On Friday, it was a PD Day in our school board and my husband took the day off so we could all hang out together. We decided it would be a great time to take the kids to the National Gallery of Canada!
Maybe an art gallery isn’t the most obvious place to take kids aged 3 and 5, but we wanted to check it out and they were excited too.
The gallery offers great programming for children and teens. Artissimo has a variety of activities set up for the kids to explore the museum or create art themselves. We toured the museum by ourselves this time and then did the craft/art area with the kids, but next time we might participate in the Art Buddies program or the Who Am I? Activity.
We explored the Canadian Art section (including the Rideau Street Convent Chapel which was stunning) and the American/European galleries.
I enjoyed telling the kids the names of the pieces, the artists or the time period and really liked their reactions to pieces. Some stood out to them more than others and some they asked questions about. My son exclaimed that he didn’t understand why one only had black paint on it and why there was a toilet bowl in one exhibit. (And yes, we saw the controversial Voice of Fire 😉
Probably one of the outstanding pieces to both of them (and us) is the spider sculpture standing outside of the museum. “Maman” is a really amazing piece to stand beneath or witness from afar. They loved it.
Before taking the kids, we did tell them where we were going and the expectations we had – no yelling, watching out for other people, no running and no touching (which frankly even I find difficult because I’m so tactile!).
They were okay with these rules (with a few reminders along the way 😉 and we were happy that it wasn’t super busy when we went.
Would we go back? Absolutely. We have to, the kids keep saying how much they enjoyed it.
Have you been with the kids to The National Gallery of Canada?
*note: the Artissmo activities were running from 11-4, but I’m not sure if it’s every day of the week or not!
