1. Gather your materials. You will need some paper, canvas or cardboard. We used cardboard because you need to have a fairly large piece and it’s all we had. You will need paint( I thinned ours just a tiny bit with a few drops of water) , a plate and some paint brushes.
2. Start by laying your canvas down with some extra paper or cardboard , this is messy.
3. Pour your paint onto a plate – we just used one plate but you can do different ones for each color.
4. Dip your brush in and fling it on. To get my son to use the right flinging action I told him to put a spell on the canvas, and it was perfect. We both flung the paint on.
5. He took my brush and put a double spell on it too!
6. Then we reached for the paint jars.
7. Let Dry.

This is a true lesson, while doing this we talked about the painting we saw and how Jackson Pollock made it. I asked him if this was as big as the painting we saw and other little questions to make connections to the field trip and this activity. Most of all though we had fun putting spells on the canvas.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a shallow card board box, some foam or construction paper in 2 colors, some markers, glue, scissors, art stickers, little people blocks and little people.
2. Start by cutting your foam into rugs.
3. Draw some fun squiggles to make the foam look like oriental rugs.
4. Cut out a door.
5. Cut a runner from the other color of foam.
6. Add glue for the rugs and runner
7. Pop them down.
8. Time to add stickers- here is a close up of the stickers we are using. I found them at the St. Louis Art Museum ages ago but have seen them at the Vancouver Art Gallery .
9. Add them to your box. The Mona Lisa is from the cover, I’d already used the sticker, I just taped it on.
10. Add the furniture- I used a few blocks.
11. Add your doorway. My son has been saying “Please pay for museum here” when he plays. If you have time you could make a little desk!
12. Time to play.

“Brush Mona Lisa’s Hair” by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo is the inspiration for this post and my son’s new found love of Renaissance Art. The book is a board book with touch and feel aspects to it. The text is cute but not a story, each page asks the reader to do something with the touch and feel item . The real gem is bringing the art to young eyes. The book includes wonderful masterpieces : Girl with A Pearl Earing , Birth of Venus, The Arnolfini Portrait and more!

“Babar’s Museum of Art” by Laurent de Brunhoff is one of my favorite art books for kids. My son has recently decided he hates it because he doesn’t want to see the elephant versions of the art. All the art in the museum are masterpieces that you will recognize redone with elephants. He slams the page in the way only toddlers with a definite sense of justice can and says ” No elephant paintings Mama, real ones!” Trust me though this book is awesome and he loved it a few months ago. The story is about how Queen Celeste wants to change the abandoned railway station into a museum to house all their collected art . The museum itself looks just like the Musee D’Orsay in Paris and the story also explains art for children.

“In The Garden With Van Gogh“ by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober is a little board book filled with easy rhymes and great art. The book doesn’t really have a story so much as a theme but it works. My son enjoyed it and asked to read it again after we were done. I like that books likes all these bring art into little hands for them to explore.