I often rave about how great Brisbane is for kids. It’s fantastic. Eva is definitely one lucky little girl to live in a city filled with so many exciting and engaging activities, events and festivals! Not to mention our beautiful (most of the time) weather. And yesterday was no exception.
I’ve taken Eva to GoMA a few times, but yesterday we went to Toddler Tuesday. A free program, it focuses on early art appreciation and incorporates a number of games and activities as well as exploring parts of the art gallery. The only downside is that it’s very popular, which means you can only sign up once in every eight week blocks and it’s often booked out months in advance.
The focus of yesterday’s session was on shapes — recognising shapes within our everyday life as well as in art. The teacher took the small group of toddlers through a section of the gallery as they explored and identified shapes within Indigenous paintings, followed by a large, mirrored mosaic art piece. It was beyond adorable to see a bunch of toddlers all carry around their own brown cushion to sit on as they “appreciated” each artwork. After this, we went back to the seminar room where each child created their own mosaic made up of colourful shapes.
And although there were some conversations and activities that were a little beyond her (the class is aimed at 18 months - 4 years), today Eva excitedly told me about shapes and listed all the ones she could remember and then later this evening she began pointing out shapes and patterns on her pyjamas!
Once the session finished we explored a little more of the gallery. Eva was completely enamoured by a conjoined-twin deer like structure at which she gleefully yelled “deers” from the other side of the room before having to be reminded to stay off the display by a gallery staff member as Eva pointed at the deers “ants” (antlers)! And as if Eva hadn’t done enough art and crafts, we went to the Fly Away Home exhibition where she created a bird and nest before making a paper flower as part of a school holiday activity at the State Library.
We had such a fantastic time that I’ve already signed Eva up for another session in September!
