The Phoenix Museum of Art is the Southwest’s largest museum for visual arts. It attracts highly acclaimed temporary exhibitions, but also houses a permanent collection of contemporary European and American art. The Museum offers voluntary donation hours throughout the month. When in Phoenix, it’s definitely worthwhile to stop at the Phoenix Museum of Art with kids.
Kid Facts: The Phoenix Art Museum opened in 1959, just 47 years after Arizona became the 48th state to join the US.
Visiting the Phoenix Art Museum With Kids
The Phoenix Art Museum’s family focused activities are outlined in the Museum’s “I’m Here With Kids” pamphlet. The Museum offers Discount Tire Free Family Weekends every second weekend of the month and also Make It!, which includes hands-on activities on the last Wednesday of the month (during the Museum’s voluntary donation hours). The unique outdoor sculpture garden is a highlight for those visiting with kids, especially Sui Jianguo’s Jurassic Age sculpture of a caged red dinosaur. This sculpture is reminiscent of Clifford, the big red dog and particularly interesting to kids.
The Museum’s child-focus extends to the James K. Ballinger Interactive Gallery (aka the Hub). The Hub offers an open area with stadium seating, bright paintings and books for kids to interact with art at their own pace.
Kid Facts: The current exhibit on display in the Hub is Poetry in Motion, which includes works of art that use line, color, shape and form to as poetic reflections of the world.
Favorite Exhibits at the Phoenix Art Museum With Kids
Our favorite exhibit was Carlos Amorales’ Black Cloud, which is on display at the Phoenix Art Museum for one year. Black Cloud includes 25,000 black paper moths and butterflies affixed to gallery walls. Mexican artist Carlos Amorales was inspired by the annual migration of monarch butterflies and conceived of a plague of moths swarming through the Museum. The sheer number of moths and butterflies is overwhelming and reminded me of an eerie scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, but the beauty and detail of each individual insect was stunning.
Kid Facts: This is the second time that Black Cloud, which premiered in 2007, has been on display at the Phoenix Art Museum. More than 30 different species of moths and butterflies are depicted.
Gilbert Stuart’s painting of George Washington definitely required a double take. This was one of Stuart’s paintings of Washington that served as a basis for the image that appears on the front of the one dollar bill. I found $1 in my handbag to compare.
Kid Facts: Artist Gilbert Stuart is best known for his unfinished painting of George Washington known as The Athenaeum, which is the basis for the 75 copies, including this one.
Yayoi Kusama’s You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies is a mixed-media installation with LED lights on exhibit through 2020. This was definitely a surreal installation and disorienting at first. Kusama was inspired by a Japanese folk tale about a person in a field with 10,000 fire flies. Kusama brings the tale to life in a dark, mirrored room with dangling LED lights. It is one of the few art exhibits in which “do not touch” does not apply. It is impossible not to touch a few of the thousands dangling lights while weaving through the installation. Photographs just cannot do this exhibition justice. It has to be experienced in person.
Kid Facts: Kusama is a contemporary artist and is one of the most well-known living Japanese artists.
Cornelia Parker’s Mass (Colder Darker Matter) was another favorite exhibit, which was made from burnt wood of a Texas Baptist church struck by lightning, wire and string. The burnt wood appears to float in place in mid-air and is stunning to view from many angles.
Kid Facts: When Cornelia Parker was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997, she exhibited Mass (Colder Darker Matter). The Turner Prize is the UK’s most prestigious art honor that is awarded annually to a British visual artist by the Tate. The only time the Turner Prize shortlist included only female artists was in 1997.
The Phoenix Museum of Art features artists from the American Southwest and Mexico, as well of area landscapes. We particularly enjoyed Thomas Moran’s Zoroaster Temple at Sunset, which magnificently captures the Grand Canyon.
Kid Facts: Thomas Moran was a landscape artist famous for his paintings of Yellowstone. He first traveled to the Grand Canyon in 1873 to document this natural wonder and completed this painting in 1916.
Phoenix Museum of Art With Kids
We were glad we stopped at the Phoenix Museum of Art and definitely suggest planning a visit to the Phoenix Museum of Art with kids for a wonderful educational experience about art and the Southwest. While we had only had a few hours in Phoenix during this visit, we can’t wait to check out all the other family-friendly things to do in Phoenix the next time we are in town.
Every so often, we encounter a place that is so fabulous for those traveling with kids that it is worthy of being featured on its own. For more of our favorite locations, please check out our other Spotlight features!
Thank you to the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for each providing complimentary tickets for my family. All opinions are my own.
Cleveland is typically not a city that comes to mind as a vacation spot but has been growing as a tourist destination in recent years. While venturing out of my office for lunch at North Coast Harbor this summer, I was surprised to find myself surrounded by casually dressed visitors rather than the usual business crowd. National Geographic Traveler‘s “2018 Best of the World” list recently named Cleveland as one of seven cities in its culture category. Editor George Stone described Cleveland as a city “that you kind of thought you knew but you don’t,” and we agree.
If you look beyond its historically bad reputation and unfortunate football team, Cleveland really does have a lot to offer both its residents and visitors. Playhouse Square is the second largest performing arts center in the country, behind only New York City’s Lincoln Center, and now boasts the world’s largest outdoor chandelier. The Cleveland Orchestra is world-renowned and considered one of the country’s “Big Five” symphony orchestras, and the hospital systems are consistently top-ranked. Cleveland’s downtown has added a number of hotels and residential housing developments. A variety of amazing museums around the city, including the world’s only Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, offer something for everyone. In 2016, the Cavs won the NBA finals, hosted the Republican National Convention, completed a $50 million renovation to Public Square, and the Indians played in the World Series. LeBron James has led the Cavaliers to the last three NBA finals, and the Indians had a 22-game winning streak last season. There also is definitely a Cleveland food scene with world-famous chefs Michael Symon, Jonathon Sawyer, Rocco Whalen and Chris Hodgson each owning several hot spots in town.
If any of that is convincing enough to persuade you to travel to Cleveland, be warned that winters here are admittedly long and chilly. The weather has been so bad recently that various area schools have closed for extreme cold, ice or snow on five different days this month. With that in mind, try to visit between April and October, if possible. The absolute best time to plan a visit is during a championship parade. But, Cleveland sports teams have been notoriously cursed, so there has actually been only one during my lifetime. I can assure you that my family was there to share the June 22, 2016 celebration with 1.3 million of our closest friends and family. We had a spectacular view of the festivities right from my office window.
With no championship parades in sight, we decided to make the most of our recent winter break staycation and truly become tourists in our own city and enjoy all it has to offer. Our kids were thrilled to visit many of the city’s premier museums. Here are our five fun family activities in alphabetical order:
Fun Family Activities in Cleveland With Kids
#1: Children’s Museum of Cleveland With Kids
The Children’s Museum of Cleveland reopened, in November 2017, in the former Stager-Beckwith Mansion, one of the four remaining mansions still standing on Millionaire’s Row. We had been members of the Museum at its previous location in University Circle when my oldest son attended preschool nearby. The Museum was housed in an old Howard Johnson’s restaurant. Although our boys thoroughly enjoyed their visits, the space was choppy with a few stairs here, there and everywhere such that it was a stroller nightmare. The Millionaire’s Row mansion in Midtown had most recently served as the main campus for Myers University and an elegant banquet hall. One of my best friends had her wedding reception in the space that now houses Adventure City. The new site and $10 million renovation really puts the newly expanded and totally accessible Museum in a different ballpark.
The Museum features these four permanent exhibits:
The Wonder Lab is an industrial science laboratory with water tables, whirlpools and jets that particularly fascinated my daughter. My sons spent most of their time building ball tracks on the magnetic wall. This was my kids’ favorite exhibit.
Moveable ball tracks on a magnetic wall
Adventure City offers an amazing indoor two-story climber with a construction site theme. The space also recreates the much-loved grocery store, doctor’s office, nursery and kitchen that were featured in the Museum’s prior location and also adds an auto shop. Building a car was a huge hit.
This climber was enormousSerious grocery shopping
Making Miniatures features a collection of dollhouses created by local artist, Cathy Lincoln and completely entranced my daughter. Each house was placed on a pedestal and enclosed with a plastic casing. Children could get up close by standing on small step stools and carefully explore the houses with available flashlights. My boys were less enthusiastic, but the Museum seemed prepared for them. They placed a tiny CMC logo in each house for a “hide and go seek” challenge, which was right up their alley and occupied them while their sister carefully examined each dollhouse.
She carefully examined each and every dollhouseMy boys had fun finding the CMC logo in each dollhouse
Arts & Parts is a bright art studio with different prepared art projects for children to create. My kids created paper lanterns and played with playdoh.
Playdoh creation
The Museum also features a Sensory Friendly Room for children who get overwhelmed in loud and crowded spaces. While only vending machines are available on site, the Café offers tables and a microwave for families packing lunch. There are also party rooms.
We visited right after New Year’s Day when most schools were still on holiday, and the Museum was packed. But the only real issue we had with the crowds was in the Coat Room. Despite the fact that this was the best Coat Room, which included shelves with baskets to help store cold weather accessories and lunches and also a window into the Wonder Lab below, it was a challenge to find a spare hanger when we arrived. The exhibits themselves were buzzing with activity but all accessible to my children.
The Museum is geared for visitors aged birth to eight. My nine year old enjoyed the Museum with his siblings – particularly the Wonder Lab and Adventure City and also joined their pleas for “five more minutes” when it was time to leave. But, he did get a bit bored in the Making Miniatures and Art & Parts exhibits and inquired whether it was time to move on. If the youngest child in your group is over eight, this may not be your ideal activity or, perhaps, only a short visit. I really love that adults are not admitted unless accompanied by children and that children are similarly not admitted unless accompanied by adults.
The former Stager-Beckwith Mansion is a huge improvement over the prior setting for the Cleveland Children’s Museum and definitely worth the wait. My kids had so much fun in this ideal place for kids to explore, imagine and create.
The new home of the Cleveland Children’s Museum
Kid Facts: Anson Stager, who is known for creating the most effective secret code used during the Civil War, originally built this home in 1866. Stager sold the home a few years later to Thomas Sterling Beckwith, the founder of Cleveland’s first carpet and interior store. In the 19th century, this portion of Euclid Avenue was known as Millionaire’s Row and home to powerful industrialists, including John D. Rockefeller.
#2: Great Lakes Science Center With Kids
The Great Lakes Science Center opened next to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 to support STEM learning. Its North Coast Harbor location on the shore of Lake Erie is picturesque setting, and the wind turbine, which was installed in 2006, provides about 7% of the building’s electrical needs.
Great Lakes Science Center
We met friends visiting from out-of-town at the Science Center a few days after Christmas. Between our two families, we had five boys and one girl ages three to eleven. Even though it was mid-week, it was a very popular day due to the holiday. We started in the hands-on exhibits in the main exhibition space upstairs. This area was a bit of a zoo with the number of families running around, but the kids didn’t seem to mind at all. This exhibit checked all the right boxes for my oldest, who is a kinesthetic learner. He could have easily spent all day trying out absolutely everything.
Throw-back photo from a previous visitShe wanted to watch and try out everything
One of the kids’ favorite activities was building a catenary arch with a few other visitors. Each cushion needed to be arranged in number order and carefully held in place until the entire arch is completed. Due to the height, the final cushion required adult assistance, but the rest of the arch was predominately constructed by kids, who were very excited about the free-standing finished product.
Catenary Arch
After about an hour of intense scientific discovery, we took a break to watch the Rocky Mountain Express in the Cleveland Clinic Dome Theater. The film depicts the construction of the first transcontinental railway of Canada. The IMAX photography really makes viewers feel like they have been transported to Canada. The film not only had beautiful cinematography, but we learned a lot about the building of the Canadian railway. Naturally, we straight to All Aboard! The History of Trains after the film.
The NASA Glenn Visitor Center has been housed at the Great Lakes Science Center since 2010. The highlight of this exhibit is the 1973 Skylab 3 Apollo Command Module. Visitors can try out a nearby replica capsule, which, even with the door removed, was so small that it screamed claustrophobia and made me wonder how the astronauts handle such confined spaces.
At another exhibit in the Visitor Center, kids can operate a remote control rover using a controller and video screen. The rover itself is located across the room, and this simulation gives kids the chance to experience the challenges of remotely operating similar rovers exploring Mars.
Operating the Rover
We finished our time at the Science Center in the Cleveland Creates Zone, which offers various activities for kids to invent, design, tinker and create. The five boys were particularly fascinated by the rocket pod and tried several different designs.
We did not make it to the Polymer Funhouse, an area geared for scientists aged seven and under because half of our crew was too old. However, my daughter would have a blast there, especially on a less crowded day. We also couldn’t take the self-guided walk of the William G. Mather, which is closed November through April, but hope to come back in the Spring to check it out.
Kid Facts: It cost about $120,000 to move the Apollo Command Module from the NASA’s Brook Park facility to the Science Center in 2010. The move required a year of planning but took only about 30 minutes to complete the 13-mile journey.
#3: Greater Cleveland Aquarium With Kids
The Greater Cleveland Aquarium opened in its current location in the Flats’ FirstEnergy Powerhouse in 2012 and remains Ohio’s only free-standing aquarium. When we arrived, the diver presentation was just beginning in the shark tank, so we decided to head straight there. Watching Matthew, the diver, feed the aquatic life was the highlight of our visit. A special microphone allowed Matthew to talk directly to the audience. We learned that most shark bites are really caused by mistaken identity. Sharks explore the world with their mouths, and surfers often look like fish from below.
Diver in the Shark Tank
The 230,000 gallon Shark SeaTube includes four species of shark, stingrays, angelfish, a giant barracuda and a whole host of other ocean creatures. You can literally walk under the tank to get a whole new perspective. If you want to take a peek into the shark tank in real-time, check out the shark cam.
Shark SeaTube
The Aquarium has more than 50 exhibits, 250 species and 1,450 animals from Lake Erie and all across the globe. Some of our favorite animals included the turtles, lion fish and clown fish with the stunning anemone.
Turtle hanging out
Beautiful lion fishClown fish (aka Nemo fish) are always a favorite for our kids.
My son particularly enjoyed the Invertebrate Touch Pool where he got the chance to feel a starfish with the official “two-finger” technique. The Aquarium is an amazing place to learn about aquatic animals and get a glimpse of life under the sea.
Kid Facts: The Aquarium has someone on site 24/7 to check on the tanks and make sure all the animals are safe.
#4: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland With Kids
The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) is one of 20 modern art museums in the US. MOCA opened its new facility in 2012, and a video on its website shows the construction process in under three minutes. A Poet*hical Wager, opened in October 2017 to celebrate its fifth anniversary in University Square. In conjunction with its opening, MOCA announced that it would no longer charge entrance fees for guests under 18, which is a great benefit for families.
The main exhibition space on the fourth floor is a wide-open space that is very different from the typical gallery in traditional art museums with paintings and sculptures. The current exhibit also did not have any barriers. While the exhibition featured in this space changes several times a year, it is probably best suited for children over five.
Many of the installations in the current exhibition, A Poet*hical Wager, challenge the viewer’s preconceived notions about art. Several docents were on hand to explain the background for this exhibition, which was inspired by the book of the same name by Joan Retallack. Most featured artists in this exhibit come from low-income backgrounds and third world countries. Mexico City artist Abraham Cruzvilleges contributed a black and red acrylic painting to cover up newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, tickets, napkins and other items. He also created an installation from various found objects in Cleveland that my daughter likened to a space ship.
Another memorable installation was Rashid Johnson’s Shea Butter, which was a cinderblock wall with shea butter used in place of mortar and sometimes in place of the cinderblocks themselves.
The third floor features an exhibit by British artist Phil Collins (not to be confused with the popular musician) that consists of listening booths that contain vinyl recordings for guests to play on actual record players. Collins anonymously recorded conversations from a homeless shelter phone booth in Cologne that offered free domestic and international calls. A group of musicians used the recordings to create the musical works contained on the records. The novelty of the record player was pretty exciting for my seven year old who had never used one before.
The enclosed Yellow Staircase, which includes a sound installation was a fun way to travel between floors of MOCA.
Yellow Staircase
My kids’ favorite part of our visit to MOCA was the Marjorie + Anselm Talalay Classroom on the third floor where kids could create their own art. To go along with the theme of the main exhibition, the Obfuscation Station encouraged kids to layer colored tape on top of magazine clippings. My kids had so much fun creating works inspired by the exhibition that I’m seriously considering investing in a colored tape dispenser.
Obfuscation Station
MOCA offers monthly Pre-K Play Dates on Saturday mornings. These events are free for kids. On the first Saturday of each month, MOCA offers free admission and family friendly workshops and activities courtesy of PNC Bank. MOCA is a great resource for Cleveland families and encourages children to use their imaginations to create art in non-traditional ways.
Kid Facts: This $27.2 million building was designed by Farshid Moussavi, a world-famous architect.
#5: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame With Kids
When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established in 1983, Cleveland lobbied hard to be chosen as the site of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and won the honors in 1986. As a Cleveland native, I remember the excitement when Cleveland scored the Rock Hall and was lucky to tour it shortly after its 1995 opening. The Rock Hall is definitely a reason why some tourists decide to visit Cleveland.
The lobby area is impressively large and has a car suspended from the ceiling above the Café (which we also enjoyed). This was probably the first suspended car I’ve ever seen.
The Rock Hall features both permanent and special exhibits. The Legends of Rock is a permanent exhibit that includes artifacts such as handwritten drafts, instruments and costumes. The recently renovated Beatles’ exhibit is the world’s largest artifact-based collection of the famous English rock band. The Rock Hall also has always featured a standing Elvis exhibit that features different artifacts. My husband and son watched the exclusive 14-minute Elvis video.
The costume exhibits are really fun. It’s always surprising to see first-hand how small many of the musicians are in real life. I did feel really old when my younger son asked if Michael Jackson was a basketball player and realized that the King of Pop actually died before he was born.
Michael Jackson’s jacket
The boys even found costumes of musicians they recognized like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. We are all still amazed that Lady Gaga actually wore this contraption.
We particularly enjoyed Rolling Stone: 50 Years, which includes celebrities’ letters and interviews and a stunning wall display of the magazine’s iconic cover images. This exhibit encompassed floors 4-6 of the museum, and now the boys have some familiarity with the popular culture magazine.
We noticed more families with young children touring the Rock Hall than we expected. While our kids are not familiar with most of the featured musicians, they enjoyed the multi-media exhibits. My husband and I could have easily spent a few more hours perusing the exhibits, but our shorter highlight tour was a perfect introduction for our kids.
Kid Facts: Cleveland’s Alan Freed was the disc jockey who originated the term “rock ‘n’ roll.”
Find Out More About Cleveland With Kids
There are so many kid-friendly things to do in Cleveland, an up and coming destination. These five amazing museums are just the tip of the iceberg. Spending time in Northeast Ohio, check out our favorite activities in Cleveland with kids.
Los Angeles has so many great attractions for kids – even if Disneyland is not on your itinerary. During my recent trip to L.A. with my mom and son, we had only two days in the city. Due to centrally located accommodation and easy transportation, we were able to maximize our time and fit in these fun family activities.
#1: Santa Monica Pier
The Santa Monica Pier was my favorite spot in Los Angeles. It may be because I’m a Midwesterner, but I try to find a way to make it to a beach anytime I travel near the ocean or sea. In Santa Monica, the Pier adds a great deal of excitement to the otherwise typical Pacific beach. The original pier opened in the early 20th century, and the amusement park followed a few years later. The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium – Heal the Bay was just closing when we arrived, but we would have loved to check it out. Pacific Park, the amusement park, features the world’s first and only solar paneled ferris wheel and eleven other rides, including a roller coaster. In a city known for Disneyland, it is notable that Pacific Park is the only admission-free amusement park in the city. Pacific Park is free to enter, but you do pay for ride tickets. I particularly loved how the bright colors of Pacific Park popped against the ocean and sky. There is also a Carousel located in the Looff Hippodrome adjacent to the Pier that we somehow missed entirely.
On our stroll down the pier, we passed musicians, artists, magicians, souvenir shops, carnival games and various food stalls. My son was particularly intrigued by a magician doing tricks for a crowd and a painter who was painting the pier on a piece of slate. The Santa Monica Pier was our last stop before our red-eye flight, and my son was itching to choose a memento of our trip to bring home with him. I was proud that he picked a framed painting made by the local artisan painting on the Pier instead of some cheap trinket.
As the sun began to set, we headed off the Pier and onto the beach. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of sand between your toes and standing at the water’s edge while listening to the waves ebb and flow. We really savored those moments as we waded into the Pacific. I do wish I lived closer to a coast.
After sunset, we washed and dried our feet and decided to eat dinner before heading back downtown. We thoroughly enjoyed our last meal of the trip at Del Frisco’s Grille, located right across from the Pier’s entrance. We dined in their enclosed patio during Game 3 of the World Series. We are Clevelanders who watched the Indians’ epic season and hoped that we would be rooting for our team during the championship series. So, we were somewhat invested despite our team’s early playoff departure. When Los Angeles won the National League championship, I thought this trip would inspire my son to root for LA, but he chose to support the Astros instead. He did learn the important lesson while watching the Astros win two World Series games during our trip that if you are watching a sporting event in public and not supporting the home team, it’s polite to cheer quietly. He had a great time watching the game on the flat screen television while eating his hand-shaved prime steak sandwich.
We loved Santa Monica and didn’t mind the crowds. Families looking for quieter beaches should check out one of these great Los Angeles beaches for kids.
#2: The Getty Center
Like going to beaches, visiting art museums and getting the best view around are both generally high on my list when traveling. The Getty Center is definitely a can’t miss in my book because it offers a fantastic art collection and an amazing view. As added bonuses, a funicular transports visitors between the parking area and the museum, and there is no admission fee. The Getty Center is a campus of the J. Paul Getty Museum located in Brentwood and funded by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world’s wealthiest art institution.
We took an Uber to the museum and were dropped off at the rideshare drop off conveniently located next to the security line and funicular entrance. We received a museum guide and daily schedule while waiting for the next car to take us up the hill to the museum. I discovered that the daily impressionist tour was scheduled to begin in 15 minutes. We were a bit tight on time and planned to head to the impressionist galleries anyway, so the tour was definitely a treat. The docent was informative and interesting as she directed us through the impressionist galleries, and the tour culminated with Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises, one of the Getty’s most notable paintings.
Van Gogh’s Irises
The Getty Center was designed by Richard Meier and completed in 1997. It is known for its modern architecture and use of travertine and stunning outdoor gardens where the plants double as sculptures. The Central Gardens, designed by Robert Irwin, contain over 500 plant varieties that visitors enjoy while strolling on a tree-lined walkway. As you weave your way to the central pond, you pass a stream bubbling alongside the path. Irwin’s statement, “Always changing, never twice the same” is carved into the floor to remind visitors of the evolving art.
Resemblance to Mickey Mouse – intended or coincidental?
The beautiful cactus garden was placed on the edge of the ridge with sunlight all day long.
My son enjoyed the impressionist tour (particularly the Monet and Van Gogh paintings), the gardens and the view. He also found the phone charging station, which were located back by the restrooms near the main lobby, particularly fascinating. The Phone Charger worked like a hotel room safe. You connect your phone to the proper charger inside the box, close the door and enter a four digit code to lock the door. At anytime, you can access your phone by entering your code. It is obviously a genius invention, and we can’t wait until they are more common. The Getty Center really has thought of everything to impress its visitors.
There is no Metro stop near the museum, so travel to or from the Getty during rush hour can be challenging, and the Uber timing estimates can be very inaccurate. It took our driver about an hour to drive to the pick up point initially estimated to be nine minutes away and then another hour to travel downtown, so we ended up downtown an hour later than Uber’s original estimate.
#3: La Brea Tar Pits & George C. Page Museum
On the day we flew to LA, my son attended a field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History specifically focusing on mastodons and mammoths. While we were discussing options for things to do on our trip, he literally lit up when he heard about the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum. So, after our brief stop in Hollywood, we jumped into an Uber and headed to La Brea. I called my husband from the car and asked him to sign us up for a family membership to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as ours had expired a few months earlier. Members of museums participating in the ASTC Travel Passport Program receive reciprocal entry to member science centers and museums all over the country, including the La Brea Tar Pits. The email confirmation came before we made it to La Brea and was all we needed to gain free entry to the George C. Page Museum.
The LaBrea Tar Pits are shallow pools of oil that coagulated into asphalt and trapped Ice Age animals. The Tar Pits are registered as a National Natural Landmark, and over 3.5 million fossils have been found on the site, with excavation continuing year round at Project 23 and seasonally at Pit 91.
We bought tickets to Titans of the Ice Age, the 25-minute 3D movie showing in the Museum’s theater. The movie showed how Ice Age animals would get stuck and then preserved in the tar pits. The computer-generated imagery and 3D effects really bring the animals to life and interestingly convey the history of Ice Age animals.
My son was fascinated by the Fossil Lab where you can watch paleontologists working on specimens collected from Project 23. With 10 minutes to spare before our showing of the movie began, he headed back to the Fossil Lab to watch. One of the Museum’s very helpful docents identified the paleontologist with the mask as the head curator.
After viewing the completed fossils, watching the movie and observing the Fossil Lab, my son had an opportunity to try separating fossils himself. With all these great hands on opportunities, it’s not surprising that the stop at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum was his favorite of our trip.
After visiting the Museum and Site 23, we headed up Wilshire Boulevard and had a quick lunch at Johnnie’s New York Pizzeria, right next to the SAG-AFRA building (no celebrity sightings). We did not have time for a leisurely lunch and were thrilled that we were able to get indoor table service of pizza slices (generally permitted only as take out during peak times) because the restaurant was not busy. The pizza was very tasty.
#4: Hollywood
We made a quick stop at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex. The big excitement of this stop was that setup for the Latin American Music Awards occurring that evening at the Dolby Theatre, was ongoing. Before kids, I used to regularly watch movies in the theaters when they were released and was a huge movie award show fan. Now that my movie watching occurs through DVDs or Netflix months after the award show season is over, I don’t watch much of the awards shows but do try to catch at least a few minutes of the coverage of the celebrity arrivals in front of the Dolby Theatre. So, it was a treat to see how it’s done – albeit with a purple carpet.
My mom and I had fun walking down Hollywood Boulevard and looking at all the stars. The motion picture camera, a radio microphone, a television set, a record or a theatrical mask symbols identify the celebrity’s genre. My son repeated about 20 times, “Do you know who these people are?” and generally made me feel old.
Purple carpet for the Latin American Music Awards
We planned to stop at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (now known as the TCL Chinese Theatres) to see the concrete blocks with celebrities’ signatures, handprints and footprints of popular celebrities. However, the area in front of the Theatre was completely blocked off due to a movie premiere. It was definitely a busy Thursday in Hollywood.
So, we headed over to the Hollywood and Highland Center to get a view of the Hollywood Sign in the Hollywood Hills.
After taking a few obligatory pictures of the iconic Hollywood Sign, we saw a gelato vending machine. So, I made this little guy’s day by giving this novel concept a try on his behalf.
Before heading off for our next stop, we took a quick peak in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! The entry fee was a bit steep, and we had other museums we wanted to see more, so we did not make it beyond the lobby. However, the lobby provided a few minutes of fun entertainment and even a fortune reading by Zoltar.
Where does the water come from?Fortune reading
#5: Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, is arguably the world’s most unique concert hall. It was designed by Frank Gehry, an architect known for his use of corrugated steel and unexpected lines. Disney Hall opened in 2002, about one year after Gehry’s Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management, which also utilized steel was completed. I have been a fan since I saw a Gehry exhibit at the Guggenheim in 2001.
My son plays the violin and often goes to Cleveland Orchestra performances in Severance Hall, a very different building just down the street from Gehry’s Weatherhead School of Management. The Disney Hall offers guided and self-guided tours, and we opted for the self-guided tour due to time constraints. We particularly enjoyed the spectacular gardens and many unique views of the building.
Disney Hall definitely sticks out in the LA skyline
I’ve heard that some larger conferences offer kids’ activities for older kids and hope this is a trend that catches on. Being away from family is hard for working parents who need to travel for their jobs, and I was very lucky that my mom and son could join me on this trip. They really had a fantastic days in Los Angeles and joining them on a few of their adventures made the trip so much more enjoyable for me, too.
My three-year-old daughter and I were recently sitting at the puzzle table of a nearby library while waiting for her story time to begin. I was making small talk with another mom sitting with her young sons, and she came to my rescue and directed me to the ABC books when I could not locate Chica Chica Boom Boom on the shelves. I explained that my daughter had listened to the book when she attended Art Stories at the Cleveland Museum of Art the day before with her nanny and was desperate to read it with me. The other mom responded with, “my kids are too young for the art museum.” I was not exactly sure how to respond because the thought of being “too young” to visit any museum had never crossed my mind.
Not Too Young
My husband and I really enjoy visiting art museums. My daughter visited her first art museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, when she was two months old. Since then, she has made a repeat trip to the Art Institute of Chicago and also visited the Cleveland Museum of Art many times as well as the Tate Modern, the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery in D.C. While she clearly does not remember those early trips, she gained familiarity with art museums in the process. At the age of three, my daughter now walks around the Cleveland Art Museum, holding my hand and discussing which paintings catch our attention.
My sons also enjoy art museums and can distinguish a Monet from a Van Gogh (two of my favorites). Their favorite special exhibition was Cleveland Museum of Art’s “Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse” in the Fall 2015 that included pieces that influenced Monet’s garden painting and reunited CMA’s Water Lilies with the other two panels of the triptych and displayed them together (no photography permitted). On our first trip, I took all three kids, aged one, five and seven, alone. We all loved it so much that we came back a few weeks later with my husband. After going to the exhibit for the second time, my five-year-old son came home, asked for paints and created his own version of water lilies.
My five-year-old son’s Water Lilies painting
Kid Moments
If your children are new to visiting art museums, start with a short trip of about 45-60 minutes. We play a “game” when we enter a new gallery. I ask each kid which is their favorite piece. We then go and specifically examine each of our favorite pieces before moving on to the next room. Sometimes, we read the plaque on the wall, other times, we briefly discuss color choice or artist technique that made that piece stand out, but we try hard not to dawdle.
Kid Caution
While there is no age that is “too young”, it is necessary to be careful when bringing a child into art galleries as some art is accessible to small hands. The stroller or front carrier is the safest place for infants or toddlers. Many art museums do not permit backpacks or back carriers because the wearer could accidentally cause damage by brushing up against the art. Older children need to have enough self-control to understand that they must stay right with an adult and not touch the art work before going into galleries. However, many art museums have interactive child-friendly exhibits like the ArtLens Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art that everyone can enjoy.
Our Favorite Art Museums
We have visited many art museums with kids, but these are our favorites:
Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the US and boasts a permanent collection of over two million works. The Met is located on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We were a few of the Met’s over 7 million visitors in 2016 that made it second to only the Louvre in number of visitors. Our boys were especially excited to find Seurat’s final study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Admission to the permanent collection is free, but the suggested donation is $25 for adults.
One of two lion statues guarding the Institute’s Michigan Avenue entranceGustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy DayGeorges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
National Gallery (Washington D.C.) is the third largest art museum in the US. When we are visiting the Mall, we take a quick stop through the impressionist galleries and the outdoor sculpture garden. On our most recent visit, my husband was holding our daughter, who was then two. They stopped in front of a Degas, and she looked at the painted ballerinas and commented, “Daddy, I really like this painting” to the shock of the visitors around her who had no idea that she thought she was merely “playing” a familiar game. Admission is free.
The National Gallery, London is the fourth most visited art museum in the world with over six million visitors annually. It is located in Trafalgar Square and houses a relatively small collection of about 2,300 paintings, almost all of which are on permanent display.
The National Gallery, LondonVan Gogh’s Sunflowers
Cleveland Museum of Art is the art museum we frequent most often. CMA is located in Cleveland’s University Circle area on the near east side. A massive expansion project began in 2005 and was completed at the end of 2013 increased floor space by 65% and included the glass-roofed Ames Family Atrium. It has a permanent collection of 45,000 works and significant Egyptian and Asian galleries. We always make sure to spend a few minutes sitting on the bench in front of Monet’s Water Lilies (Agapanthus) and enjoy the Armor Court. Rodin’s Thinker, which sits outside the front entrance, was partially vandalized by a bomb in 1970, and the statue’s lower legs were destroyed and have not been restored. Admission to the permanent exhibitions is free, but there are fees for special exhibits.
Monet’s Water LiliesRodin’s Thinker with damaged legs
With some precautions and child-centric activities, art museums truly can be enjoyed by all ages. While infants and toddlers may not have specific memories of the museums they visit, those who go to art museums are more likely to grow into young children who enjoy art and visiting galleries.
The Museum’s child-focus extends to the James K. Ballinger Interactive Gallery (aka the Hub). The Hub offers an open area with stadium seating, bright paintings and books for kids to interact with art at their own pace.
The LaBrea Tar Pits are shallow pools of oil that coagulated into asphalt and trapped Ice Age animals. The Tar Pits are registered as a National Natural Landmark, and over 3.5 million fossils have been found on the site, with excavation continuing year round at Project 23 and seasonally at Pit 91.
