Visiting the Memorial Art Gallery

Last year, our eldest daughter went on a school field trip to the Memorial Art Gallery. At the end of the trip, each child was given a voucher for a free visit for themselves and 3 guests – and, the voucher was good until this coming July! Our daughter loved the art gallery and has been very anxious to go again, but we decided to save it for a special or a rainy day. My husband and I went to the art gallery a few times when we were dating, but had not been back in years. Recently he had a Sunday off and we had no plans so we decided to grab the kids and head to the art gallery.


When we arrived, the gentleman that greeted us asked how old the girls were and he handed each of them a little pencil and piece of paper with pictures of some of the pieces of art on one side and a description of it on the other – it was a little scavenger hunt for them! Our 4-year-old had animals and our 10-year-old had people to search for. I thought this was a great idea – particularly for our 4-year-old who was excited when we first walked in the door, and then faded about 15 minutes later…

My eldest has always been interested in art. When she was younger, we read her some books about one of my favorite artists, Claude Monet. Before she was born, my husband and I went to an art gallery in Buffalo, NY with good friends of ours to see an exhibition of Monet’s work. In the gift shop I grabbed two children’s books (we were talking about starting a family!). One was “Linnea in Monet’s Garden” which was one of our girl’s favorites! And the other was “Phillipe in Monet’s Garden” which is particularly cute for younger kids. So, my girl has always been a Monet fan and was very excited during her field trip when she found original Monet paintings at the art gallery. She made sure we all got to see them on our visit!


I was excited to see a few Georgia O’Keeffe paintings – she’s another favorite of mine!

We were fortunate to have the free admission to the art gallery, but we would definitely take the girls back again in the future. It’s a wonderful change of pace from going to the movies or playing Barbies at home! I think it is so important to expose our children to all different types of art and music – it will help them to become well rounded, cultured individuals. And sadly, with the increasing budget cuts in schools, there may come a day when our children will not have the opportunity to study art and music in school. If you have an art gallery in your area, grab the kids and go for a visit – who knows, maybe it will inspire your budding artists!