Utah Museum of Fine Arts | Salt Lake City

The first Wednesday of every month is free admission to Utah Museum of Fine Arts, so mark your calendars!  UMFA also hosts Families for free on the third Saturday of every month. 

Now, we have 7 kids ages 6 months to 13 years and everything inbetween.  Out of all our Salt Project Adventures, this one left me frazzled and stressed, the entire time.  We have been going to all sorts of places that let you touch and interact with all the displays. (like The Leonardo Museum, Hardware Ranch, the Great Salt Lake Nature Center) 

This Museum is much the opposite.  I felt like I was saying "Don't touch this, or that, or even breath on this, look with your eyes...etc"  THE WHOLE FREAKING TIME. Sure, we had to remind the older kids here and there, but with my two year old, she was cray-cray.  Totally had me like this guy below.

Plus, we seemed to have caught the affection attention of one the security guards.  He totally followed us around like a hawk.  No. Joke.  So, word to the wise, keep your children under control people.  Or in my case, I'm probably not going to bring Aiko back for a few years without a proper nap and her dad.  She is probably a little to young. 

Back to the post. 

We got to the Utah Fine Arts Museum right when it opened and were able to check out the Backpack Program for Families.  You basically can check out a backpack for different subjects and do a scavenger-like program with the kids throughout the museum.  (While you can not bring large backpacks into the museum, they do have free lockers with keys to store yours.)

It was a total success with our kids.

(Remember these stairs friends, they play a part in the end.)

One of our favorite displays was the Alice in Wonderland.  Breckyn was entranced by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Book.

There were all sorts of different book version and drawings.

I feel like we learned more than we would have just walking around ourselves.  We had to answer questions, find clues and had a bunch of different puzzles to solve.  

It would totally be cool for older kids and adults as well.

We also learned not to touch this art piece, or the sand one next to it.

Or this one.  Luckily, the museum backpack included some alternate pieces for us to mold ourselves. As cute Robbie is showing.

We didn't touch him, only mimicked.

And this one, this one I even touched.  I didn't see a sign or anything.  One of my friends said her toddler was touching it, moment later, there was a barricade with a sign that said "No touching."

We cleaned this floor with our kids clothes.

It's a good thing this one was so high that we couldn't reach.  Isn't it amazing though?  They used pink scotch tape or something.  It could have been quite the place to sit and meditate, if our kids weren't running around.  ;)

After we had strolled through the whole museum we got all mixed up where we came in so I asked our favorite security guard (as he was always near) where the closest elevator was.  Come to find out, we were on the opposite side of the building.  As we meandered to the elevator, guess who was in there when the doors opened?  You guessed it.  Our dear security guard. 

Somehow, he came down two flights of stairs, crossed the entire museum, hopped in the elevator and somehow managed to be there and great us when the doors opened.  We saw some pretty cool art, but this little magic trick...it was creepy magical.  Don't get me wrong, he's just doing his job.  All in all, it was a super cool museum.  The kids loved the interactive backpacks, it was the favorite.

Not only did we get to use the backpacks, each child was able to bring home their own packet to remind them of the experience.  Stephanie's kids chose the European backpack and were able to create their own little sculptures with some Crayola Air Dry Clay.

On April 18 The Utah Fine Arts Museum is having a big Third Saturday program in conjunction with their Our America Latino art exhibition—art-making, a dance performance, free admission to galleries. All ages and abilities are welcome. 1-4 pm.  So mark your calendar.