UMFA Free Family 3rd Saturday

/ 15 February 2016 / 0 Comments

If you haven't heard, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is temporarily closed. It closed on Monday, January 18, 2016, and is expected to reopen in spring 2017. This rules out all free family outings related to the UMFA, right? Nope! The awesome monthly Third Saturday for Families live on, continuing in the nearby Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts & Education Complex auditorium (Room 1151) for all future months until the museum reopens. Family art making continues!

My family attended the last Third Saturday for Families event held at the UMFA before the closure. The theme for the art project was scarabs. Scarabs are a type of beetle that the ancient Egyptians would wear as a magical amulet for protection. Mummies were often buried with scarabs placed on their chests to protect their hearts. Kinda cool, huh?

Well, the first thing the kids had to do was scavenge the museum's art collection for scarabs. This ended up being not too difficult, since the scarabs were all in the same small room full of Egyptian artifacts. Once the kiddos found the scarabs, they headed back to the project room for their assignment. Their mission: make scarabs. Out of clay. All three of them had a blast. Who wouldn't have fun playing with colorful clay?

Since we were also at the UMFA for the big pre-closure shindig, we scored a free "Long Live Art" t-shirt. Who doesn't love free stuff?

You won't want to miss the next Third Saturday for Families, which takes place Saturday, February 20. Kids will get to make their own game by decorating dice with visual cues, and then rolling the dice to randomly suggest artistic elements they use to create a drawing. Sounds like fun!

Third Saturdays are FREE family activity days offered each third Saturday of the month. Activities are designed for children 4-12 years of age (but my 3-year-old and 18-month-old have fun, too). Instruction and activities are available from 1–4 pm and are first come, first served. Please call 801.581.3580 or email education@umfa.utah.edu for more information.