Sharing art with kids is serious fun. They are incredibly inquisitive, honest, and once you get them warmed up with a few games and projects, they’ll point out all sorts of details that adults tend to overlook. Being a volunteer school museum tour guide at SFMOMA has been so rewarding, and I’m extremely fortunate to have the time to commit to the program.

I lead in-school visits and museum tours for K-8 students, where I invite kids to look, discover, question, and explore artwork of all kinds. Our program has hands-on activities and art projects in the museum galleries, something no other major museum in the US allows. We are out there with markers, glue sticks, scissors, paper, the works. I’ve learned so much about design and creativity from students on my tours and surprisingly have brought a few of these learnings into my own career as a designer and design leader.

If you are a parent, educator, or advocate for art in your community, please share the SFMOMA program with your local school and encourage them to visit. I guarantee it will be a fun and educational experience for all involved. Our tours address Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (ELA), encourage critical thinking, evidentiary reasoning, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives while developing content knowledge.