Art meets grandparents

Ian’s Corner at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix

Grab a grandparent (gently) this weekend and celebrate National Grandparents Day together with a lovely bit of arts and culture. Museums with special Grandparents Day activities include the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, the Phoenix Art Museum and the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa.

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix offers free admission to grandparents this Sun., Sept. 9. The museum’s art studio is open 10am-3pm for children who’d like to make a refrigerator magnet, a little something grandparents can never have enough of.

There’s plenty to explore beyond the art studio as well — including cozy spaces for reading together, a child-size supermarket complete with carts and cash registers, a giant climber (best to let the kids climb while the grandparents admire them), hands-on exhibits and more.

You can even treat the grandparents in your life to some time in the Children’s Museum of Phoenix gift shop. Perhaps they’d enjoy being pampered with some new books for storytime, a feathering wand and sparkling tiara, a nifty piece of scientific equipment or some puppets for rainy day playtimes.

The Phoenix Art Museum opens an hour early (at 11am) for members this Sunday, and there are several special activities taking place from 11am to 3pm (others can enjoy them starting at noon). A newly installed PhxArtKids gallery, described by the museum as “a visual exploration of how color, math, science, and art intersect,” opens at 11am.

A new scavenger hunt will be available from 11am to 3pm, as will opportunities to “make a paper silhouette portrait of your family” and “sketch collaboratively.” Thirty-minute family tours take place at 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:30pm — and storytimes are scheduled for 11:30am, 12:30pm and 1:30pm. The museum’s cafe is offering a free kids meal with every adult entree purchased.

Arizona Museum for Youth also offers free admission for grandparents on Grandparents Day, and has special activities planned from noon to 3:30pm. It’s also the last day families can enjoy the “Extreme Pets” exhibit featuring animal-inspired art and hands-on activities. They’ve also got a multigenerational tea party for mothers, daughters and granddaughters scheduled for Sat, Sept. 15.

The City of Mesa currently offers free admission to three museums the first Sunday of each month thanks to a “3 for Free” program presented by Target. Participating museums include the Arizona Museum of Natural History, Arizona Museum for Youth and Mesa Contemporary Arts (located at the Mesa Arts Center).

Click here to learn more about National Grandparents Day, which was inspired by Marian McQuade of West Virginia and established by President Jimmy Carter during the late ’70s, here to explore facts about grandparents in America and here to find additional family-friendly events taking place this weekend and beyond.

— Lynn

Coming up: Cross one off the bucket list

Know when to fold ’em

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Ditch the boring card games and other indoor fare you’ve been settling for during the Valley’s latest heat wave. There’s more to fold, and behold, at the Phoenix Art Museum — which presents screenings of “Gerhard Richter Painting” plus a day of “Kid’s Paper Play” this weekend, plus lots of hands-on activities for kids, parents, teachers and other grown-ups in coming weeks and months.

Gerhard Richter Painting. Final screenings are Sat, Aug. 18 at 1pm and Sun, Aug. 19 at 3pm. At 1pm on Aug 19 they’re showing “I’m Carolyn Parker” (from the “POV Film Series”), which follows a civil rights activist as she works to rebuild her home and community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Kid’s Paper Play. Sat, Aug. 18 from noon to 3pm. Features fun ways to paint and manipulate paper, view works in the “Paper!” exhibit and “play on your own using different techniques for children of all ages.”

Paper Making Workshop. Sat, Aug. 25 from 11am to 1pm. Features “hand-papermaking and a fun exploration of simple and elegant book forms” with Rachel Nore, (ASU graduate student in printmaking) and Gabriela Muñoz (local artist and curatorial assistant at the museum).

Passage on the Underground Railroad. Wed., Sept. 5 at 7pm. Features a lecture by ASU art professor Stephen Marc on “the creative process of interpreting the history of the Undergroud Railroad through the use of photography and digital compositing to bring together historic sites, period documents and artifacts, and contemporary references.”

Grandparent’s Day. Sun, Sept. 9 from noon to 3pm. Features hands-on activities for all ages, family-friendly tours with museum docents and the chance to enjoy a free child’s entrée with the purchase of an adult entrée at the museum’s cafe.

Paper Play: Know When to Fold. Wed, Sept. 12 from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Features the chace to fold mini or giant origami, paper airplanes and cootie catchers — plus explore the art of paper sculpting.

Educator Open House. Wed, Sept. 12 from 5-8pm. Features “mini workshops, preview tours and demonstrations exclusively for educators” plus free appetizers and information on using museum resources to support classroom teaching.

Finally, if you know someone living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, share the news of Phoenix Art Museum’s six-week “Arts Engagement Program,” which runs Sept. 27-Dec. 13.

— Lynn

Note: Please click here to confirm program dates, times, costs and other details before attending.

Coming up: The fine art of conferences