Museums and You: Online Resources

Just like with distance learning, you can take your students to ancient Egypt, nineteenth-century Texas, contemporary Africa, and more without leaving your classroom! Many museums provide online teaching resources with images, information on artworks and artists, interactive games, discussion questions, and classroom activities for all grade levels tied to state and national teaching standards. NAEA’s Museum Division is currently working on an updated list of online art museum resources to share with you on NAEA’s website. Below is a sneak peek of some of the featured resources sure to engage you and your students. 

Resources for Elementary Students
>The Art Institute of Chicago’s Curious Corner encourages young students to explore artworks from around the world through words and pictures, experiment with visual elements and principles, and use different styles of design to create something new.
>NGAkids from the National Gallery of Art encourages artistic exploration and creativity, while offering child friendly introductions to the museum’s extensive collections.

Resources for Middle School–Students
>The Dallas Museum of Art’s DIG! The Maya Project is an interactive game about the Maya culture of Mexico and Central America.
>Access Online from the Portland Museum of Art features “interactivities” that introduce students to nineteenth-century American art and architecture.

Resources for High School–Students
>Art Babble from the Indianapolis Museum of Art showcases video art content in high quality format from a variety of sources and perspectives.
>The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an extensive resource of art historical information and images from the museum’s collection, along with contextual information that places the objects in the framework of key world events.
>The Museum of Modern Art’s Red Studio was developed by MoMA in collaboration with high school students and explores issues and questions raised by teens about modern art, today’s working artists, and what goes on behind the scenes at a museum.

Resources for Educators
>The Denver Art Museum’s Creativity Resource for Teachers features lesson plans that focus on creativity in visual arts and language arts education.
>Resources for the Classroom from the J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to have students construct meaning through encounters with art and create original works of art and reflect upon what they have made.
>ArtsConnectEd provides access to artworks and K–12 educational resources from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Walker Art Center.

-Stacy Fuller

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