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Events will be added as they are scheduled. Please check back regularly for the most up-to-date calendar of events information.

Events By Type
Image: Try the interactive features related to NGAkids 3-D Twirler.Image: Try the interactive features related to NGA Classroom: Cake Maker. Decorate cakes in the art bakery.Image: Try the interactive features related to NGA Classroom: Ancient Arcade. Become a myth-master with this game of gods and symbols.Image: Create a tropical jungle filled with tigers, monkeys, and other exotic creatures.

You may also be interested in Children's Films, Teen Programs, and the Adventures in Art audio tour.

Family Workshops

Family Workshops are designed for children and adults to participate together. Taught by artists and museum educators, each two-hour workshop includes an interactive tour in the galleries followed by a hands-on studio session.

Workshops are free, but preregistration is required. Online registration begins on January 7. Topics, required age range, times, and dates follow.


Balancing Act
January 17, 24, 31 from 10:30AM to 12:30PM, 1:30PM to 3:30PM

(ages 9–12)
Investigate Edgar Degas' wax sculptures of dancers and horses, and learn how to construct your own sculpture using a wire armature and clay. Led by Nathalie Ryan.

There are six two-hour sessions being offered.
Online registration begins on January 7.

Online registration form

Cutting into Color
January 18, 25 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM
February 1, 8, 15, 22 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM
March 1, 8 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM

(ages 6–8)
Explore color, line, and shape in Henri Matisse's cutouts. Then experiment with colorful papers to create your own collage. Led by Sarah Diallo.

There are eight two-hour sessions being offered.
Online registration begins on January 7.

Online registration form

Family Weekends

Family Weekends offer a variety of activities—films, music, hands-on art projects—for children and adults to enjoy together. All activities are free. There is no advance registration for this drop-in program; participation in each activity is on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information, call (202) 789-3030.

April 25 from 10:00AM to 5:00PM
April 26 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM

Join us for a weekend of programs celebrating seventeenth-century Dutch painters and the cities that inspired them.

Explore the exhibition Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age using family activity booklets. Examine the unique design of Dutch cities–the squares, marketplaces, canals, and rows of houses, and how different artists depicted the bustling city centers. Create works of art inspired by the unique architecture of Dutch cities and experiment with designing your own cityscape. Listen to seventeenth-century Dutch music and enjoy traditional folk songs. Each performance will last approximately thirty minutes.

Family Weekends offer a variety of activities–films, music performances, and hands-on art making–for children and adults to enjoy together.

All activities are free. There is no advance registration for these programs; participation in each activity is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information about the Family Weekend, call (202) 789-3030.

Stories in Art

This series of programs uses storytelling to introduce children to works of art. Led by museum educators, each program includes reading a children's book, looking at one work of art in the galleries, and completing a simple hands-on activity.

For children ages four to seven with an adult companion, this free drop-in program is designed for individual families, and we cannot accommodate groups. Space is limited to 70 children per session. There is no advance registration; participation is on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign-in for all summer stories will take place in the West Building Rotunda. Sign-in begins at 11:00 a.m. on Sundays and at 10:00 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, and will continue until all spaces are filled. Each program lasts approximately forty-five minutes. Program times, dates, and topics follow. For information, call (202) 789-3030.

The summer series is presented in a four-year cycle—Explore Italy, Discover Dutch Art, Tour de France, American Adventure—with each topic featuring a different part of the permanent collection.

Summer Story Series: American Adventure

Would you like to take a road trip across the United States? Pack your imagination and travel to the National Gallery of Art! Explore scenes of America, including its farms, shoreline, mountains, and cities. After investigating paintings in the newly re-opened American galleries, make a souvenir to document each adventure. You will receive a passport to the summer story series and a stamp for each program attended. If you have three or more stamps at the end of the summer, you will receive a prize!

The 2009 Summer Story Series is scheduled from July 12 through August 11. Programs will be on Sundays at 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30, and Mondays and Tuesdays at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30. A detailed schedule with each week’s topic will be available in early June.

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