Chagall for Children Traveling Exhibit

We are studying Marc Chagall right now, mainly because there was a traveling exhibit at our Children's Museum that is getting ready to leave town. Alexandra and I have both had a lot of fun with Chagall's art. Each piece of art is like a picture find where you can look for hidden objects like: animals, violins, 3candles, upside down people, etc.



As we went to the exhibit aimed at children from ages 2-12, I really wasn't certain how much fun it would be. (Actually, I just noticed the exhibit is for those ages and I really thought it might be too childish.) The exhibit was wondeful!
For each of the 14 artworks, there was an activity to do. (And, you got to see a pretty large copy of the artwork.) So, I'll just run you through some of them! Above is "Paris Through the Window." Although Chagall was born in Russia, he lived in Paris for quite some time. On this photo in the lower right corner (not seen in my photo) is a portrait of a man with 2 faces. They think this might be Chagall looking back towards his beloved Russia and forward to Paris. For this activity, we got to put magnetic pieces in the right place by studying the "real" piece of art.




This is probably the most well known of Chagall's artworks, I and the Village. For this activity, Alexandra put together a circular puzzle matching part of the piece. This is the painting we actually studied. It has 5 areas representing: his village, a self portrait, a special plant, a round object - I've read it was a ball and I've also read it was a sun/moon which is what we think it is, and a beloved pet or animal.



This painting is At the Circus. For this activity, Alexandra got to put on various smocks which were painted like parts of the artwork.



This was one of our favorite activities, though we wish it would have worked a little better. This was with the Green Violinist. As you can see, we got to take our own photos (mine in this case) and then "paint" it. It was fun making our faces green! The green violinist was actually Marc's uncle whom he evidentally really enjoyed.




This activity was with one of Chagall's stained glass windows, America Windows. We got to put together the puzzle pieces to part of the window. In the photo, Alexandra has turned off the light behind it.



This activity was for The Juggler. On this computer screen, you touched one of the small squares around the border and then found the corresponding picture in the artwork. And, the artwork became animated! For example, some people in the crowd threw their hats in the air or the violinist played.



This activity went with The Blue House.



This was with The Poultry Yard. We got to create our own mixed-up animals.




This activity was with The Flying Sleigh. Each section of the computer screen would change when you clicked on it. You had to make the painting look correct.


And, this was our favorite activity. It was with The Concert. There were 6 different buttons representing different instruments. You could push any combination of the buttons and listen to those instruments play the song. We laughed and laughed. We even had a group of ladies stop to watch us. They were on some kind of a tour.

We had not been to this museum in a long time and had fun exploring the rest of the museum, too. We played quite a while in this building area. These kits are called Baufix. I've never seen them before and they were LOTS of fun. The room was very busy and there were lots of dads helping out, too!
We also tried a little rocked with a film canister, water, and Alka-Seltzer like we'd done here. But, they used water (not vinegar) and only 1/2 a tab of Alka-Seltzer AND they used the clear film canisters like live4evermom had recommended. What a difference!!! These things were popping up so high!!! I'm going to have to ask at WalMart and see if they'll let us have some.
So, we had a great day! We even stopped at a homeschool store and picked up some books on the way home. I'll share more about Chagall and our resources as we finish up this week. Then, we'll start Mozart. (We might put Van Gogh on hold.)
Other resources:

• Chagall from A to Z by Sellier - this is a GREAT book with many neat facts
• Marc Chagall by Mike Venezia - we always enjoy this series
• Dreamer from the Village by Markel - we enjoyed that the artwork in this book by Emily Lisker looked a lot like Chagall's own work
• Chagall: My Sad and Joyous Village by Loumaye - we didn't finish this book, but enjoyed what we read
• A Picture for Marc by Kimmel - we didn't read this one, but it is a Stepping Stone book and looked good
• Marc Chagall: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia - we always enjoy this series