Art Cart: Make and Model
What do you love about the outdoors? Explore Spatial Concept: Nature by Lucio Fontana and the nature of the Hirshhorn Plaza at this week’s Art Cart. Young artists can experiment with sculpting, investigate nature sketching, and more.
Find the Art Cart on the Plaza and pick up your sculpting materials. In case of inclement weather, check in the Museum Lobby for our indoor location.
Do this at home! Build and suspend your own sculpture inspired by Eva Hesse. Instructions here.
ABOUT THE ART CART
Want to make art inspired by your favorite Hirshhorn works on view? The Art Cart offers young artists a hands-on maker experience during their visit to the Hirshhorn. Each week’s Art Cart offers a fresh and fun theme featuring an artwork on view, an artmaking activity to do at the Museum, and kids projects to extend the fun at home!
The Art Cart is free; no registration required. Drop in any Saturday between 10am and 1pm.
Storytime: Circle
Join us and the Hirshhorn’s very own sculptor conservator for a special Storytime about sculptures and how we care for them. We will explore Spatial Concept: Nature by Lucio Fontana, learn about conservators, and read Circle by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. Following the story, we will create and care for our own works of art.
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
Do this at home! Make your own abstract sculpture inspired by Barbara Hepworth. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required. Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby. An ASL Interpreter may be requested for this program; two weeks advance notice is appreciated. For a group of ten or more, please contact mcgettigant@si.edu to reserve a program in advance.
Art Cart: Natural and Virtual Worlds
Join us for a garden day inspired by Diana Thater’s Oo Fifi, Five Days in Claude Monetʼs Garden, Part I and Part II at the Art Cart this week. Young artists can look closely at her work, read books about nature, and explore the new flowers in the Hirshhorn’s Sculpture Garden.
Find the Art Cart at the plaza, pick up a museum iPad and make your own nature videos from a different perspective.
This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool.
Do this at home! Experiment with light to change how objects look around you! Bonus: you’ll only need a few materials to set the stage for extended artful play. Instructions here.
ABOUT THE ART CART
Want to make art inspired by your favorite Hirshhorn works on view? The Art Cart offers young artists a hands-on maker experience during their visit to the Hirshhorn. Each week’s Art Cart offers a fresh and fun theme featuring an artwork on view, an artmaking activity to do at the Museum, and kids’ projects to extend the fun at home!
The Art Cart is free; no registration required. Drop in any Thursday between 10am–Noon.
Art Cart: Spring Sculpting Studio
What nature inspires you? Get inspired by artist Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures in the exhibit Put It This Way. Young artists will have an opportunity to look closely at Hepworth’s sculptures, learn about how nature inspired her, and sculpt and build with nature inspired materials!
Find the Art Cart on the Hirshhorn Plaza to pick up your sculpting materials! In case of inclement weather, check in the Museum Lobby for our indoor locations.
Do this at home! Make your own abstract sculpture inspired by Barbara Hepworth. Instructions here.
ABOUT THE ART CART
Want to make art inspired by your favorite Hirshhorn works on view? The Art Cart offers young artists a hands-on maker experience during their visit to the Hirshhorn. Each week’s Art Cart offers a fresh and fun theme featuring an artwork on view, an artmaking activity to do at the Museum, and kids’ projects to extend the fun at home!
The Art Cart is free; no registration required. Drop in any Thursday between 10am–Noon.
STORYTIME: SNOWY DAY
Have you ever walked on snowy ground, crunching footprint patterns into the ground? Explore the season of winter at this week’s Storytime. We’ll read Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, look closely at Hiroshi Sugimoto’s artwork Two Circles, and create collaboratively with winter-inspired art making and play!
Meet in the Museum Lobby on Level One.
Do this at home! Make your mark in paint with this project inspired by artist Annette Lemiuex, but adapted for your bathtub. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind Storytime experience!
Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for kids (from birth to age 8) and their caregivers. We encourage all to get hands-on with our art maker projects inspired by the Hirshhorn’s collection, plus enjoy read-alouds filled with music, tales, and tons of movement.
Storytime is always free, no reservations or tickets required.
Museum doors will open at 10am, where our Hirshhorn Kids staff will happily greet you in the Lobby and share the day’s program. Feel free to play in the Lobby while others get settled—the Storytime group will leave for the galleries at 10:15am.
Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby and on the Lower Level. If there are access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive (e.g., ASL interpretation), please contact hmsgeducation@si.edu . 1-2 weeks advance notice is recommended but not required.
STORYTIME: SOAR IN THE SKY
Have you ever wanted to fly in the sky? Join us and the National Air and Space Museum to explore nature from a bird’s-eye view at this week’s Storytime. We’ll read Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds, look closely at Alma Thomas’s painting Sky Light, and create collaboratively with sky-inspired art-making and play!
Meet in the Museum Lobby on Level One.
Do this at home! Explore color through your senses! Sensory bins are wonderfully versatile for different ages. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind Storytime experience!
Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for kids (from birth to age 8) and their caregivers. We encourage all to get hands-on with our art maker projects inspired by the Hirshhorn’s collection, plus enjoy read-alouds filled with music, tales, and tons of movement.
Storytime is always free, no reservations or tickets required.
Museum doors will open at 10am, where our Hirshhorn Kids staff will happily greet you in the Lobby and share the day’s program. Feel free to play in the Lobby while others get settled—the Storytime group will leave for the galleries at 10:15am.
Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby and on the Lower Level. If there are access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive (e.g., ASL interpretation), please contact hmsgeducation@si.edu . 1-2 weeks advance notice is recommended but not required.
STORYTIME: MIX IT UP
What’s your favorite color? Join us to explore color mixing at this week’s Storytime. We’ll read Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet, look closely at Diana Thater’s artwork Oo Fifi, Five Days in Claude Monetʼs Garden, Part I and Part II, and create collaboratively with colorful art-making and play!
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
Do this at home! Painting with a budding artist? Keep it wonderfully simple—and get maximum results—by using a limited color palette In this Mini Art Lesson where we explore color mixing. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required. Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby. An ASL Interpreter may be requested for this program; two weeks advance notice is appreciated. For a group of ten or more, please contact mcgettigant@si.edu to reserve a program in advance.
At this time, we cannot accommodate groups of 10 or larger at Storytime. Groups are encouraged to participate in Art Cart or Maker Morning. Please contact HMSGeducation@si.edu in advance with your group information.
Storytime: Call Me Tree
Join The Washington Ballet for a special engagement at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in celebration of the cherry blossoms. Join us for a read aloud of Call Me Tree by Maya Christina Gonzalez, as we discover how the nature that surrounds us can inspire the way dancers move through space. Become inspired by the Museum Lobby’s tables, created by artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, using a 700-year-old nutmeg tree, then dance to create your own tree and blossom-inspired work of art.
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
Do this at home! Celebrate spring by transforming a plain coffee filter into your own sculptural work of art bursting with color. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required. Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby. An ASL Interpreter may be requested for this program; two weeks advance notice is appreciated. For a group of ten or more, please contact mcgettigant@si.edu to reserve a program in advance.
Storytime: Motion of the Ocean
Use your imagination to travel to the ocean with the Hirshhorn and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History at this week’s Storytime. Young artists will look closely at Pendour by Barbara Hepworth, read Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes, and use their imaginations to build a water-inspired world!
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
Do this at home! Imagine a faraway world and paint it with layers of watercolor. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required. Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby. An ASL Interpreter may be requested for this program; two weeks advance notice is appreciated. For a group of ten or more, please contact mcgettigant@si.edu to reserve a program in advance.
Storytime: Soar in the Sky
Reminder: In-person Hirshhorn Kids programs will be taking a nap throughout August.
Join us Saturday, July 29 between 10am-1pm for Maker Morning: Summer Celebration. Art Cart will resume its Saturday roll-outs on Sept. 2. Storytime will resume every Wednesday, starting Sept. 5.
Have you ever wanted to fly in the sky? Join us, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Air and Space Museum to explore nature from a bird’s-eye view at this week’s Storytime. We’ll read Sky Color, by Peter H. Reynolds; look closely at Alma Thomas’s painting Sky Light; and create collaboratively with sky-inspired art-making and play!
Meet in the Museum Lobby on Level One.
Do this at home! Explore color through your senses! Sensory bins are wonderfully versatile for different ages. Instructions here.
ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required. Nursing caregivers are welcome. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby. An ASL Interpreter may be requested for this program; two weeks advance notice is appreciated.
At this time, we cannot accommodate groups of 10 or larger at Storytime. Groups are encouraged to participate in Art Cart or Maker Morning. Please contact HMSGeducation@si.edu in advance with your group information.
