Day at the Museum

What: Family Fun Day
Who: All ages
When: Sundays, Sept. 13th and Oct. 25th, 2:00-4:00pm
Where: The Bass Museum of Art
How Much: Free

Yesterday we went to a free family fun day at The Bass Museum of Art. It’s a small museum in Miami Beach. You are not going to see an extensive collection of well-known artists. But the building is architecturally interesting and, while I am no expert or anything, I thought some of the art they had was thought-provoking and fun to look at. And they do an exceptional job with these family fun days. As the kids walk in, they receive an “art explorer” clipboard. It’s a scavenger-hunt-type set of questions like: Where is the fox and is it in its natural habitat? The kids go around the museum paying close attention to everything they see. At the end of the event, kids turn in the answers for prizes. One five-year-old boy was so excited when he found “the boy in uniform”. It was encouraging to see a little guy enjoying himself like that in a place that could otherwise have been pretty boring for him. They also had at least 8 different art projects going on at stations throughout the museum. Some little hands I saw were hard at work making ships and parachutes. In an airy, well-lit room, they gave away snow cones and popcorn for the kids and coffee for the adults while a young artist drew portraits for $2. Good deal. (He was good at what he was doing.) One of the highlights for me was the showing of Home, a fascinating documentary about our planet. We only watched the first couple of minutes at the museum because K. was not having it. But, I watched the rest on YouTube. The next family fun day will be Sunday, September 13th. Even if you don’t live near Miami Beach, it’s worth the drive.