Too hot? Rainy? We’ve got you covered for some fun things to do with kids–inside!
Art
My approach to art education is to get kids in front of art early and often. I’m always amazed at how my kids will respond to what’s in front of them, and, on one trip to the AGO, when they were given white play dough and coloured pencils to take inside, I got inspiration for how to approach museum and gallery visits: create the creations.
Now, whenever we go to a gallery, we take along our sketchbooks and the kids pick a picture, park and draw. (Check with the gallery to see what materials are allowed. I once had to buy an expensive set of pencils from the gift shop because our markers were not allowed!) Having them occupied with their own creations means not only are they inspired to make their own art, but I get time to enjoy the art on display myself.
I can’t say enough good things about the AGO. There is great programming for kids, and the current Emily Carr exhibit, From the Forest to the Sea, is a great one for families and is included with General Admission. Younger children will appreciate the bold strokes and colours of her landscapes, and you can talk with your older kids about the haunting emptiness of so many of her paintings: the effects of disease and a mammoth logging industry that came with European colonization.
“Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky” Emily Carr
We recently went to check out the Andy Warhol: Revisited exhibit at a pop-up gallery at 77 Bloor Street West, where you can meet Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mouse and John Wayne. The exhibit will rotate over 120 of Warhol’s pieces from the Revolver Gallery over its run, which ends December 31, 2015. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and kids. Find out more at Warhol Revisited.
Museums
Right down the street from Andy Warhol is the ROM, where you could spend all of a rainy day and more. And it’s not just dinosaurs! Follow up on seeing Emily Carr’s totem poles by seeing two of the real things, housed in the museum stairwell, a three-storey space designed to house them and allow you to get right up close to the amazing work.
Movies
Next week, we will be reviewing a wordless picture book. It’s not much of a stretch, really, but what about a wordless movie?! I took the kids along to see a preview Shaun the Sheep without knowing very much about the series on which the movie was based. I honestly did not notice that the movie was wordless until about half way through! The visual gags are so great, and the Claymation so engaging, that I didn’t even notice the absence of dialogue. We took along a friend who loves the tv show, and he found the movie to be a great extension of the franchise he loves, but, as my experience demonstrates, no previous experience is necessary! Shaun the Sheep will be released in Canada on August 7.
4 Mothers 