Pre- and Post-Visit Activities: Kindergarten - Grade 4

Sensational Senses
Gallery Exploration

Pre-Visit Activities

• Introduce students to the Allentown Art Museum by describing where it is, where it is located and what it contains. Ask students: What is a museum? Has anyone ever been to the Allentown Art Museum or another museum before? What did you see at the museum? Explain how they will get to the Museum and what will happen once they arrive.
  
  
• Review the five senses. What are they? How do they help us in our daily lives? What would happen if they didn't have the use of one of their senses?
  
  
• Have students keep a five-sense journal for one day. Have them note things they smell, taste, touch, hear, and see. They can draw or write them in their journal.
  
  
• Select a work of art from the Allentown Art Museum's online collection. Have them practice "going into the image." What do they hear? Smell? See?
  
  Note: Images can be viewed onscreen in a computer lab, printed, or projected.
  
  
• Review Museum Etiquette with students to ensure they understand the unique qualities of museums as compared to other places that are familiar to them — the library, their house, the grocery store, etc.

Post-Visit Activities

• Review the trip with students. Ask them: What did they see? What did they do while they were at the Allentown Art Museum? What was their favorite artwork or activity? Have the students create a thank-you card to send to the Museum docent or educator that worked with their group. Have them draw their favorite artwork on the front.
  
  
• Using the Museum's online collection, have students tell a story using a work of art as the departure point. Ask students to use descriptive words and to include the way the artwork makes them feel and why.
  
  
• Have students create a drawing, painting, sculpture or collage that includes all five senses. Is it possible to make an artwork that includes all five senses?
  
  
• Invite a musician or dancer in to demonstrate with students how the senses are engaged by other art forms.

More Pre- and Post-Visit Activities

Kindergarten - Grade 4
ART DETECTIVES
THE FOUR SEASONS
MY FIRST VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
SENSATIONAL SENSES
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND

Grades 5 - 8
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
PERSPECTIVE IN DEPTH
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND
THE RENAISSANCE CONNECTION

Grades 9 - 12
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
SKETCHING THE LANDSCAPE