Recently I've been working on a list of family programs at art museums throughout the country (which will be out next month!). During my search, I came across the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio. I loved their family program so much, I had to share it with you...
About
: Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH is located about 45 minutes, from Cleveland. The museum itself, housed in an Italian Renaissance-style building, was founded in 1917 and hosts over 14,000 works of art. Admission is FREE and visitors can partake in a variety of classes, tours and talks that are sure to spark your artistic interest.
The Program
: As part of their education department, AMAM developed family self-guides to engage visitors with children. Prior to your visit, you can go online and download a guide, or pick one up in the Education Hallway at the museum. These guides are some of the best I've seen; they engage children by helping them explore topics in art, including: food, music, health, STEAM, dragons, saints and my personal favorite, mustaches, in a meaningful and relevant manner. The guides take one theme/feature (i.e. mustaches) and use this theme to take the viewer across cultures, periods and movements in art.
Here's an example of how their guides use the history of the mustache to get kids looking at the art and dare I say, really thinking about it in a historical and cultural context:
Aren't they great?
Now if you can't get to Oberlin to check out their museum, you can always print some out and look over them with your kids at home, but, if you do find yourself one weekend in north central Ohio, be sure to pop in and see the works in real life!
PS
Big thanks to Megan and Jason at AMAM for allowing me to use the guide you see above!
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