K-12 Educators

School Tours

Visit the museum in person – or virtually – this school year!

Engagement with works of art encourages students to investigate ideas. It fosters critical and interdisciplinary thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Above all, a museum experience is designed to nurture wonder and curiosity in students of all ages.

Tours can focus on a particular exhibition, collection, or explore a theme across cultures and time.

Suggested Thematic Tour Topics

Art and the Construction of History:  This year the Hood Museum of Art will feature several exhibitions exploring the many ways that art has shaped our understanding of history. For millennia, artists have lent imagery to stories both past and present. They have created visual narratives of notable events, places, and people—both well-recognized and overlooked. On this tour, students will be asked to consider the ways in which artists shape popular understanding of the past, foster traditions, amplify oral storytelling, and reinforce shared values through their work.
 
Materiality: Tour the collection by media, choosing a particular type (painting, ceramics, printmaking, etc.), or a general tour that includes a variety of materials and processes.

Click here to begin planning your tour experience.

Multiple-Visit Programs

The Hood Museum of Art offers two multiple-visit programs for elementary school students: ArtStart (for grades 1–3) and Images (for grades 4–6). Each program offers a journey of discovery, creativity, and expression. Guided explorations and interactive teaching in the museum enable students to develop critical-thinking skills for interpreting works of art and relating them to their lives.

Images

Images is a program offered for regional elementary school students in grades 4 through 6 that brings groups to the museum four times during the year. Each visit includes time in the galleries, where students learn from and discuss original works of art with a professional museum educator. Afterward, in the studio, students complete a hands-on art project that relates to what they looked at and learned in the galleries.

Images is an innovative art education program that provides students with valuable skills for analyzing and interpreting works of art and increases their understanding and appreciation of the history, customs, beliefs, and artistic traditions of cultures and peoples from around the world.

ArtStart

ArtStart is a multiple-visit program designed for students in grades 1 through 3. Participants visit the museum four times during the year. During each visit, students spend time in the galleries exploring art objects from around the world and in the studio creating their own works of art.