Barnes from Home: Family Art Time

Henri Rousseau was known for painting exotic landscapes from his imagination. With inspiration from Rousseau, bring your dream garden to life. (ages 3–12)
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Lights, camera, action! Let’s create a poem inspired by Charles Demuth’s acrobatic dancer! (ages 8–12)
En Español

Create your own tapestry design inspired by our special exhibition on French businesswoman Marie Cuttoli. (ages 5–12)
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Landscape paintings connect with the outdoors. What do you see outside your window? Buildings? Nature? Animals or people? Colors? Shapes? Use your careful looking skills to draw a landscape from your own neighborhood. (ages 3–12)
En Español

Cézanne’s still lifes look good enough to eat! Follow our simple recipe to make a delicious fruit smoothie inspired by the colors in his painting. (ages 5–12)
En Español

If you had a time machine, would you travel to the past or the future? Let’s make one and imagine ourselves exploring a different time. (ages 8–12)

Artists often pair complementary colors—such as red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange—to add brightness to their paintings. Let’s create some fun pictures with complementary colors using objects in your home! (ages 5–12)

African art, such as masks of the Fang tribe, which have simple shapes and lines, inspired European artists like Amedeo Modigliani. Take a close look at two works of art and then make your own portrait or mask. (ages 3–12)

Symmetry appears throughout art and nature, and creates balance and harmony. Try this fun activity to learn more about symmetry. (ages 3–12)

American artist Ernest Lawson made this painting while in France. Try this fun activity to make some gnarly trees at home. (ages 5–12)

Henri Rousseau was a self-taught artist who often included exotic plants and flowers in his paintings. Look closely at the shapes and colors in this painting and then draw your own bright bouquet! (ages 3–12)

Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh liked to paint places where he lived or visited, often from memory. Can you imagine your own colorful houses? (ages 5–12)

Pennsylvania artist Charles Demuth made paintings with precise, sharply defined shapes. Look at all the shapes and lines in the artwork here. Can you recreate them on paper? (ages 8–12)

Colorful flowers lift our spirits and inspire artists to capture their beauty in their paintings and in poetry! Take some time to reflect on nature with this activity that combines reflection, poetry, and art. (ages 8–12)

Watercolor is used for drawing as well as painting on paper. Some artists use a “resist” technique with watercolors to add color, texture, and highlights. Watercolor resists are fun for kids to explore! (ages 3–12)

In this painting, a woman sits at a table with her beloved dog at her side. Let’s draw a portrait that focuses on your favorite animal or imaginary creature. (ages 5–12)

The Navajo people prized turquoise for its beauty and believed it had sacred powers. You can create your own jewelry using things you find around the house. (ages 8–12)

The star of this painting by Philadelphia artist William Glackens is the woman’s incredible hat. Make your own fun hat using household items. (ages 5–12)

Navajo blankets were woven in patterns featuring shapes and colors found in nature. You can create your own patterned designs using inspiration from Navajo weavings. (ages 3–12)

Before Pierre-Auguste Renoir became famous, he painted portraits for the elite of Paris’s art world. Here, he painted an art collector’s young daughter holding her cherished toy, a jump rope. Let’s make a self-portrait with your own favorite toys around you. (ages 5–12)

This metalwork, made in France, is a door decoration for the outside of a house. Look carefully. Do you think this might be a door knocker? Get creative and design a door decoration for your home or even your room! (ages 5–12)

A weather vane, or wind vane, is an instrument that shows the direction the wind is blowing. Create your own weather vane inspired by the ones in our collection. (ages 8–12)

This boat is actually a floating artist studio, created by the painter Claude Monet. You can make your own artist studio, too—a safe space to focus, experiment, and create artwork. (ages 5–12)

American artist Susan Cray used a technique called paper-cutting in her artwork. To do so, she cut images out of a dark paper and placed them on top of a light background for contrast. Try it out yourself! (ages 5–12)

This beads of this Zuni Pueblo necklace are made with natural materials like coral, shell, and turquoise. Learn how to make beads out of paper and create your own powerful jewelry. (ages 8–12)