Gallery collection inspires children’s home creativity

ABOUT ten thousand young people, from preschool-aged children to tertiary students visit the Art Gallery of Ballarat during a normal year.

To continue piquing the curiosity of their early years visitors while unable to step foot in the gallery, AGB has developed a series of creative home activities.

Education officer, Kate Gorman said the “easy-to-follow” tasks are based on artworks within the AGB collection, like Dorrit Black’s Wings, and have a target audience of pre-schoolers to mid-primary kids.

“The videos are low-tech, filmed at home by myself with my five-year-old son participating,” she said.

“We’re tailoring them to be engaging and accessible, all utilising materials you can find in the home or that most families would have available to them.

“They’re simple and not complicated. I’ve written instructions and then people can watch the making clip.”

Ms Gorman said these activities are important for young minds because they assist in the development of their visual literacy.

“That helps with literacy across the board, and builds fine motor skills, which transfers to academic work, especially handwriting.

“It builds critical and creative thinking, enabling young people and children to think and approach problems in different ways, and learn new techniques to solve them,” she said.

If parents are focusing on their child’s academic learning while educating them at home, Ms Gorman said making time for creative exploration is just as key.

“Having a chance to unwind in downtime with play, where a child isn’t working on something with a definitive outcome, can be a release and chance for mindfulness.”

AGB plans to release a video weekly until young people can return to the gallery.

These resources are available for families, and teachers for school use. Visit artgalleryofballarat.com.au/learn/agb-kids.