Forcing Art Upon Them

So earlier this summer we had a family day out and as we pulled into a nearby Arts center the groan from the back seat was silent but palpable. Even though we explained it was family day and they had fun things for us to do - still, GROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAN. It was even suggested, from the peanut gallery, that we drive another 20 minutes south and spend less than an hour at the train museum rather than do this.

After we assured the oldest boy that no, in fact this was our plan for the day, with disappointment cutting the air like a silent but deadly fart, we went inside.

Waddya know? They had stuff for kids to do. We started outside blowing bubbles with lots of different sized and shaped wands and other things, and letting them float through the gardens. There was also a scavenger hunt in the garden, which the oldest boy nailed quickly.

What do you know? We were having fun. 

We went inside to discover what awesome family day stuff they had for us to do and found an exhibit of recycled books as art - books that had been damaged and might've been destroyed but were used to create pretty little vignettes.

We also wandered into a gallery of dresses made of paper, which was pretty amazing. 

But the best thing I think, to the little people was after they did their due diligence of appreciating the art - there was more interactive play stuff!

There was a giant harp to play and fun things to keep my tiny humans occupied for a while, out of the hot Georgia sun.

Not such a bad trade off, for having to look at some art one afternoon.