NGAkids Art Zone

A Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award winner

The NGAkids Art Zone app contains eight interactive activities inspired by works in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, plus a sketchbook for freehand drawing and a personal exhibition space where users can save and display art created with the program. The child-friendly interface, easy-to-use tools, and the overarching emphasis on discovery, careful looking, and artistic self-expression make the NGAkids app educational and fun for the whole family.

Each activity offers various levels of complexity, making the app suitable for all age groups. It is optimized for ages 9 through 11, but younger children will find it easy to use at an introductory level. Teens and adults also will find the program entertaining and artistically motivating.

NGAkids activities are designed for children to use in a recreational, nonacademic context. They are not art lessons, although our programs are extremely popular in schools and are often used as an adjunct to the traditional curriculum. The low-key activities preserve a sense of quiet exploration that encourages artistic expression and creativity. This absorbing, self-directed interaction has a long-term impact. The fact that children are encouraged to figure out how things work and to mentor each other adds a unique dimension to the experience, one that engenders a personal connection to art that often lasts a lifetime.


SPECIAL FEATURES 

The NGAkids app provides an immersive experience as children visit a virtual art museum and explore a variety of works spanning more than 300 years of art history. High-resolution graphics, careful attention to detail, and exposure to a variety of subjects, painting styles, and techniques help convey an authentic understanding of the artistic process and reinforce their familiarity with the fundamental elements of art. Although these are not art games in the traditional sense, unexpected animation and surprising audio features enliven the program and help make learning fun for all ages.

There are 10 sections to explore:

• Portrait

• Landscape

• Seascape

• Still Life

• Action Painting

• Exploring Color

• Color Field

• Collage

• Sketchbook

• My Art Gallery

Works by a wide range of artists—including Edward Hicks, Fitz Henry Lane, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Mark Rothko, Josef Albers, and Robert Rauschenberg, along with several anonymous American naive painters—serve as inspirational models.

The National Gallery of Art is committed to producing quality children’s programming that provides informative, entertaining, and age-appropriate content for kids of all ages. We hope you and your children enjoy the NGAkids app, and we invite you to plan an in-person visit to the Gallery, where many of the original works of art that inspired this program are on display.