Learning Resources for Families

Discover art making and learning activities curated for young families that are inspired by artworks in our collection. Find the activity that suits your style and interest. Some are fun to do together or on one's own; others offer a means to enjoy colour and mark making at one's own skill level; and others will provide new insights into familiar and less familiar work themed to children and families. Enjoy and share your work with us in the gallery below! Also check out Learning Resources for Teachers and Everyone.

COLOURING CARDS

Here is a selection of line drawing interpretations of artworks in the AGO collection. Use your imagination to reinterpret these works with new colours of your own.

Line drawing of La Soupe by Pablo Picasso

Sharing a Bowl of Soup

Draw or colour your favourite meal!

This artwork is part of the exhibition Pablo Picasso: Painting the Blue Period (on view until January 16, 2022). While sketching is not permitted in the exhibition, please enjoy this activity card before or after you visit.

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line drawing of Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom

Dress Up!

We invite you to explore a drawing card inspired by the painting, Lady with the Orange Blossom.

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ART MAKING ACTIVITIES

These activities inspire us to dance, strike a pose, draw, paint, make and reimagine our landscapes and urbanscapes through direct observation.

Nanaimo bar collage by artist Meech Boakye

Food as Art

Join Madelyne Beckles, the AGO Curatorial Assistant, Youth & Engagement, and artist Meech Boakye for a conversation about food as art in celebration of the launch of Meech's recipe for great New Year's Eve Nanaimo bars! 

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Drawing of My Grandmother's Glasses by Annie Pootoogook

Drawing Larger Than Life

Learn more about Annie Pootoogook and get inspired to draw BIG and make all kinds of meta art, which is artwork that features you - the artist!

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Beatrix Potter, Study of the head of a bat, full face

Like a Bat!

Let’s get inspired by Beatrix Potter’s striking watercolour Study of the head of a bat, full face and learn how to make watercolour mask and a hanging wire sculpture!

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Melissa Pauw displays her print

Play

Learn how to play with printmaking, challenge yourself with a “spot the difference” game, stretch yourself like artist Evan Penny, make Surrealist Artist Trading Cards, transform a cardboard box, build your own playground and so much more!

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Three examples of body sculpture

Found

Look around you and get inspired by what you find! These awesome activities are all about transforming things that may not seem like art materials...but add a bit of creativity and wow! Use your body to make a sculpture (strike a pose!), build structures big and small using unconventional materials and more!

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A circle of rocks

Land

Go beyond the traditional and invent new ways of seeing the land around us. Capture sidewalk shadows, make maps of smells and sounds, create paper flowers, collage, make art using land as your canvas and so much more!

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drawing of mouse on the left and elephant on the right

Opposites

When opposites combine you get a burst of new and exciting ideas! Let's make art that's fast and slow, big and small, light and dark, inside and outside!

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ART MAKING VIDEOS

AGO Makes: Inspired by the AGO Collection

Amanda Arcuri is leading an art-making activity with camouflage

Camouflage like animals do!

Calling all cape-loving friends: join AGO art instructor Amanda Arcuri on an art-making mission to hide in plain view using nature-inspired colours.
(3 minute video)

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Black and white photographic work by Sandra Brewster

Semi-transparent collage

Inspired by Sandra Brewster’s Blur wall work, AGO artist/instructor Amanda Arcuri invites you to create your own composition using a simple layering technique with see-through components.
(6 minute video)

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Valérie Blass, Ceux qui ne demandent rien

Composition of Shoes

Inspired by Valérie Blass’s sculptural artwork, follow AGO artist/instructor Jim Hake and create your own composition using an array of shoes.
(7 minute video)

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Kim Smith

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes!

Watch illustrator Kim Smith bring characters to life as she reads from her book, Boxitects, and shows us how boxes of all shapes and sizes can lead to many creative adventures.
(49 minute video)

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still from Folding Mobile Art with Amanda Arcuri

Folding Mobile Art

Inspired by Haegue Yang’s installation, Woven Currents – Confluence of Parallels (2020) at the AGO, artist-instructor Amanda Arcuri shows us how to create a hanging mobile that fills any room with movement, colour, pizazz, and a great conversation about art in intimate rooms or spaces.
(4 minute video)

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looking at the 3D landscape

3D Landscape

Watch AGO artist/instructor Melissa Pauw create a 3D landscape, inspired by Shuvinai Ashoona’s artwork called Composition (Cube). Grab a box, container, white gesso or paint, and your pencil crayons to make your own sculptural landscape.
(5 minute video)

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drawings and pencil crayons

Drawing Larger Than Life

Watch AGO Artist Instructor Amanda Arcuri create a drawing inspired by Annie Pootoogooks drawing Composition (Drawing of My Grandmother's Glasses). Find an object at home, grab a BIG sheet of paper and try drawing larger than life!
(5 minute video)

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animal masks made of paper, watercolour and pastels

Watercolour Masks

Watch AGO Artist Instructor Amanda Arcuri create masks inspired by Beatrix Potter's stunning watercolour study of a bat. Grab some oil pastels or crayons, watercolour paints, get creative and transform yourself!
(6 minute video)

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hands drawing on back of paper plate

Tiny Floating Worlds

Watch AGO Artist Instructor Melissa Pauw create teeny tiny floating worlds using nothing but a plate, dry erase markers and some water. Create your own tiny drawings and watch them come to life!
(6 minute video)

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A circle of rocks

Land Art

Get outside and use the land around you to create an awesome work of art! Sticks, rocks and fallen leaves become your materials and the land is your canvas. Watch AGO Artist Instructor Amanda Arcuri make land art in a park and at the beach. Where will you make your land art?
(6 minute video)

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AGO Artist Instructor Melissa Pauw

Hanging Flower Garden

Watch AGO Artist Instructor Melissa Pauw use strips of paper to create a beautiful hanging garden. Make loops, teardrops, swirls and zigzags. You can keep it simple, or go WILD and fill your home with flowers!
(4 minute video)

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Three examples of body sculpture

Body Sculpture

Get moving and turn your body into a living sculpture! Watch AGO Artist Instructor Amanda Arcuri use household objects to create sculptures that only exist while you get creative and strike a pose.
(5 minute video)

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Melissa Pauw displays her print

Play with Printmaking

Who likes stamps? We do! And we bet you'll love playing with printmaking too. Watch AGO Artist Instructor Melissa Pauw use household objects to create your very own art prints with your family and friends.
(9 minute video)

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Paola Poletto stream-of-consciousness writing

Stream-of-Consciousness Writing

Inspired by Paul Klee's Hard and Soft drawing, Paola Poetto, Director of Engagement & Learning takes a moment to relax her mind with a simple writing exercise using pencil on paper. 
(2 minute video)

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Watch Tiana Roebuck, AGO Associate Curator, Learning & Studio Programs, make paper-cut shadow puppets using recycled materials found at home.

Shadow Puppets

Watch Tiana Roebuck, AGO Associate Curator, Learning & Studio Programs, make paper-cut shadow puppets using recycled materials found at home.
(19 minute video)

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Tiana talks about soft sculpture

Soft Sculpture

Watch Tiana Roebuck, AGO Associate Curator, Learning & Studio Programs, make her own soft sculpture inspired by Claes Oldenburg's Floor Burger.
(13 minute video)

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Creating a grid

Tonal Painting

Watch AGO Manager of Strategic Projects Deborah Nolan make her own tonal painting inside a grid, using the colours blue and red inspired by Agnes Martin's The Rose.
(2 minute video)

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LEARNING RESOURCES

Additional resources for families.

Book cover for It Feels Good to be Yourself

A Pride Book List

This curated selection of books may provide an appreciation and social consciousness about LGBTQ2+ members of your communities.PDF

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Galleria Italia

How to Talk About Anti-Black Racism: Part 2

Part two of a round table discussion on how to talk about anti-black racism. This conversation will question what happens after the solidarity statement and how do we ensure wellness during these times of ground breaking change?

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#AGOmakes

Show us your AGO Makes artwork and join our online gallery!

 

 

What does your final composition look like? What would you try if you did it again? Share it with us at #AGOmakes @AGOToronto

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