Gotta Go to Gilcrease

Gilcrease Museum, that is.

Ok, so the kids weren't jumping up and down frothing at the mouth to do this summer field trip.
However, I would say they had an enjoyable day despite the thought of going to a place where you cannot run and yelling is out of the question.

At Gilcrease Museum, they do their best to make this adult experience friendly to kids.

My favorite things about Gilcrease?

1. Free to children under 18! 2. The Artifact Room where literally thousands of artifacts lay in drawers under glass. Kids are free to pull out the drawers at their leisure, and my girls enjoyed typing the number that accompanied the artifact into one of the 16 computers in the room. This allowed them to find out information about that artifact, such as place found and time period. This room was a big hit!

3. The Western Wing - I am in love with Western Art. I can't help but let my teacher side jump out.... "so, kids...." I ask in a sing-songy voice, "what do you think is happening in this picture?" When I can actually get their attention focused on a scene, I love to hear the wheels turning inside their heads. Just take a look at the detail in this one titled "Breaking Through the Line" by Charles C. Schreyvolgel. Wow!4. Frederic Remington - In the Western Wing sit several Remington bronzes that are just fabulous. Each one tells it's story, and let me fill you in on the time Luke first saw the sculpture below. **It was last summer, and he was just 5 years old. This one is called "Last Drop" and I didn't get a very revealing shot of it, but it's an old cowboy offering his hat to his horse. Inside the hat is the precious "last drop" of water that he's sacrificing for his beloved animal. Luke was touched by this sculpture, so much so that he cried quietly for about 30 minutes and talked about it for a whole year. He didn't have any tears left this summer, but we revisited the sculpture and had some more great conversation.

5. Please Touch - Even though most of the art is definitely HANDS OFF - they do have the occasional sign that encourages "please touch!" Fun for little hands. (but don't think we were touchin' the one below!!!) 6. Kids Zone - though this room was a meat locker, (I was freezing!!), it had some great things for kids to do. Here they could create their own impressionistic picture.

7. I Spy - You can pick up these backpacks for kids.... they hold free activities that the kids can use throughout the museum. Most of it was unrealistic for us - too involved, but one cool thing was a card that challenged the kids to find certain images throughout the museum..... not an entire painting, but maybe a bird in a painting or a certain element of a sculpture. This got the kids excited and focused.

8. The Arts and Crafts Room - at the end, we converged on this free experience, where the kids were able to choose from about 8 different and fun activities. 9. Childhood Memories - my parents took me here growing up!

10. Gets us out of the house and enjoying a cultural experience!!! You can make it through the museum part in less than an hour - and the kids stuff probably lasts about an hour too. That with the half-hour one-way makes it a good 3 hour outing for us. Then we go hit the pool, culturally enriched!