Visitor Tips for families
There are many ways to look at art with children. Below are tips for planning your visit to the Brooks and suggestions for looking at art with children, as well as ideas for follow-up activities.
Before your visit to the Brooks:
- What is an art museum? Talk with your children about what they think an art museum is and what they might see there. There aren't any fish or dinosaurs here; rather, we have sculptures, paintings, photographs, drawings, and even design objects.
- Visit our Web site with your children. This will help familiarize them with art and artists they might see at the Brooks, or find objects that relate to what they are studying in school.
- Explain museum behavior. Explain to your children that they are not allowed to touch the art in the museum. This is to protect the objects from being damaged, and because our fingers have natural oils, touching the artwork can leave harmful prints. Also, remind them never to run inside the museum and to always stay with an adult.
- Plan your visit for a weekday. The museum is less crowded on those days. Also, try to come in the morning when your children aren’t tired.
- Use one of our interactive Family Fun Guides. Family Fun Guides are available at the admissions desk.
Looking at Art with Your Children
- Don't try to see everything in one visit. You’ll enjoy the museum more if you look at just a few objects or one special exhibition. Follow your children’s lead as to what excites and interests them. An hour – or even half an hour – may be enough time. Remember, you can always come back!
- Make a painting or sculpture come to life! Have your kids imitate an artwork by “striking a pose.” Ask them what they would do or say? What would they see, smell, or hear if they were inside the work of art? Encourage your children to use their imaginations.
- Act it out! Find a painting that depicts more than one person. Take roles. What are the characters saying to one another? How are they related? What will happen next?
- Play Eye Spy. Ask your children to find shapes, colors, and objects, or to count any number of things in a gallery or work of art. They can find animals, name everything they see that is blue in one gallery, etc. Take turns describing a detail from a painting aloud while your child stands in the center of the gallery with eyes closed. When your child opens his or her eyes, can he or she find the painting with the detail you described?
- Pretend to be art detectives. Find a work of art from long ago, maybe an ancient sculpture, a Pre-Columbian vessel, a portrait, or a clock. Examine the visual clues to determine WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW. Like any good sleuths, you’ll need to make guesses based on evidence and hunches.
- Journey around the world. Travel around the globe without leaving Memphis. Look at objects from different continents, cultures, or countries. “Visit” a landscape painting to take a swim in a lake, hike up a mountain, or walk in the French countryside.
- Every picture tells a story. Can you find a work of art that tells a story? Maybe it tells about everyday life, or the person who made it, or used it. It might illustrate a legend or myth. Some artworks are mysterious, whimsical, or fantastical – try making up a tall tale!
Ideas for Follow-Up Activities
Look for opportunities to reinforce things your children discovered. Mention how everyday objects and things in your home are similar to things you observed in artworks at the museum.
- Be an art critic. Encourage your children to draw, write about, and talk about the things they saw at the museum. What was their favorite work of art? What didn't they like? Why?
- Become a curator. Start your own collection at home. Use something your child or family already collects, or build up a collection of something around your house, such as buttons, dolls, toy cars, leaves, or rocks. Think about how you would display your collection and who you might want to share it with. You can even curate your own exhibition at home!
- Be an art historian. Go to your local library, bookstore or the internet to look for more information about an artist or artwork your child particularly liked.
For more information about the Brooks’ programs for children and families, call 901.544.6246 or e-mail
edu@brooksmuseum.org.