just so much more Chrismassy then DC."



But nothing really beats jumping on the bed and checking out city views from the 27th floor.

Things to Make & Read - MOMA books & Imitation Art

When the girls were younger we spent quite a bit of time at art museums. Why? Well, mainly because, as a new mom, I didn't know where else to go (I seriously think that DC hospital maternity wards need flyers referencing KidFriendly DC and Go Out and Play!). Further, I like art and in DC very few museums charge admission. I think P learned colors while pointing at various works of abstract art in the Hirshhorn's galleries. Then came T (whose current nickname is "the tornado"). And we tried visiting art museums with him but that didn't work out so well (read about our past experience here).

This winter, in place of museums I decided to buy the girls some art books, figuring we could talk about the paintings. Unfortunately, I came across several art books geared at older children and quite a few geared at young toddler-age children, but not so many for preschoolers (if anyone knows of any PLEASE let me know). Finally I discovered Philip Yenawine's set through MOMA and lately we've been reading these quite a bit. The books all operate interactively with questions such as "What is happening in this place?" and "Can you tell how this woman feels by the look on her face?" Reading and discussing them with the girls has been great; I love to hear their stories - "I think this girl is sad because her friend won't play with her . . . " Each book ends with an easy project, for example "Can you use colors to make a noisy picture? A funny one?" We usually forgo the suggested projects and instead I ask the girls to pick out one of their favorite pictures from the books and reinterpret it (an idea I read about on A Passion for Play). I was a little apprehensive that recreating masterpieces would intimidate my children, but they jumped right in (F in particular) and lately we've been repeating this project while I make dinner. Often F likes her version better than the original. For example, in the pictures below F felt that a person was needed in order to appreciate the butterflies and wondered why the original artist didn't think of that.

If you live in the area and are interested in other "artful" experiences with your children, KidFriendly DC has a great review of the National Gallery's Stories in Art Program (the winter session is going on now, I really want to check it out). Plus, the Corcoran has a preschool program (weekdays only).