The great thing about exposing my kids to these images before actually visiting the museum is that my kids were able to treat our trip like a scavenger hunt. As we traveled through the ACTUAL museum, they would recognize famous works of art that had been displayed in our home for the past couple weeks.

We would have had fun at the Getty either way, I’m sure, but having prior familiarity with some of the paintings and sculptures made the experience more meaningful. Even my 2 year old recognized Monet’s Sunrise as one that he had hung up on our wall at home.

The free printable below includes 12 works for art and accompanying labels. Here are examples of a few of them:

Recommended Age Range:Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, can display with or without out picture frames

Materials:

• paper for printing Visit the Getty at Home printable
• 8.5″ x 11″ picture frames (optional)
• scissors
• tape
• nails, Command Strips, or Command Strip hooks (optional)

Instructions:

1. Print Visit the Getty at Home printable.
2. Cut out display labels.
3. Place images in picture frames if desired.
4. Hang or tape images and labels on wall where kids can see them.

Enjoy the beauty these famous works of art add to your home!

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The pictures of artwork on our walls were mostly ambience for our guests. Additionally, we set up a “Fountain of the Muses” filled with blue water beads were our guests could hunt for coins to spend at our “cafeteria.” I love the Bravewriter enchanted learning philosophy. These party school book clubs have been so much more engaging than book reports I did as a kid.

An unexpected advantage of our Mixed-Up Files party school was that my kids in particular learned a lot about famous artwork at the Met. We made hanging them up to decorate our house for the party into a big event. My kids took turns deciding which picture they wanted to hang up and where. (My hubby is not a big fan of holes in the wall, so we used Command Strip hooks and cheap picture frames.)

All in all, they learned about 12 different pieces of art currently on display at the Met. We left them up for a few weeks so that we would see them every day. Your family is more than welcome to use the images and display labels we made (free printable below). If your space is limited, you could rotate the images on display. Overall, I think this Met at Home activity was a pretty easy and inexpensive way to introduce a little art history into my kids’ lives.

Here are examples of some of the pieces we used:

Recommended Age Range:Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, can display with or without out picture frames

Materials:

• paper for printing Visit the Met at Home printable
• 8.5″ x 11″ picture frames (optional)
• scissors
• tape
• nails, Command Strips, or Command Strip hooks (optional)

Instructions:

1. Print Visit the Met at Home printable.
2. Cut out display labels.
3. Place images in picture frames if desired.
4. Hang images and labels on wall where kids can see them.

Allow your kids to soak in the beauty of priceless works of art from the comfort of your home!

Related Links

Science Activities for Kids
Chemistry Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

The post Visit The Met at Home appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Before we started this activity, we talked about Michelangelo and looked at some of his famous sculptures. We noticed the detail and remarked on how he didn’t have modern tools or technology to help him. We also talked about some of his famous quotes. (You are welcome to use the free Michelangelo reference material I created if you like!)

I had no idea, but I love the way a lot of his quotes support a growth mindset, which I believe is so important for children to develop. I asked the kids what they thought he meant when he said, “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” To help them understand I gave them prompts like, “Do you think when Michelangelo was born, he was able to make beautiful works of art like this sculpture of David?”

We talked about how when someone is really good at something, like a musical instrument or a sport, most people assume that they are just “very talented” without acknowledging all the hard work that goes into developing that skill. We talked about how the FIRST time Michelangelo tried to sculp something, it probably was not that great. However, he kept working and working until eventually, he was one of the greatest sculptors (and artists) of all time.

Recommended Age Range:Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~30 minutes (some kids finished a lot sooner and some kept going for over an hour.) Also, make sure to allot time for cleanup!
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: About $5 for 10 kids

Materials:

• paper for printing Michelangelo quotes and sculpture examples
• bars of soap (we used Ivory)
• sculpting utensils (plastic forks/knives/spoons, skewers, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, etc.)

Instructions:

1. Print out the Michelangelo reference material.
2. Show the children the pictures of his sculptures and talk about his quotes. We hung them up on the wall so all the kids could see them at once.



3. Set out bars of soap and sculpting utensils for the kids to use. We used plastic eating utensils, skewers, toothpicks, and craft sticks.



4. Let the kids have fun creating whatever they like!

I hope your kids enjoy this Michelangelo-inspired art activity!

Related Links

Science Activities for Kids
Chemistry Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

The post Michelangelo Soap Sculpture Activity appeared first on ResearchParent.com.