We are excited to announce that Natasha Schlesinger of Artkids is now going to be art expert and contributing writer to New York's most informative family magazine: New York Family Magazine

ARTKIDS was nominated by Nickelodeon's Parents' Pick Award as the best art class in New York City. Thank you for all your support!

CHILDREN WILL HAVE FUN LEARNING TO LOOK AT ART!

ARTKIDS offers private tours and birthday party tours, as well as weekly after-school classes that introduce children to the excitement of visiting New York City museums. Children three years of age and older visit a different art exhibit every week. They look at all forms of art from many different periods and places—and they have fun at the same time.

We meet for one hour per week at a designated museum. Children younger than 5 years of age come with their parents or caregivers, those older than 5 years can be dropped off for the duration of the class. For the first 45 minutes we take the children on an interactive discovery journey through an exhibit. The final 15 minutes are set aside for an art project inspired by the exhibition.

Each museum visit has a special theme. Topics have included:

Discovering shapes and colors Eye Spy at the Met Trick photography Learning about Egyptian life and art Searching for animals in art African art and story telling Ancient Greek Heroes Abstract Art Meet the children who live in the Metropolitan Museum

The children acted out stories about Norman Rockwell’s paintings at the Guggenheim Museum and made their own quilts at the Whitney Museum. They participated in a scavenger hunt while learning about Swedish Modernism at the Bard Graduate Center. They were detectives at the American Folk Art Museum and learned about 19th century life at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.

We have visited over 25 museums including such institutions as the Dahesh Museum, the New York Historical Society, the Asia Society, the International Center for Photography, the National Academy of Design, the Japan Society, El Museo del Barrio, Museum of the City of New York, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as auction houses and art galleries. Each semester the schedule varies depending on current museum exhibitions.

We have developed a program that brings children as close to the art as possible and the art to the children. As the children are not allowed to touch anything in the museums, we bring props and objects for them to touch, explore and compare to the works in front of them. They learn through looking and participating in each exhibit both visually and physically. The art project at the end of each class allows them to actually experience the creation of an original work of art.

ARTKIDS was created by Natasha Schlesinger. Natasha Schlesinger is an independent art historian and an art consultant who has been working in the art field for the past 18 years, specializing in the history of decorative arts. Natasha was a specialist in European furniture at Christie’s Auction house for four years, and then went on to open her own international consulting firm Meridienne LLC. She has lectured both at Christie’s and Sotheby’s and is currently working on several future publications. Natasha holds a Master’s degree in the Decorative Arts from the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Culture and Design. ARTKIDS also offers specialized tours for specific classes or schools as well as private tours to specially-chosen museums for out-of-town visitors and their children.