The Working Mom » work life balance

Doing the impossible: Teaching Art Appreciation to a 5-year old and a 10-year old

Jennifer — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:20:52 +0000

I know it sounds impossible – but I actually pulled this off. You know how half the time, well ok for me it feels like most of the time, I feel like I strike out more often than I hit a home run. I hear myself saying more often than I care to admit “Well, that didn’t go as well as planned.” But this time? This time I hit it out of the park.

It began when my mother told me about an exhibit going on in San Francisco: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, and beyond at the de Young Museum. I rushed right over to my computer and bought tickets for Sam, the kids, my parents, and me before I even thought twice about it. Then of course it dawned on me that spending the afternoon in a crowded museum, looking at old pictures on the wall probably wasn’t going to be the most fun the kids ever had. So I came up with a plan. I would make it into a game.

As luck would have it, my parents had plans to go to this exhibit two weeks before. So I asked her, as she went through, to make notes of a few of the paintings in each room, so we could later develop a “scavenger hunt” – age appropriate for a 5 year old and another for a 10 year old. (Ok, yeah, my mom did a good part of the hard work here – I still think this was a huge success).

The day of our tickets to see the exhibit, we came armed with two clipboards and two pencils. For Zach, the questions were basic enough: Find a painting with a golden vase. Find a painting of a cow. etc. It was challenging enough and he really enjoyed it. The only difficulty we had was really thanks to the crowd.

(On a side note: I’m a bit frustrated and annoyed with the museum. They’re very clear that they don’t want people bringing sketchpads, because to have people standing there sketching the pictures would “slow the flow of traffic throughout the exhibit” – and yet, they push the purchase of these audio tours that has everyone walking around the rooms like drones at a snails pace (or rather standing there FOREVER listening to the audio tour) rather than actually moving on through. I really would have preferred a time when NO ONE was using an audio tour – I think it would have gotten people moving more so I could have actually gotten within a few feet of a painting, instead of standing on my tip toes trying to get a peek from behind twenty people.)

Anyway, thankfully the kids were small, and my goal had shifted from wanting to see the paintings to wanting my kids to enjoy the experience. So I stood way in the back and sent Zach down underneath to sneak up to the front (all grownups who could easily see over him) so he could get a close look at the painting.

Can I tell you how proud I was to see him go up to the painting – point at it excitedly and tell me he found the painting of =whatever we were looking for=. People looked amazed that this little kid was actually excited to be there. Excited to be looking at the paintings. (Between you and me, so was I! LOL!)

Scattered within the scavenger hunt were a few “Which is your favorite painting in the room? Why is this your favorite?” or “How does this painting make you feel?”

Rachel’s was a little harder “Find a painting that shows 6 smoke stacks? Who painted it?” “Who painted a picture of a circus in this room” “Name 3 paintings by Henri Seurat (in this room)”

Rachel, who thought the whole scavenger hunt thing was beneath her before we started, really got into it once we were there. I came to find out that she had very specific and sometimes surprising opinions about the paintings.

Now here’s the best part. Aside from the fact that we got through the entire exhibit without a single meltdown – I considered it enough of a win. But then something happened tonight that just totally sealed the deal. My mother had bought a coloring book that had paintings from the museum in it for you to color. Zachary was playing with it after dinner – found one of the paintings and said “I remember this one! This one was on my checklist!… This one too! This is the one of the man fishing!”

It’s out of the park!

Sure Sign of Overtiredness

Jennifer — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:09:39 +0000

Zach was throwing up most of the night last night. When he wasn’t throwing up, I spent the time trying to fall back to sleep, a wasted effort. So I’m really short on energy today – and brain power. While I was driving Rachel to her day-camp, Sam stayed with Zach back at the house. In my head I was mentally listing off what I needed to do that day, how I would juggle it all with Zach staying home. On one mental item, I thought “we should feed him the BRAT diet today – I think that’s what they usually have you do with a kid that is recovering from vomiting, etc. Ok. BRAT diet… Bananas… Rice… Apples? No Applesauce, right…? And something starting with a “T”. What the hell is it. Tofu?….Turkey?… Tepid water… How many foods could possibly start with the letter “T” – what the hell is it??

I kind of gave up thinking about it and figured I’d just look it up on Google when I got home. So I get home, Zach asks for some toast, I say sure. I’m making him the toast and while I’m getting it all together I start thinking again… What the hell is the “T” word??? GAH!! Why can’t I remember what it is?!

Yeah.

It wasn’t until I finished making it and handed it to him… TOAST!

Oy. It’s going to be a long day.

Butterfly

Jennifer — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:00:24 +0000

The Beach House we stayed at must have been a butterfly haven. I was once told that people like to plant for butterflies, but not enough people plant for the caterpillars (that turn into butterflies) – but this house must have had both types – since earlier in the week we saw that monarch caterpillar, and then later in the week we kept seeing monarch butterflies. (Obviously not the same creature, but it was funny the in order in which we saw them) I particularly like monarch butterflies – and according to wikipedia, they’re supposedly seen across the U.S. but I can’t remember the last one I saw that wasn’t in some kind of “butterfly zoo.”

Another unique-to-this-area insect: Lightening Bugs / Fireflies. We used to see them every summer when I was a kid in NY, but I haven’t seen one in so long. I don’t believe there are any in Utah at all. I was really psyched to have Rachel and Zachary see them and chase after and even catch a few. (We let them go after a few minutes of watching them up close).

Beach House Backyard

Jennifer — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:00:41 +0000

Another reason for my weight gain from our vacation

Jennifer — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:00:52 +0000

One of many reasons for my weight gain over vacation

Jennifer — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:00:25 +0000

I miss the ocean

Jennifer — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:38:12 +0000

*Photo by Sam (obviously, since I’m IN it)

On the boardwalk

Jennifer — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:00:47 +0000

Fly away home

Jennifer — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:00:51 +0000

Mr. Monarch Goes For a Walk

Jennifer — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:00:19 +0000

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