I absoultley LOVE Art Museums!  This means my kids have been taken to see Fine Art from a very young age.  They have seen Rembrandts, Picassos, Degas, Warhols and many, many more.  So how do I get my kids interested in art and through and Art Museum? 

1.  Share your excitement with them!  They know this is something I love and they feel my excitement over taking them with me. 

2.  Don't wait to introduce them to art at the Museum.  Study works of art at home.  Here are 2 of my favorite art books to get you started.....  The Usborne Book of Art   &  The Children's Book of Art.  After they your children have learned about different Artist let them experiement with creating their own works of art in the style of different Artists. 

3.  When it is finally time to visit the Art Museum here are a few things I do to help things go smoothly. 

a.  Visit the gift shop as soon as you arrive at the Museum and buy 5 or 6 post cards of the most famous works in the museum.  Once the kids have their card, the hunt is on!  We make it a treasure hunt.  Everyone tries to be the 1st one to find the works we are looking for.  Meanwhile we talk about the Artists and the time periods and we try to find as many other works that fit this criteria as possible. (This allows me to look around without rushing through the Museum.)  

b.  We decide before  go in 1 item per person to hunt for.  So I may be apples, my oldest son horse and the younger 2 trees.  Then we keep track as we go through the museum how many of each item we can find.  (Of course if it's a Degas exhibit everyone wants to be the one to look for Ballerinas!  LOL)  Anyway, this really get's the kids looking at the pictures and keeps their interest. 

c.  Ask when you enter the Museum if they have any kind of activity packs for kids.  A lot of museums do.  These are usually activities that go along with the exhibit that you can borrow to use during your visit.  We have had  lot of fun with these.  Some Art Museums even have a special hands on sections for kids.  So be sure to ask.

d.  If the Museum allows photography (And a suprising number of them do.)  let the kids take lots of pictures.  This can be great for continuing your studies later.  (Scrapbooking, lapbooking, Make up a game where they match a picture to the artist, etc.)

4.  Talk about expected behavior before you go.  This has saved me many headaches.  Simple things like "You cannot touch." need to be covered at home.  Kids don't know what we don't tell them.  If they go with the expectation that they can run and touch things it will be much harder to corral them than if they know in advance what behaviour will be expected of them.

5.  Don't go during peak visitor times if you can avoid it. If you can go on a weekday there will be a lot less people around.  This will make it a lot less stressful for eveyone.

6.  Take lots of breaks and don't stay too long.   A lot of museums are set up with courtyards and gardens you can escape too for a break.  Take advantage of them.  Leave before your kids are done.  Having a melt down in a public museum is not fun.  They are kids after all! 

Jamin  is the homeschooling Mom of 3 great kids, ages 2, 5 and 11.   She loves homeschooling and finding creative things to do with her kids. She and her husband have been married 17 years.  She is also a Usborne Book Consultant.  You can visit her store at http://www.usborne2u.com