Family Programs
In the event of inclement weather, please call the event organizer for event status.
Free Family Sundays
Sunday at the BMA is the place to be for family fun! Free Family Sundays feature a different activity each week—sketching tours, hands-on art workshops, gallery tours, and more—designed just for families.
Free Family fun activities begin at 2 p.m. every Sunday.
JANUARY—NEW YEAR , NEW PERSPECTIVES
Make it your New Year's resolution to have a fresh start with art! Join us as we focus on different periods in art and gain a new appreciation for unique styles.
January 3: The Impressionists
Study these artists' masterful brushstrokes to create a wonderful watercolor.
January 10: The Surrealists
Enter the dream world of the Surrealists to collage a whimsical wonder of art.
January 17: The Abstract Expressionists
Paint like Pollock, splash like Still, drip like Morris Louis! Express your true colors in an abstract painting.
January 24: Modern and Contemporary
Take a look at what's been happening with art the last few decades. Piece together some Pop Art or create a contemporary sculpture.
January 31: Family Tour
The History of Art...Abridged!
FEBRUARY—BOOGIE @ THE BMA
We're celebrating history's hot spots for dance and music! Enter the heart of Harlem and discover the golden age of jazz, glide to Paris and learn the beauty of ballet, then feel the rhythms of the Pacific Islands.
February 7: African-American History Month Family Day
POSTPONED TO SUNDAY, FEB. 28, 11 A.M.–3 P.M.
February 14: Design Leaping "Little Dancers"
Capture the grace of Parisian ballerinas using armature wire and self-hardening clay.
February 21: Percussion of Papua New Guinea
Drums provide bold beats for movement and stomping our feet. Join us to build your own beating drum and learn how some drums were made to talk.
February 28: New date for African-American History Month Family Day, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
MARCH—PRINTMAKING POWER
Paying close attention to the Woodcuts Now exhibition, learn to be a printmaker in your own right. Join us to experiment with different techniques, resulting in colorful and surprising works of art.
March 7: Mammoth Monoprints
Think big, REALLY BIG! Today
we'll draw pictures as large as we can and pull one-of-a-kind prints to hang in our homes.
March 14: Potato Prints
Ever tried making a picture with your food? Well today we're using potatoes as pencils, and we promise, you won't get in trouble for playing with your food.
March 21: Relief Prints
We'll learn a modified relief technique: pressing drawn images into fun foam sheets. The result? Painterly prints!
March 28: Family Tour
Worked from Wood
APRIL—BRUSHSTROKES, PATCHES, AND PAUL CÉZANNE
Paul Cézanne has inspired generations of artists with his explosive colors and bold brushstrokes. This month, young artists will share ideas and techniques as they create their own Cézanne-inspired works of art.
April 4: Eye Spy
Learn a new way to play I-Spy. Grab a partner and see if they can draw or paint exactly what you tell them as you see it. Don't leave out the details.
April 11: Sensational Still Life Paintings
With a friend, build a still-life subject from found objects and draw what you see. Then, swap drawings and paint your friend's artwork.
April 18: Get Out and Paint!*
We're taking our brush outdoors for some fresh air in the BMA's backyard. Join us as we do some landscaping in our garden ... that is landscape painting!
April 25: Family Tour
Who Inspires You?
*If there is rain, the workshop will be indoors.
African-American History Month Family Day:
Celebrate the Harlem Renaissance
NEW DATE AND TIME: Sunday 28, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
FREE
Pay tribute to the artists whose explosion of creativity filled studios, jazz clubs, and theaters during the growth of the African-American community in New York City's famed Harlem neighborhood. Join us for hands-on art-making workshops, jump and jive to live jazz, and enjoy exciting performances.
11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Harlem Portrait Studio - Step into the Harlem Renaissance and costumes from that era. Don't forget your camera to capture the perfect photo op!
Self-Guided Family Tours - View photographs, paintings, and prints created by Harlem Renaissance artists.
Hands-on Art Making - Create collaged prints* like Romare Bearden’s Jammin’ at the Savoy with materials and guidance supplied by the BMA.
*While supplies last.
Performances: Check back for specific times.
- Delight in dramatic readings by actress and storyteller Debra Mims.
- Experience the Harlem Renaissance Re-mixed, a spoken-word performance by Olu Butterfly Woods.
- Learn popular ragtime dances like The Charleston and Jitterbug, as well as Animal Dances from members of Goucher College’s dance history ensemble, Choreographié Antique.
- Jive to the Eubie Blake Legacy Jazz Band featuring Marianne Matheny Katz.
New BMA Audio Tour for Families
Now Available!
The BMA is one of the only museum audio tours with a dog leading the way. Raoudi, Matisse’s perky schnauzer, is the voice behind the Museum’s new Family Audio Tour, which highlights 20 objects in the collection. Rather than headphones, the Family Audio Tour offers a handheld audio device that allows families to pause and chat about a work.
