Visual Arts Back to Main Links

NOTE: These websites have been selected for their kid appeal (e.g. games, activities, jump-in interaction) as well as educational value.  Most of them were created by local museums, encouraging both online and in-person exploration. The list is an ever growing list.... so keep checking back with us.

Art Safari
http://www.moma.org/momalearning/artsafari/
Created by the Museum of Modern Art and subtitled “an adventure in looking,” this site enables kids to tell stories online using a handful of modern masterpieces for inspiration.  Make your own online art or see what other children have done from around the world in the Visitor’s Art Display.  This is an especially good site for younger children, pre-K and up. (JF)

Brooklyn Expedition: Latin America
www.brooklynexpedition.org/latin
Discover the arts and culture of the Americas by looking at sculpture and textiles from the Brooklyn Museum collection on this site created by Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library all working together.  Go to “Ancient Beliefs and Rituals” and rotate around  the Life-Death figure from Mexico.  Or, go to “Spinning Tales in Cloth” and look for llamas and snakes in a 2,000 year-old Peruvian cloth.  Rollovers, a helpful glossary, and kid-friendly graphics make it fun. (JF)

Collections Central Online
www.brooklynkids.org/emuseum
Created by the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, this site is designed to bring the Museum’s collection to life for children 8 to 12 years old, their families and educators.  Explore over 2,000 cultural artifacts and natural history specimens from the Museum’s permanent collection. The site has an online drawing program, online exhibits, and a helpful search tool to help you encounter the collection—from the familiar to the unusual. (JF)

Museum Kids
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/museumkids.htm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has created a website for kids and their families that looks at “Things to do when visiting” and “For kids to do right now.”  The first is a helpful pre-visit primer on family programs and the second is a collection of websites developed for children and based on their encyclopedic collection, without being stuffy about it.  For example, click into “The Tomb of Perneb” and discover how an ancient Egyptian tomb traveled 4,000 years and 6,000 miles to its new home at the Met, or take a new look at Van Gogh (“How Van Gogh made his mark”) and Romare Bearden (“Let’s walk the block”). (JF)

NGA Kids (National Gallery of Art)
http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
Become a digital artist while exploring “The Art Zone.” Use the collage machine, mobile maker, wallover machine, 3-D twirler, paintbox, and others to test the limits of your imagination and creativity. (JF)