I finally made it to the Dallas Museum of Art! About a year ago the museum decided to dispose of their entry free and open their doors to everyone, no matter what your budget. I was ecstatic to take advantage of the open door and finally made it their this past Friday. I highly recommend taking the DART to get there. Get off at Pearl Street or St. Paul Station and walk just a few minutes to the museum. A $5 day pass is worth it. There is also parking available below the museum for a small fee.
I taught a one day class for their summer camp this past summer, so I had a little insight into how much they had to offer for small children. I invited my two nephews and sister-in-law to explore the museum with me on Friday hoping to submerse them into culture without even knowing it. It was a success!
The kids loved exploring the Creative Connections area where they could try their hand at being artists themselves. I was happy to join in and give it a shot too. All four rooms in the Creative Connections area were interactive and fun for the kids to touch and explore. The old thought of “we can’t bring kids to an art museum because you can’t touch anything” is definitely not the case as the Dallas Museum of Art. Art is meant to be made and the museum encourages hands on creativity in the Creative Connections area.
We also built a Lego Movie inspired design on their legos on the wall feature. Such a simple idea of mounting the lego board to the wall, really inspires kids to build out and look at something familiar in a different way. That’s also one you can easily do at your house!
We did take some time to explore some of the “no touch” art halls as well. The kids enjoyed picking out objects within the art that they could recognize such as trains, snakes, moons, elephants and more. I really think exposing kids to art culture at a young age encourages them to dream big. The world is such a large place with so much to offer. Viewing art from around the world really opens up their minds to something besides cartoons. Dream big little ones.
After exploring the inside of the museum and making it through what we could of the “no touch” areas we decided to venture outside. It just so happened to be a beautiful day in the 70s. Directly across the street from the Dallas Museum of Art is the free Klyde Warren Park.
Klyde Warren Park is privately developed green space created on an overpass in the heart of Dallas. There is a kids playground (that was unfortunately closed for repairs on Friday), rotating food trucks, green space, book shelves, board games, ping pong, dog park, stage, and now a new restaurant. The kids quickly found the small water fountains and it was an easy decision to let them play in the water.
It was a fabulous afternoon letting the kids and myself explore our creative sides. I do want to go back and visit the museum to really soak in the “no touch” areas. But with more trips back with the kids, they will just get better and better at the routine.
Dream big, kids. Dream big.