Field Trip to the Mint

Have I told you how much I love Home Schooling?  Let me just say it again! I love it! Not only do I get quality time with my kids all week but we also get to plan field trips any time we like and with who we like.

This time it was to a local art museum with the Murray's. I have to admit even though I had heard several people rave about the things this museum offered for kids I was still nervous. Would the kids run wild? Would they be too loud? Would they try to touch everything? Would their attention spans hold?

Turns out all my worries were in vain! The day went perfect! It was so much fun.

When we arrived they gave us two backpacks. Each backpack had a picture of a specific piece of art and what floor to find it on. Once it was found there were several activities inside the backpack that pertained to that piece of art.  

On the hunt for the first piece of art.  

 How cool is this piece of glass? It was our first activity pack. The instructions in the pack encouraged the kids to look at the sculpture from every angel, see what was behind it and see how it seemed to change as you walked past it. They took this task very seriously.

 Pierson and Calvary were peeking behind the glass to see how the colorful shapes were reflected.

 There was plenty of space for the kids to spread out on the floor with sketch pads from the backpacks to draw what they saw. This kept the kids focused on one piece of art for at least 30 minutes if not longer.

The packs also had a kaleidoscopes, frames and interesting information about the artist.  

 The second backpack pertained to a beach painting. It too came with artist info, drawing supplies, and games It came with miniature figurines to play a memory game which Cassie led. The kids were loving this!  It was a great way to keep the kid interested in the museum.

 They enjoyed drawing sea shells that went along with the theme of the painting.

 Pierson did a great job! He was very proud of his accomplished drawing. This made the former art teacher proud!

  Fortunately the museum allowed us to leave for lunch then come back to finish. Our crew was getting hungry so we headed out for lunch at Fuel Pizza.

 Along the way we stopped for pictures with sculptures. I call this one "Rio".  :)

 Along the way we crossed the park which has a literature theme. The learning possibilities never end. The kids enjoyed playing on the sculptures in the park so much that we had to remind them that they were hungry!

 Pizza was ordered! Not a crumb ended up being left! This crew was hungry!

 On the way back to the museum Pierson did some pole hopping. (That was a parked car by the way.)

 The second half of our time at the museum was in a room designed just for kids. We spent hours here.

 Maylin was in HEAVEN! This area had an endless supply of paper, tape, staples, drawing supplies, pipe cleaners... the list goes on and on. Maylin and Harper spent most of their time sitting here being creative!

 Pierson enjoyed the magnetic pipes. He worked and worked to make just the right path for the balls to fall down and land in the appropriate hole. The enthusiasm he exuded each time a new path worked was priceless.

To finish out the day the kids worked together building magnetic towers. It was great to see the kids play so well together while getting a little culture on the way!

I have been so blessed to have amazing people to share this homeschooling journey with!