Children's & Family Programs

Download The Aldrich Exhibition Guide [PDF]

Activities you can do at home!

Click here to learn about this season's Children's Workshops!


Family Art Adventures

First Saturday of every month
Free for members and children 18 and under

View video clips from Family Art Adventures, August 4, Featuring video artist Jill Treadwell

Families are welcome to enjoy an afternoon filled with contemporary art and Family Art Adventures each month. Galleries are open for exploration with Docent Art Stations offering games, simple activities, questions, and props that docents can utilize to encourage visitors to engage with the artwork, and the Education Center is open all day for experimentation with hands-on activities that are based on topics, methods, and materials addressed in our exhibitions.

Drop-In Hours

Third weekend of every month
FREE with price of admission
Museum visitors can extend their visit and learn more about the work and the ideas in our exhibitions when they visit on a drop-in weekend. The Education Center is open and offers self-guided, hands-on projects for all age levels. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

The Family Learning Initiative is generously supported, in part, by the Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc.

Summer Workshops for Children


Aldrich Buddies

Ages 3 to 5 with adult
Every Wednesday for six weeks, starting July 9, 2008
10 to 11:30 am


Aldrich Buddies is a program for our youngest visitors and their adult guests. Led by a Museum educator, children and their parents, grandparents, or caretakers are introduced to artwork in our galleries through gallery games and questions, followed by the reading of a storybook that relates to the artwork—its materials, its concepts, its methods, or its subject matter. Children and adults then participate in making an art project that is inspired by the artwork, the storybook, or both. Snacks are provided for the children and their guests. So, come enjoy the Museum with your child and learn how your visits to The Aldrich can be shared long after the summer has ended.

Six-week series:
$100 Family member; $120 non-member*
Single workshops:
$20 Family member; $25 non-member*

Art Daze

Art Daze programs at The Aldrich for children ages 4 to 12 allow participants to work with artists to experience the groundbreaking directions contemporary art is taking today. Participants discover they can unleash their creative talents as they design, create, build, learn new concepts, experiment with materials, and have fun with their peers in a museum setting. Registration is required.

Ages 4 to 6
Tuesdays and Thursdays for six weeks, starting July 8
9 to 11 am

Week 1: July 8 & 10:
Putting on a Show!
Week 2: July 15 to 17:
Fantasy Buildings
Week 3: July 22 to 24:
Bugs Everywhere
Week 4: July 29 to 31:
As I See You and Me
Week 5: August 5 to 7:
Some Things Fishy
Week 6: August 12 to 14:
Flower Portraits & Car Landscapes

Per two-day workshop:
$55 Family member; $70 non-member*
$30 discount for 3 or more workshops
Ages 7 to 12
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for six weeks, starting July 8
1 to 4 pm

Week 1: July 8 to 10:
Automata…How Do I Make That Pig Fly?
Week 2: July 15 to 17:
It Came in the Mail
Week 3: July 22 to 24:
Adventures in Comic Books
Week 4: July 29 to 31:
The Art of Forts and Spaces
Week 5: August 5 to 7:
Re-creation, Transformation, & Innovation
Week 6: August 12 to 14:
Mr. Aldrich, I Shrunk the Museum!

Per three-day workshop:
$135 Family member; $170 non-member*
$75 discount for 3 or more workshops

Art Daze is made possible, in part, by grants from The Cowles Charitable Trust, the Estate of Ruth I. Kraus, and Ridgefield Printing, Inc.

*Please read about our cancellation policy below.

New World Kids

Monday to Friday, July 14 to 25
9:30 am to 12:00 noon
Ages 5 and 6
Plus two special events for parents
Program fee: $425 Family member; $485 non-member

Last summer The Aldrich piloted an innovative new program for young children focused on building creative thinkers, titled New World Kids and the Next Literacy. Under the guidance of guest educator Susan Russell Marcus, twelve children explored a new way of looking at and understanding the world around them, and their parents learned about the individual strengths that will help their children to learn productively in the future. This summer, The Aldrich is ready to open the program to the public, inviting a new group of young children to participate. The Museum believes in the importance of developing programs that prepare young minds to learn and grow in a future that will require visual literacy and innovation. New World Kids is a program proven to engage children with the creative thinking processes, the capacity to invent with many media, the ability to think across disciplines, and the reliance on (and joy in) the imagination.

These skills are taught through what Susan Marcus calls The Sensory Alphabet: the building blocks of creative literacy. Just as basic as the traditional alphabet used in teaching the traditional literacies of reading and writing, it is the basis of our sensory connection to the world—line, color, texture, movement, sound, rhythm, space, light, and shape. The Sensory Alphabet will multiply a child’s early repertoire of ways to symbolize, understand, and communicate ideas.

Each day children will explore an element of The Sensory Alphabet by collecting ideas, engaging in open-ended activities, reflecting on their work, and hearing from people in the community about what it is like to think and work the way they do. It is our intention that each child will attain a sense of “I can do that!” at some point in the program.

The involvement of parents is a key aspect of New World Kids. Prior to its start, Aldrich educators will meet with parents to discuss the cognitive research that went into the design of the program and to learn about some of the individual characteristics of each child. At the end of the program, the educators will organize an informal exhibition, which will include the children’s work and documentation of both the children’s and teachers’ reflections on their creative strengths. The process of preparing for the exhibition and talking about it with family will give each child an important opportunity to reflect on his/her individual choices and strengths, and will give parents an insight into the natural abilities of their children.

Parents' Events:

Parents' Orientation
July 10
9:30 to 10:30 am

New World Kids Show & Tell
July 26
10 am to 12 noon

For more information, or to register for the program, contact Laura Kaufman at The Aldrich. 203.438.4519 ex. 23; lkaufman@aldrichart.org


Family Tool Kit

The Family Tool Kit encourages your family to play, ask questions, discuss, and do hands-on activities before, during and after your visits to The Aldrich Museum, as well as to other art museums. The Kit, filled with games, discussion questions, and at-home hands-on activity suggestions, was designed by the Aldrich Museum education staff with input from parents on our Family Advisory Committee. Activities and questions are geared towards a wide age range, and can easily be adapted to older or younger members of your family. You can even try it out: borrow a Museum copy during your next visit.


Cancellation Policy

Fees
We accept credit card payments for youth and family workshops and events that require a fee. If you would like to pay by check, please register in person at the Museum.

Cancellations
Please take note of our policy with regard to cancellation of a registration:

Full Refund: given if child/family withdraws from the workshop at least THREE weeks before the workshop/program is scheduled to begin. You will also receive a full refund if it is necessary for The Aldrich to cancel a workshop/program because of low registration or inclement weather.

Half Refund: given if child/family withdraws within TWO weeks of the start of the workshop/program. However, you will receive a full refund if we are able to fill your child's/family's spot.

No Refund: is given if child/family withdraws within ONE week of the start of the workshop/program, or if the child does not attend. However, you will receive a full refund if we are able to fill your child's/family's spot.