Gallery Activities
Thank you for visiting the Dennos Museum Center's galleries. If you are looking for a little something extra to help you or your children engage with the artworks on exhibit, please view the list below. Activities include looking games, discussion prompts, singing, and even some ideas for what to do when you get home. Many of the activities are great alone or with a friend, but can also include a big group.
Art Charades
Try to pose or act like a person or animal from an artwork in the galleries. Can anyone guess who or what you are? Keep score and see who gets to 5 points first.
At home, play the original game based on prompts you remember about your visit to the Museum. Words like "paint" or "sculpt" are great prompts.
Five Senses
Not only can you look to find interesting things, but you can also use your other senses! Imagine what you might hear, smell, touch, or taste while looking at an object in the galleries. Remember: Please don't physically touch the art!
At home, write a poem about your favorite artwork that describes each thing you saw, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted.
Make a Word Train
Choose a color, shape, or object in the galleries. Now find another that begins with the last letter of the color, shape, or object you chose. For example, the word ART and TRAIN would link with the letter T. What can you see in the gallery that starts with the letter N to connect with TRAIN? How long of a word train can you make? Whoever makes the longest train, wins! Or you can team up and work together.
On the way home, try to make a word train of things you see from your car or bus window. For example: tires, steering wheel, lamp post, traffic, cone...
LOOK & RECALL
Have a partner spend 60 seconds looking at a large image with lots of people or things in it. After their time is up, have them turn around and then ask them questions about what they remember. Give them one point for each correct answer. Take turns with different artworks to practice your looking skills.
At home, try to recall the details of your favorite artwork and make a drawing of it. You can take a picture of the work in the galleries to compare!
TITLE SONG
Artworks have titles, but have you ever considered what kind of song they might make? Based on a title and what you see in an artwork, try to make up a song to sing for your friends and family. You can have multiple people make up a song for the same artwork and pick a favorite, or work together to create your sonic masterpiece!
At home, play a musical instrument that goes well with your song. You can even try recording it!
PICK A PET
Find an animal in the galleries that you would like to keep as a pet. What would you name it? What would you feed it? Would you take it for walks, or swims, or flights? If your pet could talk, what do you think they would say?
At home, you can carve your pet out of a bar of soap. Use something like Ivory soap and a few plastic utensils to make a sculpture! If you need inspiration, visit this link.
I SPY
That's right! Even this classic game can be played in an art museum. We'll even get you started: "I spy with my little eye, something red..."
At home, try to use the same I Spy clues for things in your own home.
ABOVE THE COUCH
Choose an artwork in the gallery and discuss whether or not it would be a good one to hang above your couch at home.
At home, draw a picture of your couch with the artwork you chose to hang above it, and stick the drawing on the refrigerator.
