Family Art Lab & Learning

The Springfield Art Museum has many opportunities for families to engage in self-guided art-making, free play, experimentation, and ways to extend the Museum experience at home! The Family Art Lab & Book Nook feature art-making projects and supplies, art books, games, toys, and puzzles. FREE Take-Home Project Bags allow families to create their own works of art inspired by the artists, artworks, and themes present in the Museum's permanent collection and exhibitions.

Image of the Family Art Lab featuring colorful furniture, games, and art-making materials.
Rows of brown paper bags containing art-making projects on a table in the Museum's lobby.

Family Art Lab & Book Nook

Located in the Museum’s Education Wing, the Family Art Lab and Book Nook are interactive spaces where children can explore art on their own terms - by touching, building and pretending. Full of blocks, Magna-Tiles, books, art games and more, the Family Art Lab can provide a break during a Museum visit or be a destination in itself. The Book Nook is a quiet space where kids can peruse our fantastic collection of children’s art books. We invite families to be creative together in these spaces designed just for them!

The Family Art Lab and the Book Nook are available for drop-in play during the Museum's public hours of operation. No reservations are needed and multiple groups can play at the same time. At least one adult must remain with children in the Family Art Lab at all times. Museum staff do not facilitate your Family Art Lab experience, but please let us know if supplies need re-filling. We encourage groups to help re-tidy the Family Art Lab when their visit is finished. 

Illness Information

Please reschedule your Art Lab visit if anyone in your group or household has the following symptoms: 

  •  Fever or chills
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Headache
  • New loss of taste or smell
  • Sore throat
  • Congestion or runny nose
  • Nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea

The Book Nook is generously sponsored by the Southwest Missouri Museum Associates.

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Take-Home Project Bags

Take-Home Project Bags contain materials and instructions for projects inspired by works in our collection. Project bags are most appropriate for children ages 3-12.   

Register for your free project bag and then pick it up in the Museum's Lobby. Don't forget to share your work in progress or completed project with us on social media using the hashtag #sgfprojectbag

FREE Take-Home Project Bag: Mindful Making

Looking for a fun art project to do at home? Practice mindful art-making, examine your emotions, and experience stillness and purposeful contemplation with cloud-making and Zentangle activities inspired by works on view in Breath, Light, and Distance.

Help Keep Project Bags FREE!

Since beginning the Take-Home Project Bag initiative, the Museum has distributed well over 20,000 project bags to individual families and local schools! Donations to our Education Fund - large or small - help keep projects like Take-Home Project Bags, Pre-K Open Studios, Teen Open Studios, and Gesture Drawing accessible to everyone in our community. 

Simply select "Education" from the drop-down list on our online donation form. We appreciate your generosity and partnership in helping us to deliver art-making programs to our community!

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Homeschool Days

There are no upcoming Homeschool Days currently planned.

Join us for a morning of hands-on art exploration, designed specifically for homeschoolers! The Springfield Art Museum’s Homeschool Day will include a drop-in art activities for kids ages 5 and up, guided in-gallery activities, and a self-guided scavenger hunt through the exhibition galleries. Kids under 5 years of age are welcome to play and explore in the Family Art Lab.

This program is provided by the Museum at no cost. Space is limited, so advance registration is required. A parent or guardian may register up to 10 individuals (including adults, school-aged children, and children under 3) on one form. 

*Please note that parents/guardians are required to attend this event with their children and must accompany them while onsite. Children may not be dropped off at the Museum alone or left unsupervised during this event.