MY FIRST MUSEUM



The Museum is the ideal family destination for young
and old, and especially for kids aged five to twelve.
Whether you have an hour or a whole afternoon to
spare at the Museum, you’ll find a lot to do as a family.
Year in and year out, of the 30,000 objects in the
Museum’s collection, over 2,000 are on display.
There’s ample material to interest everyone – Dad,
Mum, Auntie Jean and Uncle Jim, granny, grandpa
and the newest arrival.

Don’t forget, admission to the Museum is now free
for children twelve and under.

A visit to a museum is something new, quite different
from anything else a child has experienced in his/her
life, so take a moment to explain what it is you’re
going to see together. Here are a few guidelines:
Photo: leclairphoto.com

What is a museum?

A museum is a place that holds collections of objects
that tell us about the many different life styles and
cultures across the globe, and about the way artists
past and present have shown us their view of the world.
In the Museum these objects are identified, classified,
protected from anything that might harm them (light,
humidity, vandalism and so on) and displayed so that
visitors can look at them and learn about them through
observation. If your child likes collecting things –
badges, dolls, stickers – he/she will understand why
the Museum has to be so careful with the objects in
its collections.

Overview of works on display at the Museum

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is an encyclopaedic
museum, which means that its collections of objects
come from all over the world and all periods of history.

To see an overview of the Museum’s collections.

Photo: leclairphoto.com
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BEFORE VISITING THE MUSEUM


Looking at original works of art: an outstanding experience

There’s nothing like coming face to face with a real artwork created by
an artist: you really experience its scale and the purity of the colours
and textures. To encourage your child to look carefully at a work of art,
ask him or her the following questions while you are all looking at this
painting from the European Art Collection.
"What’s the first thing that comes into your head when you see this picture?"

"Point out all the objects, things from nature, and
people you can see in this painting."
Here you the parent can write them down while your child
is identifying them.

"What are they like, these objects and people and natural elements?
What colour are they? Are they big or small?"
Encourage your child to be precise: if it’s yellow, is it pale yellow
or dark yellow? Suggest a comparison of the colour to something
he/she knows, blue like my bicycle…

"Let’s invent a name for this person. Let’s imagine her day, what was
she doing before and after the moment shown in the painting?"

Honing your powers of observation

Training yourself to memorize visual elements is a great way to sharpen
your powers of observation, a useful asset for getting the most out of a
Museum visit. Try the following game with your child. You’ll need: a sheet
of paper, coloured pencils and a reproduction of a picture showing several
objects.

· Let your child look at the picture for thirty seconds to a minute.
· Hide the image by moving it to the task bar on your screen.
· Ask the child to draw one of the objects in the painting. Then let him or her look
  at the painting again and draw another object, repeating the exercise twice more.
· Then look at the picture and the drawing; what’s been left out?

Don’t expect the child to have drawn all the objects, since the time for looking
was limited. It’s interesting to see which objects the child noticed first and
to ask why? Are they more brightly coloured? Bigger, smaller?

Before setting off, take a look at the rules of behaviour for visiting the Museum:
The Museum Etiquette (PDF file, requires the Acrobat Reader plug-in).


Keep your visit short

It’s important not to try and see everything in one visit. Make choices.
Remember that a museum visit can be tiring. Select about half a dozen (6)
works to look at, all on a subject of your choosing: for example, animals,
houses, seasons of the year… If no-one’s tired or bored, you could
extend the agenda.

For example, since children really love animals, go and look for animals
in art. You’ll find a lot of them in the Ancient Cultures Galleries on Level S2
of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. The African and Oceanian Art Collection
has numerous animals in the form of masks, little figures and other
ceremonial objects. Since most of the showcases reach to the ground,
even the smallest visitors can see the exhibits.


Vary the tempo of your visit

Half-way through the visit, take a break for a snack or meal, or go to the
expo-workshop A Whole World of Animals on Level S1 of the Jean-Noël Desmarais
Pavilion, where you can take part in a variety of hands-on activities.


Trusting one’s imagination

Teaching children to use their imaginations is the best way of showing
them how to enjoy looking at a work of art. Sit on the floor for a few
moments and look at one of the abstract paintings in the galleries on
Level S2 of theJean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion.

Here are some suggestions for stimulating your child’s imagination:

· Imagine you’re going to go for a walk in the painting:
  What’s the weather like? What can you smell in the air?
  What colours can you see? What sounds can you hear?

· Guess what tools the artist used to make the painting you’re looking at.
  Was it a brush? A small one or a big one? Or a palette knife, narrow or wide?

· Did the artist work quickly or slowly? How can you tell?

· If the artist was singing while he painted, what was he singing?
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BACK AT HOME


Making a miniature museum

To keep a souvenir of your visit to the Museum, you can make a miniature
museum with tiny artworks and visitors.

To do this you will need:

· A cake box or a shoe box for the gallery;

· Coloured construction paper to give colour to the walls
  and floor of the box;

· Small squares of white cardboard and colouring pencils
  to make the paintings;

· Modelling clay or Plasticine to make the sculptures and human figures;

· A stick of glue to attach the pictures to the walls.


Once you have assembled your miniature museum, take the Plasticine
and model the tiny figures who will be the visitors. This way you can
re-live the visit to the Museum with your child.

Make plans to go back to the Museum – There are still 2,000 objects
you haven’t seen yet!

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TO MAKE YOUR VISIT TO THE MUSEUM EVEN BETTER


Take part in the Family Sunday once a month.

This is the Museum’s programme for families, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

A wide range of activities is offered: creative workshops, tours in a wink,
story-telling and other presentations, and the Family Takeaway.
The theme of the activities changes every month.

The meeting place is the Lobby of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion.

· Check the list of up-coming Family Sundays
· How to get to the Museum?
· When to visit the Museum?
· For admission charges to temporary exhibitions


Admission to the Museum’s collections and to family activities is free.
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Esso family programmes are made possible through the support of
the Imperial Oil Foundation, which has been funding these free
family-oriented activities at the Museum since 1984.
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