Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts: More Than Just Paintings

If you think art museums are only for adults, you may be surprised at the ways museums seek to attract family travelers with programs for children and teens. Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is a good example.

PEM’s Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center is a dedicated area full of hands-on activities, with discovery drawers, computer stations and games encouraging exploration of the connections between nature and art.

Regular Drop-in Art Making sessions are taught by art educators Friday–Sunday in Create Space studios. Designed for various ages, these may include drawing, painting or collage using techniques or reflecting the styles of artists whose works are in the museum’s collections. Some of these experiences are designed for children as young as 4.

Art Making sessions may follow a theme, such as flowers, that reflects works of different artists and cultures throughout the galleries. This spring, one invites kids to create their own flower wreath in 3-D paper sculpture. Parents can challenge kids to a treasure hunt as they tour the museum’s galleries, encouraging them to spot artwork with floral themes.

Programs here also engage kids in special exhibitions, such as the current Saints, Sinners, and Fools,  a major exhibit of masterpieces created between the 15^th and 17^th centuries in the Southern Netherlands. The exhibit, organized by Denver Art Museum and The Phoebus Foundation in Antwerp, Belgium, includes masterpieces by Rubens, van Dyck, Brueghel and others whose works are rarely shown in public.

Young visitors are encouraged to create their own “cabinet of curiosities” inspired by the exhibit’s collection of natural and other oddities (including animal skulls and a stuffed ostrich) that families of that era displayed along with art.

Unique to the Peabody and as fascinating to children as it is to adults, Yin Yu Tang is an entire Chinese house from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Until 1982, when the last descendants left, eight generations of the Huang family lived there for more than 200 years.

Visitors can tour the 16-bedroom house, entering most of the small rooms for closer looks at decorations, craftsmanship and items used in the family’s daily life. To avoid overcrowding in the small rooms, you must reserve timed admission to the Chinese house in advance.