While planning our Georgia O’Keeffe Museum visit, the boys had a choice of creating a scavenger hunt or taking a notebook to draw something at the museum. They chose drawing, but the museum gave them a Kid’s Guide that included both!

Close Examination of Nature

Something that stands out about Georgia O’Keeffe’s work is her close examination of nature. To connect to this idea before the trip, we narrowed our field of vision on a flower and expanded it to a larger paper to notice the details, shapes, and colors up close in the flower. In the scavenger hunt, they were looking for a specific petunia and in their search made connections to many different flower paintings.

Artistic Imitation

The kids noticed some of the paintings from learning about and imitating her work before our trip. It’s exciting to see paintings in real life in contrast to a book or laptop!

Connecting to Our Key Word

In a previous post, I shared ideas for making connections to a specific keyword while preparing for a trip. What shape are O’Keeffe’s sculptures? Spirals of course. I appreciated how the museum placed the ram horns next to the sculptures to show her inspiration. The boys noticed. “Look mom, it’s a spiral!”

Tips!

By the time we ordered tickets online, only afternoon times were available. Thank goodness Grandma joined us. I don’t know about yours, but my kids do much better in museums in the morning. A finger came a little too close to a painting for my comfort!

The staff are very welcoming to children, and I’d highly recommend this museum for families traveling to Santa Fe. Here are some tips:

• Buy tickets in advance online (at least 3-5 days ahead)
• Aim for early
• Take your time
• Use the free lockers to store extra items

Apply

What art museums are in the area your family is headed to next? Could you prepare your kids through artistic imitation or creating a scavenger hunt?

If you try it out, let us know how it goes in the comments below!